ServerWorks blockbuster trumps Rambus, adds PCI-X

Intel Developer Forum A DDR SMP chipset that can safely be described as stonking was announced by ServerWorks yesterday.

Intel has become increasingly reliant on ServerWorks technology, and the latest 2way/4way chipset adds support for the PCI-X bus and, with memory throughput at 5Gbytes/s, offers double the throughput of dual channel RDRAM Rambus chipsets such as the i840.

Immodestly named "Grand Champion" (that's a trademark too) it also boasts about a number of HA features, such as error correction and the ability to autodetect a failed DIMM. Grand Champion can accommodate 32GB of RAM (PC1600).

But it's the PCI-X support and the high bandwidth that should grab the headlines, and it's safe to assume these features are more likely to interest OEMs than Chipzilla itself.

ServerWorks (formerly called Reliance) has long-standing relationships with just about everybody, but most notably Compaq. Last year it sewed up a wide ranging IP sharing agreement with IBM.

Broadcom announced it was acquiring the company for a shade under $1bn early last month. Broadcom also acquired Element 14, formerly known as Acorn, which owns the license to the Archimedes operating system RiscOS. Which for sentimental reasons, we can't name-drop enough. So now's a good a time as any. ®

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