Intel chief takes helm at WLAN chip maker Atheros… NOT

Craig-er vs. Craig-er

By Tony Smith • Get more from this author

Posted in Channel, 14th April 2003 11:05 GMT

Free research: Application platforms, the state of play

Question: what's the difference between Dr. Craig Barratt and Dr. Craig Barrett?

Answer: one is the CEO of a major international semiconductor company, and the other runs Intel.

That's right, Craig Barrett (with an 'e') is CEO of Intel, while Craig Barratt (with an 'a') is the recently appointed CEO of wireless LAN chip maker Atheros.

But how amazed we were when we saw a press release on Atheros' web site entitled 'Atheros names Craig Barratt President and CEO'. Was Intel's executive compensation insufficient to meet Craig's needs? Was the Chipzilla chief earning a little extra income on the side to make ends meet? Would the two come together and allow Intel to dominate the 802.11 - sorry, Centrino - chip market? All these questions and more entered our eager, story-hungry minds as we quickly scanned the release.

Until we hopped over to the Atheros Executives page, and Craig was revealed not to be Craig after all. You see, Craig is a youngish feller, and, well, the other Craig isn't. And we doubt that Atheros' Craig has a horse called 'AR5001X Combo WLAN Solution', even though the other Craig's nag is named 'Pentium Princess' or somesuch.