Hewlett-Packard Co, IBM Corp and Compaq Computer Corp yesterday revealed details of a proposed upgrade, and potential rival, to Intel’s PCI Peripheral Component Interconnect bus. As reported in ComputerWire earlier this week (CI No 3,490), the three companies confirmed they have developed a set of enhancements to the existing PCI bus and said they would be passing the proposed specification to the PCI Special Interest Group this week. In an official statement, the companies said the enhancements were designed to give customers an unmatched level of performance for their current industry standard I/O systems, especially for high- end business critical applications. The standard, called PCI-X, is a 64-bit bus which operates at speeds up to 133MHz (the current fastest runs at 66MHz), providing burst data transfer rates above one gigabit per second; eight times the rate of the most common PCI implementation today. It also features an enhanced protocol to increase the efficiency of data transfer and to simplify electrical timing requirements, an important factor at higher clock frequencies, the companies said. The new technology will be backward compatible so that companies can upgrade to the faster bus if they need to. Karl Walker, VP technology development of Compaq’s enterprise computer group said IBM, HP and Compaq had been working together for several months. He denied rumors that the move was designed to exclude Intel Corp, who invented the original PCI bus in 1991. Word on the street had it that the companies started to develop the spec when they learned that Intel was working on its own, proprietary next generation bus. Specifically, they objected to Intel’s alleged plans to exact royalties from component makers for using the technology. But Walker said: We’re just addressing the needs of our collective customer bases. The companies came together because we think we have the right technical base and because we’ve been trendsetters in the I/O space. He said Intel was the first hardware vendor to see the proposed specifications and added that the chip giant’s contribution and co-operation from here on in would be very welcome. Randy Meals, IBM’s VP and general manager for advanced products said that once passed by the PCI SIG, the governance of PCI-X would pass to the hands of the group itself. He added: We jump started the whole project but its our intention to hand it over to the PCI SIG once its ratified. Neither IBM, HP nor Compaq will receive any license money or royalty payments for the standard. It’s designed to be a full, open standard. Grahame Smith, HP’s HP-UX server product planning manager said the standard had already received the approval of numerous hardware vendors including 3Com Corp, Adaptec Inc and Mylex Corp. He added that the vendors all planned to introduce products on the platform when it’s introduced, some time in the second half of 1999. A spokesperson for Intel refused to comment on the announcement and only reiterated earlier comments that the company would reserve judgment until it has had a thorough look at the proposed spec. But the timing of IBM, HP and Compaq’s announcement suggests rivalry might not be too far round the corner. Next week, the chip giant will reportedly use its Developer Forum to announce details of its next generation bus (CI No 3,491), dubbed NGIO, although the spokesperson said he could not confirm whether or not this was true.
