From today, SGS-Thomson Microelectronics Group’s Bristol-based subsidiary, Inmos Ltd, will market chip sets for IBM Corp’s one-year-old XGA Extended Graphics Array video standard for personal computers, and the UK company will soon take over the manufacturing of the chip sets, the companies announced yesterday. The chips will be manufactured at Inmos’ Newport facility in Wales and SGS’ Dallas, Texas plant and marketed worldwide through SGS-Thomson outlets. Since Micro Channel XGA is standard on PS/2 Models 90, 95 and the P76, IBM wants other companies to start designing software that takes advantage of the feature, and to make the market attractive to these developers, this will mean persuading other personal computer makers to adopt the standard. IBM will continue to make its own XGA chip sets, but is in the process of transferring volume manufacture to Inmos, in an attempt to make the hardware widely accessible. The agreement enables Inmos to make and market the XGA silicon under its own name – as the IMS G200 XGA Display Controller and the IMS G190 XGA Serialiser Palette DAC – for a minimum three years, for first 18 months on an exclusive basis. As part of the drive to bring XGA to the market, IBM and Inmos plan to release an AT bus version of the video graphics standard next year. Other versions may follow if the market demands, though IBM may have a dilemma if users ask for an EISA bus version of it. SGS is reselling the IBM chip set from today for under $100 in quantities of 5,000.
