Spokespeople for IBM Corp and Intel Corp yesterday insisted that talks between the companies aimed at combining their efforts to produce a common standard for next generation I/O architecture were still ongoing. According to press reports issued Wednesday, sources close to the companies were reported as saying the talks had reached an impasse, forcing both Intel and IBM and its partners, Compaq Computer Corp and Hewlett-Packard Co, to continue to their I/O bus development work along separate lines. But speaking to ComputerWire yesterday, a spokesperson for Intel denied that was the case: The talks are still ongoing; if there are stalemates along the way that’s no big deal, he said, we still think having one solution is the only right idea. A spokesperson for IBM reiterated Intel’s comments, but admitted that he thought hopes were fading that the two sides will ever each agreement.
At the center of the argument is the specification for a next generation I/O server bus and specifically how to handle intellectual property and royalty payments for the spec. The divisions have led to the point where Intel has gone its way, and developed its version of the spec, called NGIO (Next Generation Input/Output) while IBM and its partners have developed an alternative architecture, called Future I/O. While both sides agree the specification should be based on a switched fabric architecture, the main sticking point seems to be how to license the spec. IBM says that Intel has developed 90% of its spec under wraps, leaving very little room for manufacturers to make any changes and effectively tying them in to Intel’s designs. The Future I/O spec, it argues, is intended to be a joint effort, with numerous PC and server companies each contributing their ideas and designs to create a best of breed architecture that the group will then license, for a fee, to hardware manufacturers; a fact which Intel strongly objects to.
To try and overcome these issues, representatives from the two companies have been locked in talks over the last few months with the aim of trying to make either side give up its development work and move over to the other camp. But so far, no such move has been forthcoming and as each side continues further down its own development path, the prospect of any type of joint venture or collaboration seems unlikely. So far, some 65 companies have already signed up to support Future I/O and Intel said it will publish a list of its partners within the next four to six weeks. Meanwhile, the IBM-Compaq-HP triumvirate said it is planning a second technical developers conference in either May or June.
