***Hot Topics
Intergraph Wins Federal Court Order in Intel Antitrust Lawsuit,
Forcing Intel to Change Business Practices
(April 13)
Intergraph Corporation, made the following statement
in response to a federal court order awarded in favor of
Intergraph and against Intel Corporation by the U.S. District
Court, Northern District of Alabama. Intergraph is suing Intel
for anticompetitive behavior, patent infringement, and
antitrust violations of the Sherman Act.
Specific orders from the court assure that Intergraph will
have:
-- advanced product information
-- advanced microprocessor "chip samples"
-- "early production chips," and
-- "production chips"
Intergraph CEO Jim Meadlock stated, "This ruling is a very
pivotal development, not only for Intergraph but for the entire
computer industry. We believe the court is sending an
unmistakably clear and far-reaching message to Intel that
there's no place for coercive, monopolistic conduct in the
computer industry. These decisions are setting a precedent for
the industry. They show other computer companies how the courts
can protect them should they be unjustly and illegally
assaulted by any company wielding an overpowering market
dominance." Mr. Meadlock added, "We are confident that our case
is very strong and that our patent ownership is solidly
established."
In an 80-page order on April 10th, the federal court granted
all key items of injunctive and mandatory relief requested by
Intergraph in a motion filed November 17, 1997. Among other
points, the court stated that:
-- "Intergraph has established a substantial likelihood of
success on the merits on one or more of its claims."
-- Intel is prohibited "from terminating Intergraph's rights as
a `strategic customer in current and future programs,' or from
otherwise taking any action adversely affecting Intel's
business relationship with Intergraph or Intergraph's ability
to design, develop, produce, manufacture market or sell
products incorporating, or based upon, Intel products or
information ...".
-- "The Court concludes there is a substantial likelihood that
Intergraph will succeed in proving that Intel has entered into
one or more agreements and contracts in restraint of trade in
violation of S1 [of the Sherman Antitrust Act]" and that
"...Intel's refusal to supply advanced CPUs and essential
technical information to Intergraph likely violates S2 of the
Sherman Act..."
-- Noting that Intel allegedly tried to use access to critical
Non-Disclosure Agreements to coerce patent licenses from
Intergraph, the court stated that, "... the deliberate
termination of the parties' relationship by Intel, under the
terms of the NDAs and RUNDAs, is unconscionable...".
Case Background
In a lawsuit filed November 17, 1997, in the U.S. District
Court, Northern District of Alabama, Intergraph alleged that
Intel is using its dominant market position in an attempt to
coerce the workstation manufacturer into giving up certain key
patent rights. These coercive tactics, including withholding
vital information and technical support, delayed shipment of
various Intergraph Computer Systems' products and have
otherwise hindered Intergraph's business. (Intergraph Computer
Systems is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Intergraph
Corporation.)
Compelled by the merits of the evidence, on December 3, 1997,
Intergraph amended its original complaint of November 17 to
include a federal antitrust claim against Intel.
Specifically, in its complaint Intergraph says Intel is guilty
of wrongful conduct, including interference with business and
contractual relations, interference with technical assistance
from third-party vendors, breach of contract, misappropriation
of trade secrets, negligence, and infringement of computer
technology patents owned by Intergraph.
The text of the court's April 10th "Memorandum of Opinion and
Preliminary Injunction" is available at
www.intergraph.com/intel/
Information related to this lawsuit - including court filings,
a chronology, and numerous news articles - is available for
public viewing on the Intergraph Website at
www.intergraph.com/intel.stm
National Semiconductor To Put PC On A Chip
(April 6)
National Semiconductor Corporation announced it will put a PC
system on a single chip by mid-1999. The chip would replace the
dozen or more separate chips typically found in a PC today.
"National has assembled, through acquisition and internal
development, all the pieces it needs to integrate a PC on a
single chip," said Brian Halla, National CEO, who spoke at the
Semico Summit, a semiconductor industry conference in Phoenix,
Ariz. "We have all the intellectual-property building blocks
and the methodology to stitch them together onto a square of
silicon less than half an inch wide.
"Integrating more and more functionality into smaller and
smaller space is the story of electronics, from the vacuum tube
to the transistor to the integrated circuit," said Halla. "A PC
on a chip is the next logical step--the whole system goes on a
chip."
National is already defining versions of the chip for major PC
and information appliance manufacturers. Versions are in the
works for both the desktop market, where it will give consumers
smaller, quieter machines, and the notebook market, where the
low power drain of the super-integrated chip will significantly
extend battery life for portable users, Halla said. Other key
features include high clock speed, built-in communications, and
high-resolution graphics. With its greatly improved
cost/performance, the chip is aimed at expanding the entry-
level market that has grown so rapidly over the past year as
full-featured, sub-$1,000 PCs from top-name manufacturers
brought an end to the traditional dominance of the $2,000 price
point in PC sales.
National's PC on a chip is being built around microprocessor
cores developed by Cyrix, the processor company that merged
with National in November, 1997.
National is developing other system chips to power a broad
range of information appliances. "First the PC goes on a chip,"
said Halla, "Next, the PC becomes a plug-in behind the
dashboard of your car, behind a flat-panel display in your
kitchen, or inside a set-top box. The PC disappears just the
way electric motors are invisible in our lives. We use them all
day long, but we only think about the appliance, not the motor.
Nobody knows how many RPMs drive their coffee grinder, and
nobody will care how many megahertz power their DVD player."
National's approach to system-level integration employs on-chip
distributed processing, in which different parts of the chip
are optimized to perform specific functions such as multimedia
or communications, as opposed to running every function through
a single premium-priced processor. "Assigning the tasks to
specialized engines is the smart way to provide great
performance at a reasonable cost," said Halla.
Critical to the project is National's reusable cores
methodology, which allows its design engineers to shorten time
to market by drawing from a library of functional, or core,
building blocks--such as processor, input/output, graphics,
video decompression, power management, network, and audio--to
create the final product. The cores are all designed to
specifications that make them interchangeable, depending on
customer requirements. For the first implementation, all the
major PC functions except for memory and high-voltage parts of
the power supply will be integrated on the chip.
"National has a unique ability to take on the challenge of
integrating analog functions with Cyrix's state-of-the-art
digital technology," said Halla. "Our mixed-signal expertise
gives us a tremendous advantage in optimizing system
solutions." PC functions such as communications, display,
audio, and timing involve analog circuits. An originator of
analog chip technology in the 1960s, National has over 20 years
of mixed-signal experience and over 2,400 patents.
The chips will be manufactured initially at National's brand
new wafer fab in South Portland, Maine, on 0.25-micron process
technology that can be further scaled down to 0.18 micron. The
plant has a capacity of 30,000 wafers a month, which translates
to tens of millions of chips per year. National can also draw
on several foundry partners for additional capacity, including
TSMC in Taiwan and IBM Microelectronics.
National has assigned the responsibility for coordinating its
first PC on a chip to its design center in Herzlia, Israel,
that for years has designed many of the peripheral chips that
surround the processor on a typical PC motherboard. The center
will draw on a company-wide team of design, architecture, test,
software, cores, and marketing personnel contributing some 800
man-months of work.
www.national.com/
MetaVR Claims 3DwinMark Scores of 878 for VisSim Applications
A 3D WinMark score of 878 has been achieved on a MetaVR Economy
system using an Intel 400 MHz CPU and the Creative Labs 3D
Blaster Scan Line Interleaved (SLI) Voodoo2 3D accelerator.
The combination of the Intel Pentium II processor, Windows 95
operating system and the 3Dfx Voodoo2 graphics based 3D
accelerators are claimed to provide high-end visual simulation
capabilities on a platform that also serves as an office
automation tool for MetaVR's customers.
www.metavr.com/zd-3dwinmark.htm
Wave Issue 9808 4/15/98 Article 1-01