Intel and Rambus sign new deal

[Banti]

This will really help Intel. I hear that Rambus recently was granted a patent for the process of creating water from ice. They also are working on the patents for breathing, playing with a yo-yo, and chewing gum (while walking).

Some info (http://www.techtv.com/news/politicsandlaw/story/0,24195,3322578,00.html)

Banti

[J.A.D]

That is interesting. Articles I had previously read made me think that Intel would move away from Rambus. (they even mention an sdram version of p4 in the article). I guess Intel wants to stick it out...they must feel that rdram still has potential...

[daveleau]

I have read articles that lead me to believe that Intel was going to abandon RIMMs, but think it was mis-information or a passing fancy of Intel's. Everything I have read recently, leads me to believe that they are going to go with PC133 for low end systems and RDRAM for mid to high end systems. They think that DDR SDRAM has no future. If the aggresive pricing of RIMMs continues, then it may happen this way for Intel. But for now RDRAM is not cost benefitial. RIMMs must be used in pairs and are now around $80 a piece ($160 for 2 sticks of 256) DDR SDRAM is $29 for a stick of 256 and PC133 is at $16 for 256.

[Banti]

Actually, that does not mean Intel wants RDRAM. According to Rambus, they own the patents to many, many SDRAM memory ideas and designs, including DDR SDRAM. So Intel might have the permission to use RDRAM, but maybe they will not.

Intel just might be hedging their bets with Rambus's legal debates on SDRAM patents.

Banti

[n715dp]

When is Intel going to figure out that RAMBUS is dead?

Banti, I also heard they are working on a patent for the alphabet, soon we will all have to pay rights to them for using the letters A-Z.

[J.A.D]

I also read that besides the cost, another big issue with rambus was the fact that the rambus design (and rimm related stuff as well, I presume) is proprietary. so companies do not want to pay licensing fees (and customers do not way to pay for increased cost of boards that comes from the fees with rambus). I suppose if anyone can throw weight around, it would be Intel...and all the patent acquiring sure sounds like a step in that direction.