Computers Today, October 16-31, 1998 Front End

October 16-31, 1998 FRONT END

Outside Intel

Competition at the entry level arena is compelling even leading PC vendors like HCL and Wipro to embrace AMD, Cyrix or IDT processors. Intel, however, sees it as a transitory phenomenon. Will it be?

By Sudha Nagaraj

Trudging to the Zero-duty Zone

Intel has learnt one basic truth lately--Moore's Law can have an unpleasant fall-out too. The chip giant, over the decades, has continuously multiplied processing power--almost doubling it every 18 months. It worked all the way--286, 386, 486, Pentium, Pentium II, and Xeon. Whether the users needed it or not, they had to embrace high-level processing power. That might change. To be at the forefront of competition, PC vendors are now embracing Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) chips, IDT's Winchip and National Semiconductor's Cyrix processors, especially for the low-cost entry-level PCs. That means you can have a branded multimedia PC at Rs 30,000 now.

Anatomy of the Shift

Sanjeev Keskar Two Cyrix-based PCs--HCL Busybee GX and Wipro SuperGenius 5000--appeared last month with a Rs 30,000 price tag. The worldwide launch of the Intel Celeron targeted at the sub-$1,000 (sub-Rs 40,000) PC market in June, notwithstanding.

In India, Cyrix has been around for some time now. But OEMs including Vintron, Minicomp, PCS, and others have only recently, officially launched Cyrix-based machines. A PII-300 chipset from Intel commands a price of $310 ($250 for the CPU, $66 for the motherboard), a Celeron 300 costs $150 ($90 for the CPU and $60 for motherboard), whereas an MII 300 from Cyrix, which National

Semiconductor's country manager Sanjeev Keskar says is 25 percent faster than Celeron, costs only $120 with the CPU coming for as less as $80.

Through the looking glass

Intel sees the present shift as a transitory phenomenon. Two major factors have contributed to it, explains Intel India's general manager, marketing, Kanwajit Singh. One, the transition from Pentium MMX to Celeron. Two, a shortage owing to an erroneous demand forecast and a hitch in customs clearance.

The shortage was indeed a major factor. Zenith Computers Ltd, which announced an exchange scheme early last month, offered Cyrix-based machines to consumers instead, to clear the bottleneck created. Says HCL's corporate manager, Ashok Zutshi, "We are not shifting away from Intel. We are only catering to different segments. With Intel, it is incremental price for incremental quality."

Kanwaljit Singh Fortunately for Intel, infotech-savvy consumers come as a saviour. People who ask specific questions about cache, Celeron and Pentium; people who want to upgrade; people who stress that for a graphic-intensive application a Pentium II is a better choice.

According to Intel-loyalists, crucial software like Windows 98 has been tested and proved only on Intel processors. Says Pradeep Menon, communications head, Unicorp Industries Ltd, "Cyrix is an alternative, not the original. Though any chip-manufacturer will ensure quality, it is difficult to translate it into consumer demand. Cyrix may be equally good, but just because Hyundai has entered the market, Maruti users don't switch brands overnight." Hoping that updated technology would attract higher price and volumes, Intel has decided to extend the Celeron range. They are now offered at the 333 and 300 A (both with 128 KB of integrated L2 cache) and the 300 MHz and 266 MHz speeds. The other side of Moore's law is reduction in chip prices. And Intel plays it well. Celeron 300 MHz prices were slashed by 15 percent last fortnight, and another dose is expected this month.

Be sure to watch the next move. Because, it's checkmate for now.

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