Archived from groups: comp.sys.intel,comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware.chips (
More info?)
Del Cecchi wrote:
> "George Macdonald" <fammacd=!SPAM^nothanks@tellurian.com> wrote in
> message news:5pa4j1h04evj1decnn6gpmn45s60ius86o@4ax.com...
>
>>On Wed, 21 Sep 2005 20:40:19 GMT, Bill Davidsen
>><davidsen@deathstar.prodigy.com> wrote:
>>
>>
>>>George Macdonald wrote:
>>>
>>>>On Mon, 19 Sep 2005 16:06:11 GMT, Bill Davidsen
>>>><davidsen@deathstar.prodigy.com> wrote:
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>>Yousuf Khan wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>>Intel desktop mobos face mass extinction
>>>>>>http://www.theinquirer.net/?article=26082
>>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>I don't understand why you think this is important. Some product is
>>>>>being discontinued, car makers do that all the time. More to the
>>>>>point,
>>>>>unless you believe Intel is never going to have any new products,
>>>>>this
>>>>>"roadmap" only shows part of the info, so that the article can draw
>>>>>the
>>>>>most alarming conclusions.
>>>>>
>>>>>I admit that there are a few board there I have used, but other
>>>>>people
>>>>>make board, and chipsets, and CPUs. I fail to see anything but normal
>>>>>product offering churn.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>Obsolescent SKUs are part of any component business of course but the
>>>>article said quite clearly that OEMs, integrators and others were not
>>>>pleased: they cited "scant opportunity to shift stock". Apparently
>>>>this
>>>>has more to do with a shortage of chipset manufacturing capacity as
>>>>normal
>>>>product cycles - Intel has chopped off the low, least profitable end
>>>>of its
>>>>chipset business long before usual expected EOL.
>>>>
>>>>Do you really think an OEM like Dell or Gateway, or a systems
>>>>integrator,
>>>>can just shift mbrd components to an alternative supplier with a
>>>>different
>>>>chipset that quickly and expect to keep business customers happy?
>>>>Have you
>>>>not heard of platform homogeneity? It's been claimed here umpteen
>>>>times as
>>>>the reason to stay with Intel as a chipset/mbrd supplier. You should
>>>>have
>>>>read the article.
>>>>
>>>
>>>Having had both Dell and IBM tell me they could no longer supply
>>>identical servers or previously available options to existing servers,
>>>I
>>>know that vendors can and do obsolete models which were "just
>>>announced"
>>>product less than 15 months ago when I bought the original. IBM has
>>>withdrawn CPU upgrades for units under two years old, even when the
>>>parts are still being sold by Intel. These are rack mount servers, not
>>>consumer goods, and not all units in a given order are always
>>>identical,
>>>vendors make "running production changes" as well, under the same model
>>>number.
>>>
>>>Those vendors also change RAID controller specs available for new
>>>purchase (cards), chipsets on the built-in network hardware and/or SCSI
>>>controllers, etc. And I'm told by my friend who sells Sun that other
>>>vendors do that as well.
>>>
>>>I believe that vendors are unhappy, but it's because Intel made the
>>>decision, not because no such decisions have ever been made in the
>>>past.
>>>I did read the article, but didn't see much new.
>>
>>I'm not sure what the point of all the above is supposed to be - bears
>>no
>>relation to the case at hand. The fact is that, according to the
>>story,
>>the OEMs, SIs et.al. are not pleased about some unexpected
>>discontinuity in
>>Intel's product offerings, whether it be due to shortened product life
>>cycles for them... or some other reason.
>>
>>
>>>Vendors have been
>>>changing things on short notice for at minimum 25 years, do you really
>>>think large business customers are going to be more unhappy that the
>>>change is driven by Intel instead of the OEM?
>>
>>Given that, apparently, IT buyers have had a certain confidence in a
>>consistent platform strategy based on Intel's previous record, some of
>>them
>>may be seeking a scapegoat. The OEM supplier is evidently going to
>>point
>>to Intel's premature(?) withdrawal of components in the form of
>>chipsets
>>and mbrds. It just seemed to me that your suggestion that "other
>>people
>>make board, and chipsets, and CPUs" is not relevant to the IT buyers'
>>needs
>>on platform consistency.
>>
>>--
>>Rgds, George Macdonald
>
>
> Soounds to me like the resellers are irritated that they didn't get
> advance notice so they could sell their stock at full price before Intel
> let the public in on the fact that these boards/chipsets were prematurely
> obsolete.
>
> If you want a system that will be supported for the long term and in
> which the installed base is considered, I know where to buy them.
>
Don't keep us in suspense, tell us where. I've been seeing "running
production changes" from IBM, HP, and Dell for several decades now, so I
want to hear which established vendor sells rackmount systems which
never change.
Not that it's an issue, as long as the system is functionally the same.
Servers matter less than office machines, where I've had systems
rejected because they weren't quite the same color as the last batch.
--
bill davidsen
SBC/Prodigy Yorktown Heights NY data center
http://newsgroups.news.prodigy.com
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