Either way, sources say the two chips will bear some sort of Alpha stamp. Intel executives have already said that the newly hired Alpha engineers will help Intel in developing compilers, software that helps navigate the chasm between the machine code of a chip and abstract software code. The chips will appear in high-end servers. Montecito is positioned to be a successor to Madison, which itself is a successor to McKinley, a new version of Itanium coming out toward the middle of the year. Madison is expected to come out in 2003 and run between 1.2GHz and 1.6GHz, according to sources. Like Madison, Montecito will be made using the 130-nanometer manufacturing process, the process currently used for Intel's fastest notebook and desktop chips. McKinley will come out on the 180-nanometer process. Montecito will likely contain new features that aren't in the cards for Madison. For instance, Intel has said it will incorporate hyperthreading, a technology emerging on Xeon chips in a few weeks that can enhance performance. Hyperthreading allows software programs to use different parts of the chip at once, hence speeding up the amount of time it takes to accomplish a given set of tasks. Alpha engineers planned to incorporate a variant of hyperthreading into Alpha, Brookwood noted. "Fundamentally, once somebody comes up with a performance-enhancing feature in one architecture, it becomes relatively straightforward to move it to other architectures," Brookwood said. While it remains unclear, Chivano could come out on the 95-nanometer process, as Intel is expected to start coming out with processors sporting 95-nanometer circuits in 2005. Chips made on the 95-nanometer process will be smaller and faster than 130-nanometer chips - just as 130-nanometer chips are smaller than their 180-nanometer kin. If Chivano in fact comes out on the 95-nanometer process, it could contain a number of new features. Intel has said it will likely come out with a version of Itanium with two processor cores, or two fully functional chips on one piece of silicon. Researchers at the company have also said that it won't be economically practical to come out with dual-core chips, such as IBM's Power 4, until the 95-nanometer manufacturing era. Hyperthreading may also not make its debut in the Itanium line until Chivano, one source speculated. Ironically, Digital sued Intel in 1997, claiming the company had infringed its intellectual property with regard to Alpha. The two giants settled the case early on. As part of the settlement, Intel acquired Digital's Hudson, Mass., fabrication facility where Alpha was made at the time and the intellectual property to the StrongArm chip line. Alpha engineers have also been behind some of Intel's toughest competitors. Dirk Meyer and Fred Weber, the two chief technologists behind Advanced Micro Devices' Athlon and upcoming Hammer chips, are Alpha alumni.
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