The Computing Landscape Has Changed.

This paper offers a look at the changing landscape of the computer industry in 2004. The largest changes have happened to Intel, the world's biggest processor maker. Intel was set to bring its new 90 nanometer Prescott chips into the market and had updated Itanium chips in the queue. When Intel's partner with Itanium, Hewlett-Packard, brought Opteron systems to market, Intel announced it would supply 64-bit capability when the customers needed it. The 90 nanometer Prescott chips hit the performance web sites with unimpressive marks, some slower than the existing 130 nanometer Northwood Pentium processors. Sun Microsystems has just cancelled its next planned processor, the UltraSparc V, in order to go with new multicore designs named Niagara and Rock. On top of these processor events, the personal computer (PC) industry is about to go through a major set of changes in 2004 and 2005. The biggest PC industry change is driven by Advanced Micro Devices Incorporated's (AMD)64-bit extensions to the original Intel x86 architecture. In one stroke, AMD turned an obsolete design into one that will live at least another twenty years. However, it does not guarantee Intel domination in x86. AMD will gain market share and reputation in 2005. In dealing with the power and heat problems of its high end processors, Intel has mandated the BTX chassis design for future Intel processors. In addition to Power systems, IBM and Sony have developed the Blue Gene chip for PlayStation 3 and versions of this chip will power future 64 processor supercomputers the size of a 30 inch television.