[Info-vax] RealWorldTech on Poulson

[Neil Rieck]

[...snip...]
>
> > So at this point I don't know who spent
> > the most amount of money. Intel picked up 300+ Alpha Engineers just
> > around the time of the HPQ merger,
>
> Did they?
> According to the Alasir article,http://alasir.com/articles/alpha_history/dec_collapse.shtml
> the leading and most "talented engineers" had left long before.
> And not for intel, mostly.
>

You can still find lots of original news items by Googleing "alpha
engineers compaq intel" but here are three (with the third one showing
transfers from HP to Intel in 2003; HP probably maintained a smaller
team to finish EV7z):

Compaq Puts Eggs Into Intel Basket (2001)
http://www.crn.com/news/channel-programs/18814857/compaq-puts-eggs-into-intel-basket.htm
quote: The companies refused to release financial details but said
Intel would eventually make employment offers to at least several
hundred Compaq chip engineers. At the crux of the deal is Compaq's
decision to unify its server product line behind Intel's Intanium and
Merced processors. Capellas said Compaq's decision centers around a
desire to build solutions on "standard building blocks"--Intel's 64-
bit processors.

Intel buys Alpha from Compaq (2001)
http://www.geek.com/articles/chips/intel-buys-alpha-from-compaq-20010625/
quote: Intel may very well be the final resting place of the Alpha
processor. The chip was once legendary for its performance and even
today maintains a high standard, but no longer leads the pack as it
used to. Compaq has agreed to license key Alpha technologies to Intel
as well as transfer most Alpha project engineers to Intel. It appears
that Compaq is finishing up a bit of work on some AlphaServers but
will then move completely to IA-64 architecture Intel Itanium servers,
ending the Alpha era. It was rumored last week that Compaq put the
Alpha up for sale, and Intel seemed to be the logical decision. After
all, when Compaq bought DEC, AMD grabbed most of the top Alpha
engineers to make the Athlon, so what would they want with the Alpha
design? AMD currently has no high-end server chip, but is planning one
for 2002 release (Hammer) that will be compatible with the 32-bit x86
architecture and support 64-bit x86-64 extensions. Perhaps AMD didn't
even have a chance to bid. After all, Compaq will be using Intel
Itaniums to replace their Alpha chip.

Intel gets more key Alpha alums (2003)
http://news.cnet.com/Intel-gets-more-key-Alpha-alums/2100-1006_3-1023146.html
quote: Pete Bannon, one of the key architects behind the touted Alpha
processor, and a number of other Alpha engineers are joining Intel to
work on future versions of Itanium. Bannon and approximately 50 Alpha
engineers will move from Hewlett-Packard to Intel this month, the
company announced this week. The transition is the latest stage in a
technological wagon train that began in 2001 as the result of a
massive development agreement between the Santa Clara, Calif.-based
chipmaker and Compaq Computer, which at the time controlled Alpha.
Around 300 former Alpha engineers already work at Intel. By the time
the agreement is concluded, more than 450 are expected to move to
Intel, company spokeswoman Barbara Grimes said. Most of the Alpha
alumni are working on a version of the Itanium that will follow
Montecito, a version of Itanium with two separate processors in a
single piece of silicon coming in 2005.

We also know that some engineers didn't want to go to Intel and so
popped up at AMD.'

Neil Rieck
Kitchener / Waterloo / Cambridge,
Ontario, Canada.
http://www3.sympatico.ca/n.rieck/