[Info-vax] OT: IA-128 ???

[Neil Rieck]

I hope you guys are correct that this phrase represents a MS s/w
project. However, the use of the phrase IA-128 makes me wonder if
we've seen a glimpse of something coming from Intel.

JF:

Way back in the early 1980's, a DEC instructor told the class that
processor bit size was related to the programmer's view of the general
purpose registers. For example, even though the 8088 had an 8-bit
memory buss, it was (internally speaking) a 16-bit processor. Even
though the 6502 had a few instructions that treated two 8-bit
registers as a 16-bit pair, it was an 8-bit processor.

Obviously things changed when AMD invented AMD64
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AMD64
which forced Intel to respond in kind with similar 64-bit extensions
(a true 64-bit extension of the GP regs) called x86-64 and/or IA-64.

I'm not saying that this is Intel's intention, but Intel could develop
a CPU with 128-bit regs without changing the buss interface unit
(BIU).

NSR

p.s. technological history aside, there are no rules for processor
naming. Marketers will probably do whatever they wish.