Intel Corp is buying symmetric multiprocessing pioneer Corollary Inc, Irvine, California, for the technology it has developed that links up to eight Pentium Pro chips in server configurations. Perhaps Intel didn’t anticipate the market for eight-way systems would be as big as it has turned out to be, because until now it’s been happy to let third parties create technology to link its four-processor SHV Pentium Pro boards. With its huge pile of cash we can only assume Intel favored Corollary’s solution over other similar mechanisms offered by Advanced Logic Research Inc and NCR Corp. All three vendors have been competing for OEM business from the PC server crowd. Observers think it’s likely Intel will further commercialize the technology to enable its customers to build servers which challenge the RISC vendors even higher up the system ladder than they do currently. As the PC fraternity has encroached on the low-end SMP space, Sun Microsystems Inc, Hewlett-Packard Co and other RISC Unix vendors have move the focus of their efforts further up the scale, to eight, 12 and 16-way systems. It’s not known how much Intel paid for $25m-a-year Corollary, but it’s seen as a great exit strategy for the company, which is run by CEO and industry veteran George White. Last year the industry newsletter ClieNT Server News spotted a burgeoning relationship between the two companies (CI No 3,051), even though Intel at that time was supposedly to incorporate NCR’s rival OctaScale interconnect technology into future products. Corollary will retain its name and operate as a wholly-owned Intel subsidiary.
