Processor Watch

November 8, 2004

Editor: Tom R. Halfhill

In this issue:

FPF ‘04 Benchmarking Panel
Kevin Krewell - Senior Editor  {11/08/2004}

Since joining Microprocessor Report in 1999, I hadn’t seen a story create so much controversy behind the scenes as Tom Halfhill’s “Benchmarking the Benchmarks” story did in MPR’s 8/30/04 edition. Many of the issues were still unsettled after the story appeared, and some companies involved in it were unsatisfied by the outcome. In an attempt to convert the various monologues into a dialog, and possibly bring closure to some of the issues, we decided to hold a panel discussion on the subject at Fall Processor Forum 2004. We invited the key players from Tom’s story: Glenn Henry from VIA/Centaur, Erik Salo from AMD’s Personal Connectivity Solutions Group (PCSG), and Alan R. Weiss from Synchromesh Computing (and CEO of EEMBC Certification Labs). In addition, we added other interested and experienced parties familiar with benchmarking: Dave Ditzel from Transmeta and Markus Levy from EEMBC.

We did get Glenn Henry to agree he would work with an industry consortium, and both AMD and Transmeta appear open to participation as well. The most promising vehicle would be through EEMBC, perhaps through a special x86 group. Although AMD, Transmeta, and VIA are already members, EEMBC would not be able to quickly provide new benchmarks to meet market needs, but we must start sometime.

Microprocessor Report readers can access the full story (5 pages, 1 photo) here: www.mdronline.com/mpr/h/2004/1108/184501.html. To find out more about Microprocessor Report, please visit: www.mdronline.com.

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