Jack Robertson EBN (03/03/2003 2:49 AM EST)

Intel Corp. may have gotten burned with its attempt to dictate Rambus as the industry memory standard, but the company is once again in the thick of things when it comes to DDR.

The unpleasant Intel confrontation with the memory industry over Rambus RDRAM several years ago is all but forgotten. Intel and memory makers have long since gotten back together to push DDR.

The latest evidence of Intel again playing a major role in the direction of main memory is the processor titan's push for DDR400. Intel reversed gears last year to adopt DDR400 memory whole-heartedly, after initially spurning it. One reason: DDR400 speed was a perfect clock multiple match for Intel's upcoming 800MHz processor front side bus.

That touched off an equivalent about-face scramble among DRAM producers, many of whom up to then were antagonistic about DDR400. But when Intel jumped on the DDR400 bandwagon, all the DRAM skeptics scrambled to climb aboard as well.

The power of Intel came to the fore during the drafting of the DDR400 industry standard by the JEDEC Solid State Technology Association, Arlington, Va. Intel wanted three tight timing specifications added to the DDR400 standard to give the greatest confidence of signal integrity at such high speeds. The Intel-flavored DDR400 chips are needed for two new desktop chip chips, Springdale and Canterwood, that the processor behemoth is introducing next quarter.

The DRAM makers promptly saluted and rushed to comply with the Intel timing specs even before the JEDEC standard has been formally approved. The near unanimity of the DRAM industry behind Intel shows the MPU firm is in the memory driver's seat again.

Intel had tried to strong-arm the DRAM makers over Rambus, dictating that RDRAM was to be the advanced memory of the future. It was a disruptive failure, and a chastened Intel did an about-turn and embraced DDR solidly on its memory roadmap for the foreseeable future.

The processor kingpin didn't give in without another try at spearheading memory development, though. In the rapprochement following the Rambus episode, Intel and key memory firms formed an ad hoc group, the Advanced DRAM Technology (ADT) alliance, to come up with concepts for next generation chips to succeed DDR-2.

In its infatuation with RDRAM, Intel had all but ignored the industry's effort to come up with the original DDR-1 chip. Many suspected that in ADT Intel saw an opportunity to play catch-up and once again try to influence heavily the course of future DRAM development.

One ADT accomplishment, probably credited to both Intel and memory makers, was coming up with the concept of on-die termination for signal lines in the then nearly-completed DDR-2 JEDEC specification. ODT was added at the last minute to the DDR-2 standard.

With that the ADT alliance atrophied and within the last year passed from the scene.

Intel now became a strong player within JEDEC, wielding the memory power it had long sought. For the JEDEC DDR400 specs, the timing couldn't have been better.

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