+--- In our lifetime, "Gregory M. Paris" paris@bose.com wrote: | | Any thoughts on what the Intel/Digital settlement means to NetApp and | its customers? It sure looks (to me anyway) as though the Alpha is dead.
After seeing the announcement yesterday, I have been wondering this as well.
I don't think Intel will discontinue the Alpha line, as it would not be in it's best interests. Especially given the current microprocessor market. Who is out there that has a good chip?
Intel (and other x86 clones) Intel (Dec) PowerPC (well, who knows what will happen) MIPS (again, who knows what will happen with this) SPARC (the Ultra line is progressing nicely)
There are others out there but they don't seem to be at the fore-front of technology. There are UltraSPARC machines with the PCI bus now.... Perhaps they can run stuff other than Linux and Solaris :)
As for how this all affects the future filers, who knows. I am sure the folks at NetApp are quite in-tune with all of this and how it will affect them (if at all).
I remember when NetApp was talking about the f540, their first venture outside the Intel x86 based filers. We were all concerned about the switch of technology. But look where it has taken us.
I seriously doubt this poses a problem to NetApp's future.
Just my $0.02.
Alexei