Intel has released some more details about its coming Geneseo platform which will be an alternative to AMD’s use of the HyperTransport technology and its already announced Torrenza platform. Intel is currently working on improving the PCIe 2.0 specification so that it can be used as a data bus for third party circuits, pretty much the same concept as AMD Torrenza. By creating a considerably faster connection between the main processor and its memory, in this case most likely an Intel Xeon processor, other dedicated processor circuits can work together with Intel’s processors on the same platform.
Intel has announced that Geneseo will not be bound to the x86 architecture and that it will work hard to improve the lacks of the PCIe interface. Some of these include poor power supply efficiency and better data handling. There’s no doubt that this is a direct reply to AMD’s Torrenza platform, but the fact is that Torrenza is already available and that Intel Geneseo is not expected to arrive until 2009. Even though we have to question the timing at Intel it’s obvious it will not hand over any mark shares to AMD without a fight.
