Introduction
Without question, the last 12 months have been very difficult for Intel. Seemingly, many or most of Intel's high-end strategies have been tainted with disappointment - namely Rambus, Camino, MTH, Flip Chip, Profusion, Merced and others. In these efforts, Intel has tried to undertake the exotic, and met with frustration.

On the other hand, Intel has done well in most of its strategies for the mainstream - namely Celeron, the 815, etc. In these product categories, Intel has chosen the obvious strategy and executed well. Unfortunately for Intel, the same can be said for VIA and for AMD. While Intel overextended itself into unrewarding strategies at the high end, AMD and VIA chose the obvious strategies in their respective markets, and have executed with single-mindedness. The market has responded as it always does - in terms of design wins, OEM loyalty, and market share. Intel has been suffering losses in all of these areas.

As such, the industry is curious to see Intel's attitude and response in the form of its future P3 and P4 processor roadmap with their respective chip set platforms. With Fall IDF just ahead we can expect that some matters will be clarified - others may be made yet more confusing. The primary issues are:

• What DRAM types will be supported on which chip sets and when?
  
  
• What new microprocessor enhancements are in the works?
  
  
• What enhancements are on the way for the ICH (south bridge) ?
  
  
• How does Intel see the relative positioning of these platforms?

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