honold, think outside the Jetta :wink:
Indeed, much of Intel's success was piggybacked by the qualitiy of Serverworks chipsets.
But continuance of such a paradoxical relationship (especially given Broadcom's and Intel's feelings for each other) is not in Intel's interests.
A) True, in the short term, what may adversely affect Serverworks would likely have similar affects on Intel in the server space.
i) However, the departure of key design team members from Serverworks is unlikely to take immediate effect.
ii) Even if there are immediate affects, Serverworks loss is Broadcom's loss. Broadcom's losses may translate into Intel gains in other areas, and thus offset those experienced in the server segment. However, this scenario is rather unlikely to occur.
(iii) It would not come as a shock that Vegesna and supporters end up being recruited by Intel, further boasting Intel's design capabilities for the future (see B(ii)).
B) In the medium term (and if we presuppose that Vegesna and departing friends are integral members of Serverworks chipset design team),
i) Serverworks still has access to Intel designs until 2008, so it isn't as likely that quality will slip too much even after suffering some "decapitation". Again, even if it does, the analysis in A(ii) may bare fruit.
ii) Further, Intel is taking active steps to put an end to relying upon the chipsets of a rivial. If Serverworks experiences setbacks, that which may affect Intel's bottom line in the server space may be lessed by their own initiatives.
C) In the long term (2008 and beyond)
i) it is very unlikely Intel will renew their information sharing with Serverworks. I would expect that they would have severed the embillical chord by then. In otherwords, by this time, what adversely affects Serverworks should only be to the benefit of Intel.
This of course presumes Intel will be successful with their server chipset aspirations. They certainly have the resources, I wouldn't bet against them.
In summary, Intel covets a bigger piece of the pie. This recent development should make them happy.
CK
