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As part of its ongoing antitrust case against Intel, Advanced Micro Devices on Tuesday served Skype with a subpoena demanding documents related to its deal to make one feature in Skype 2.0 available exclusively to Intel users.
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The legal filing joins a long list of subpoenas AMD has filed in search of evidence that Intel has used its dominant market share of x86 PC and server processors to prevent AMD from winning business with certain partners. Intel has denied those accusations, and the companies are preparing for an antitrust trial that promises to reveal loads of details about the inner workings of the PC industry.
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An Intel representative confirmed that there are no instructions that specifically enhance the performance of voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) software like Skype's in Intel's dual-core chips. He also said that Skype's software is using a function called "GetCPUID" to permit 10-way conference calls only when that function detects an Intel dual-core processor on start-up.
Source 1
more about the deal on another article:
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Chip giant Intel is betting that at least some people would. Last week, Intel cut a deal with voice over Internet Protocol provider Skype that calls for the VoIP company to provide advanced conference-calling features exclusively on PCs that run Intel chips. As long as the deal is in place, it could effectively keep customers who want to take advantage of multiperson conference calls from going with AMD-based machines.
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Not surprisingly, AMD is already crying foul. AMD officials claim this is just another example of Intel using its sheer size to decide where AMD is allowed to compete, reinforcing the notion that Intel doesn't play fair. AMD charged in a 2005 antitrust compliant that Intel uses its marketing programs in a selective manner to punish companies who have used AMD's chips, or to reward companies like Dell who have cut exclusive deals with Intel--claims Intel has strongly denied.
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Performance in the eye of the beholder
In the past, Intel has set its products apart and improved the performance of applications such as games by adding new hardware instructions to its chips, said Kevin Krewell, editor in chief of The Microprocessor Report.
But there are no specific instructions in Intel's current Pentium D or Core Duo chips that enhance the performance of VoIP applications, an Intel representative said. Skype is using an operation called "Get CPU ID" to identify the type of processor running on the PC. The Skype software has been preset to only accept Intel's chips as having the performance necessary to host conference calls of more than five people, the representative said.
Almost all applications running on any PC perform the Get CPU ID operation as the system boots, said Dean McCarron, principal analyst with Mercury Research. That operation determines what type of processor is in the system and what performance features are available to the application, he said.
Critics contend that if there are no instructions dedicated to VoIP applications in Intel's chips, it's unlikely that Intel's dual-core chips are demonstrably more powerful than AMD's when it comes to hosting VoIP conference calls. In fact, third-party reviewers gave AMD dual-core chips an edge over Intel's last year, though Intel has closed the gap with the recent introduction of the Core Duo processor.
In the past, Intel has set its products apart and improved the performance of applications such as games by adding new hardware instructions to its chips, said Kevin Krewell, editor in chief of The Microprocessor Report.
But there are no specific instructions in Intel's current Pentium D or Core Duo chips that enhance the performance of VoIP applications, an Intel representative said. Skype is using an operation called "Get CPU ID" to identify the type of processor running on the PC. The Skype software has been preset to only accept Intel's chips as having the performance necessary to host conference calls of more than five people, the representative said.
Almost all applications running on any PC perform the Get CPU ID operation as the system boots, said Dean McCarron, principal analyst with Mercury Research. That operation determines what type of processor is in the system and what performance features are available to the application, he said.
Critics contend that if there are no instructions dedicated to VoIP applications in Intel's chips, it's unlikely that Intel's dual-core chips are demonstrably more powerful than AMD's when it comes to hosting VoIP conference calls. In fact, third-party reviewers gave AMD dual-core chips an edge over Intel's last year, though Intel has closed the gap with the recent introduction of the Core Duo processor.
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AMD executives argue that any exclusivity clauses in Intel's partnerships are nothing more than an extension of its so-called market development funds, which provide PC makers with marketing money in exchange for displaying an Intel logo on their boxes, said Hal Speed, a marketing architect with AMD.
Intel's Kircos declined to comment on whether Skype was provided with marketing funds in exchange for making the multiperson conference calling feature exclusive to Intel under a similar program. But Intel's engineers did do the work needed to tweak Skype's software to accept Intel's chips as the default processor for those types of conference calls, he said.
Intel's Kircos declined to comment on whether Skype was provided with marketing funds in exchange for making the multiperson conference calling feature exclusive to Intel under a similar program. But Intel's engineers did do the work needed to tweak Skype's software to accept Intel's chips as the default processor for those types of conference calls, he said.
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"Grand Theft Auto: Vice City" was released in the U.S. on Sony's PlayStation 2 console in 2002 before making its way to the PC and Microsoft's Xbox in 2003. That limited exclusivity for one of the hottest video games ever released was a boon for PlayStation 2 sales, and Sony currently enjoys a dominant position in the console market, even though the Xbox and a standard PC are considered more powerful devices.
The same could soon be true for the PC market, which has always been about performance even as Intel has retreated from its strategy of emphasizing clock speed as the ultimate indicator of processing power. "If the technology is close enough that it becomes a wash in the consumer's mind, it could be the content that makes the buying decision clearer," Krewell said.
The same could soon be true for the PC market, which has always been about performance even as Intel has retreated from its strategy of emphasizing clock speed as the ultimate indicator of processing power. "If the technology is close enough that it becomes a wash in the consumer's mind, it could be the content that makes the buying decision clearer," Krewell said.
Source 2
Summary: Skype identifies the processor being intel dual core, and allows it to host 10 people conference call. They have claimed it is performance issue, that other processors do not have enough power to process such a call. Intel representative has said that there are NO instructions on its processors to make it have better performance on VoIP, which makes it easy to see that there are no real reasons for limiting these conference calls just for Intel-platforms. Actually, AMD has beaten Intel's dual-core processors in processing power pretty well, and this has happened even in Intel-sponsored tests. Skype has declined to comment the subject..
