Benchmarks and IP

FiringSquad: Can you tell us why RDRAM systems haven't really outperformed SDRAM systems in many online benchmarks?

Many traditional benchmarks have not focused on memory subsystems, but rather only on the CPU. As processor speeds continue to increase towards a gigahertz and beyond, overall performance will be determined more and more by memory system performance.

Many of the latest reviews indicate that the performance gap between RDRAM-based systems and SDRAM-based systems increases as processor speed rises. And as more advanced features are integrated into CPUs in the future, memory system performance will become even more important.

FiringSquad: What kind of benchmarks would best show RDRAM's bandwidth advantage?

On our web site Rambus has linked to the most recent benchmarks which accurately measure Rambus memory improvements in systems today (see the Industry Talk section at www.rambus.com).

FiringSquad: How many patents does Rambus currently hold?

Rambus holds over 80 patents to date.

FiringSquad: Can you tell us about the Hitachi lawsuit? What is the purpose of the suit? The ITC involvement?

Rambus is asking for the Federal District Court of Delaware to halt the importation and sale in the United States of the infringing Hitachi memory and microprocessor products. In the case of the ITC, it includes both Hitachi memory and microprocessor products and the Sega Dreamcast game consoles. In April, Rambus also filed a patent infringement suit against Hitachi in Germany.