PC giants battle over the future of PCI

Two camps have formed in the battle to develop a successor to PCI (Peripheral Component Interconnect) - the technology that transfers data around a PC-based system.

Intel is claiming it has gained high-powered support for its NGIO (Next Generation I/O) technology, while the competing triumvirate of Compaq, Hewlett-Packard (HP) and IBM, have announced they intend to develop a bus called Future I/O.

Compaq, HP and IBM will begin their push to promote Future I/O next week when they officially release details of their development work. US reports say the companies are claiming Future I/O will double the clock speed and transfer rate of PCI-X - an extension of PCI which was set at a bus speed of 133MHz and a transfer rate of up to 1Gbps.

But it was Intel which fired the first public relations shot of the year when it announced it had formed a steering committee with Dell, Hitachi, Intel, NEC, Siemens Information Communication Network and Sun Microsystems as a backbone for a group called the NGIO Industry Forum.

Intel is to hold a NGIO conference at the end of February to try and win the hearts and minds of developers. It is believed that the Future I/O camp is trying to organise a conference earlier in the month.