Elbrus CPUs are designed to replace Intel and AMD computer processors. It has been reported that Russia is trying to challenge the US monopoly on the global IT market. However, Russia’s IT companies have not had a stellar performance so far.
To take on the Americans, the Russian Federation has formed BRICS ICT, an IT-oriented wing of BRICS, the association of five major emerging national economies, namely Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.
I beg to wonder if that is why Intel decided a couple days ago to complete its $7 billion Chandler Arizona plant that is started in 2014...
https://financialtribune.com/articles/economy-sci-tech/57960/russia-to-sell-computer-processors-to-iran
OK... Something I personally have a little experience with... While it is fine to sell the processors to attempt to undercut Intel, it is a very difficult thing to do in reality. The processor is only part of the issue. The other part is you have to have peripherals that work with the processor such as ram and motherboards. Then you have to software that runs on the processors. There are 4 flavors of major software that would have to be modified to work with the new hardware. Windows, Mac, Linux and current UNIX will work with AMD and Intel processors. So when you create a new processor, the software will not work without modifications. That means that you can not use anything that is not custom made.
ReplyDeleteBecause this is something new, that also means there are security vulnerabilities that develop due to not having a history that has been patched. This also means there is little to no comparability with exiting systems.
This will put Iran in a more backwards position than it is now.
Interesting reflection, Anthony. I came across an article from 1992 that might prove somewhat enlightening: http://www.nytimes.com/1992/03/03/business/russian-computer-scientists-hired-by-american-company.html AND of course with so many Americans using one of the best malware products on the market---supplied by Kaspersky---I guess the overall IT knowledge in Russia and China remains some of the best in the world. Not sure how backwards Iran will be from this, even if the country may be more beholden to its benfactors, and the US may have more difficulty accessing systems. What do you think?
DeleteI have not heard of "Elbrus CPUs" until now, so thank you for sharing this article. I use an Intel processor in my laptop and an AMD processor in my desktop; both work very well. Unless these Elbrus chips are very cheap with high performance, I can't see Iran benefiting a lot from the chips. Intel and AMD have been around for over 40 years, so I do not think they will be threatened too much by Elbrus.
ReplyDeleteHere's an article from PCWorld (2015) that basically rips on Elbrus processors and computers. Unless the processor performance has been boosted by a lot since 2015, I don't see them as a threat to Intel or AMD!
http://www.pcworld.com/article/2920988/russias-homegrown-elbrus-processor-and-pc-would-be-fantastic-in-1999.html
- Kevin Rindfleisch