Crossroads for Wintel?
Microsoft and Intel have leveraged their symbiotic relationship to dominate the PC industry, but that relationship may be at a crossroads.
Speaking at IDC's Directions 98 conference, analyst Dave Vellante today outlined how the "Wintel" dominance came about as a result of a series of misfires and miscues from competitive forces, specifically IBM, Apple, Lotus, and the Unix camp.
Interestingly enough, the two allies seem to have embarked upon expansive business strategies that may place their respective interests at odds. In its effort to move into high-end corporate enterprise computers, Intel has begun to work with Unix vendors such as Sun Microsystems and the Santa Cruz Operation. These companies will compete for corporate customers and relationships with large computer vendors against Microsoft's Windows NT when Intel's 64-bit Merced chip comes out.
"The best thing that can happen to Intel is every operating system runs great on Merced. That's the worst thing that can happen for Microsoft," he said. "Intel is basically hardware agnostic."
By contrast, Microsoft is working with a plethora of chip vendors on its Windows CE and WebTV efforts. Thus far, Intel's efforts in small devices markets have not panned out.
Still, the historical alliance will likely continue working to the benefit of both. Vellante suggested that both companies will gain from their stated goals of moving into enterprise, or corporate, computing.
"Intel's current share in enterprise is 15 percent, growing to 60 percent by 2002," he said. By comparison, Microsoft will jump from 5 percent market share to almost one-third of the market by 2002. "By all accounts, enterprise will be a very successful endeavor for 'Wintel,'" he said.