Pentium Chronicles: The People, Passion, and Politics Behind Intel's Landmark Chips

A landmark chip like the P6 or Pentium 4 doesn't just happen. It takes a confluence of brilliant minds, dedication for beyond the ordinary, and management that nurtures the vision while keeping a firm hand on the project tiller.

As chief architect of the P6, Robert Colwell offers a unique perspective as he unfolds the saga of a project that ballooned from a few architects to hundreds of engineers, many just out of school. For more than a treatise on project management, The Pentium Chronicles gives the rationale, the personal triumphs, and the humor that characterized the P6 project, an undertaking that broke all technical boundaries by being the first to try an out-of order, speculative super-scalar architecture in a microprocessor.

In refreshingly down-to-earth language, organized around a framework we wish we had known about then, Chronicles describes the architecture and key decisions that shaped the P6, Intel's most successful chip to date. Colwell's inimitable style will have readers laughing out loud at the project team's creative solutions to well-known problems. From architectural planning in a storage room jimmied open with a credit card, to a marketing presentation using shopping carts, he takes readers through events from the projects beginning through its production. As Colwell himself recognizes, success is all about learning from others, and Chronicles is filled with stories of ordinary and exceptional people and frank assessments of oops moments, like the infamous FDIV bug.

As its subtitle implies, the book looks beyond RTL models and transistors to the Intel culture, often poking fun at corporate policies, like team-building exercises in whichengineers ruthlessly shoot down each other's plans. Whatever your level of computing expertise, Chronicles will delight and inform you, leaving you with a better understanding of what it takes to create and grow a winning product.

"[An] anecdotal account of its development from someone who was in on it from the start...there is something there for everyone about life in a large organization." Cool Tech Reviews

"Such a perfect miscellany of?experiences finely blended with humor and reality is a sumptuous feast for engineers and project managers...marvelous piece of computer history." TechBulletin

"This particular book on the genesis of Intel's groundbreaking P6 programme of the early 1990s...gives us some worthwhile pointers...a worthy book, and worth a recommendation." TechWorld

"This insightful book promises to become a classic, and the reader is warned that it is hard to put down." Computing Reviews.com

"[T]he book will particularly appeal to engineers working in the computing industry." Physics World

Colwell, a consultant with a PhD in computer engineering, co-led the Intel team that conceived Intel's P6 design project that produced the innovative microarchitecture behind its best-selling Pentium chips. He offers insights into the project's goal, phases, personalities, and management "bugs" in the context of the world's largest chip maker's corporate culture. The book includes highlighted bits of wisdom, a P6 primer, and glossary of related terms.
Annotation ©2006 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Colwell, a consultant with a PhD in computer engineering, co-led the Intel team that conceived Intel's P6 design project that produced the innovative microarchitecture behind its best-selling Pentium chips. He offers insights into the project's goal, phases, personalities, and management "bugs" in the context of the world's largest chip maker's corporate culture. The book includes highlighted bits of wisdom, a P6 primer, and glossary of related terms. Annotation ©2006 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Everybody knows Intel, it's one of the most recognizable brand names in the world. The Pentium Chronicles: The People, Passion, and Politics Behind Intel's Landmark Chips offers project manager Robert Colwell's first-hand account of the lessons he learned directing the team that designed and produced the most successful microprocessor in history, Intel-P6. Colwell presents the material in an engaging, accessible manner, revealing both the design and engineering and the management perspective. Engineers and project managers will find the topic of great interest, with lessons applicable to their own projects and careers.

The Pentium Chronicles describes the architecture and key decisions that shaped the P6, Intel's most successful chip to date.  As author  Robert Colwell recognizes, success is about learning from others, and Chronicles is filled with stories of ordinary, exceptional people as well as frank assessments of "oops" moments, leaving you with a better understanding of what it takes to create and grow a winning product.

Robert P. Colwell, PHD, is an independent consultant. He earned his PhD in computer engineering from Carnegie Mellon University in 1985. Named an Intel Fellow (twenty-seven led Intel's Pentium 4 CPU core development. His other contributions at Intel include coleading the team that conceived Intel's P6 microarchitecture, the core of the company's Pentium II, Pentium III, Celeron, Xeon, and Centrino product families. He is the author and contributor to many published papers and chapters and is the inventor or co-inventor on more than forty patents.

Foreword.

Preface.

1. Introduction.

2. The Concept Phase.

3. The Refinement Phase.

4. The Realization Phase.

5. The Production Phase.

6. The People Factor.

7. Inquiring Minds Like Yours.

Bibliography.

Appendix.

Glossary.

Index.