Rambus said it would demonstrate working XDR DRAM prototypes during Intel Developer Forum in San Francisco next week The chip-to-chip interface developer did not elaborate whether its new memory would work in a device or would be just showcased during the show.

Samsung Electronics and Toshiba Corporation are reportedly going to showcase their XDR DRAM prototypes in the Rambus booth (502) at the 2004 Intel Developer Forum (IDF) being held February 17–19, 2004 at the Moscone Center in San Francisco, California. Toshiba is said to demo its 512Mb XDR product, Samsung is expected to reveal its 3.20GHz XDR DRAMs.

XDR DRAMs are based on Rambus’s XDR memory interface technology. Three of the key innovations include: Differential Rambus Signalling Level (DRSL) – a bi-directional differential signalling technology offering a high-performance, low-power, and cost-effective solution for getting bandwidth on and off chip; Octal Data Rate (ODR) – a technology that enables eight bits of data to be transferred on each clock edge; and FlexPhase – a circuit architecture that enables precise data transfer and simplifies system designs. XDR DRAMs are designed for high-performance broadband applications, including digital consumer electronics, network systems and graphics systems.

“We are pleased that Toshiba and Samsung are in the process of sampling XDR DRAMs and look forward to their ramp to volume production later this year and into 2005,” a Rambus spokesperson said.

RDRAM was never popular in the PC market and will hardly ever become in future. However, RDRAM is used across a wide range of applications that are extremely powerful and cost-effective.

In case of XDR the Los Altos, California-based company also promises strong cost-efficiency as well as breakthrough performance. So far there is at least one company that will adopt XDR DRAM technology – Sony with its PlayStation 3 console. However, the console is due in late 2006, whereas Rambus anticipates volume production of XDR to start this year, whereas the original schedule of mass production was in 2006. So far no company announced XDR-based systems to come in 2005, but maybe there is something exciting coming?