Intel acquires Rivet Networks

[Electrollium]

Intel has acquired Rivet Networks, a NIC company originally known as Bigfoot Networks. (formally also part of Qualcomm)

Known for their Killer branded devices, this acquirement may lead to more advanced network solutions for enthusiasts.

A few key notes/takeaways:

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Intel is set to keep the Killer brand and integrate it into its portfolio of products.

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Rivet Networks have also developed a number of technologies to its portfolio, including supporting switch-like mechanics for multi-controller systems, or Wi-Fi extension services through time-muxing the Wi-Fi modem.

All these technologies will now fall under the Intel umbrella.

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This new acquisition for Intel will enable an element of Ethernet traffic monitoring and optimization the portfolio has not had before, but it will be interesting to see how Intel hands the acquisition compared to when Qualcomm Atheros acquired Rivet Networks some years ago.

Link:

https://www.anandtech.com/show/15809/intel-acquires-rivet-networks-killer-networking-is-all-in-for-team-blue

[NumLock21]

I wonder what Intel's marketing team is going to come up this time. I trust that they will continue to be as professional as possible

*reads Intel marketing slide MEGATASKING!!!*

 

Nevermind

[Arika]

Maybe they can can killer not a huge pile of shit 

[divito]

Ah, nostalgia. 14 years later and Killer is still going.

[Bombastinator]

I want to know why the marketing department thinks they’re the Kings of megatas.  I also want to know what a megata is.

[Soppro]

Hmm ... what could they possibly gain from this acquisition

[kakik09]

11 minutes ago, Soppro said:

Hmm ... what could they possibly gain from this acquisition

They've milked Skylake and their existing fabs to the bone. Their next logical step to keep wooing us is a more robust ecosystem. Intel CPU, Intel chipset with Intel NIC, with Thunderbolt, Optane, etc. you name it. Adding the 'Killer' brand probably just to woo gamers more. That said, Alder lake can't come fast enough because no amount of stickers on a motherboard's box will help them in the benchmarks. 

[RejZoR]

Everyone pissing on Killer and I'm here with Killer E2200 NIC on my MSI mobo and I like it. It's been working great for many years.

[rogerwilco91]

3 hours ago, kakik09 said:

They've milked Skylake and their existing fabs to the bone. Their next logical step to keep wooing us is a more robust ecosystem. Intel CPU, Intel chipset with Intel NIC, with Thunderbolt, Optane, etc. you name it. Adding the 'Killer' brand probably just to woo gamers more. That said, Alder lake can't come fast enough because no amount of stickers on a motherboard's box will help them in the benchmarks. 

Remember when Intel also made motherboards? That would complete the ecosystem...

[Kilrah]

Hopefully they'll fix the crap that it currently is, IMO having a Killer wifi NIC is actually a drawback, and so it is for some others since there are people who developed hacks to trim it down and avoid the crappy drivers...

[Windows9]

1 minute ago, Kilrah said:

Hopefully they'll fix the crap that it currently is, IMO having a Killer wifi NIC is actually a drawback, and so it is for some others since there are people who developed hacks to trim it down and avoid the crappy drivers...

Yeah, drivers arn't too good but performance is pretty decent especially over longer distances

[Kilrah]

Not exactly my experience when my frigging Dell disconnects when 4m away from my router with just a wooden wall inbetween... 

[Void Master]

2 hours ago, rogerwilco91 said:

Remember when Intel also made motherboards? That would complete the ecosystem...

Good days man...

I love Intel motherboards.

Change my mind.

 

[RejZoR]

1 hour ago, Windows9 said:

Yeah, drivers arn't too good but performance is pretty decent especially over longer distances

Don't really have issues with their wired NIC. Good old E2200 and it has been very reliable the entire time.

[Bombastinator]

4 hours ago, rogerwilco91 said:

Remember when Intel also made motherboards? That would complete the ecosystem...

I’ve still got one of those in my backup machine.  They used to do them as reference designs.  Much as Nvidia and AMD do with gpu cards.  I guess they no longer need to.  Industry maturation.  I suspect that means AMD and Nvidia reference cards will eventually go too

[kakik09]

8 hours ago, rogerwilco91 said:

Remember when Intel also made motherboards? That would complete the ecosystem...

I didn't until just now. Darn I remember watching an LTT vid on an X58 board with their signature skull on it. They probably won't bring it back at the risk of alienating existing partnerships. 

[NumLock21]

This is the reason why you should never make your name cringe, because once you want to expand your product beyond 12 year olds, it will come back and bite you right in the rear end.

Imagine in a meeting with investors, you start to build hype to get them excited, then showed them KILLER!, They will all just walk out.

[jagdtigger]

I guess intel is in dire need of "killer" features.....

[Electrollium]

To be fair, Killer at this point sounds much better than Gaming. It's been so overused it hurts

[Bombastinator]

I’m sure they’ve done marketing studies.  If they think killer will work as a name and they’ve done their due diligence i suspect it will work.

[orbitalbuzzsaw]

Killer doesn't seem like a great brand to keep around, not a good rep among those in the know

[Bombastinator]

20 minutes ago, orbitalbuzzsaw said:

Killer doesn't seem like a great brand to keep around, not a good rep among those in the know

Perhaps there’s a flaw in the studies or they didn’t do them at all or someone had their thumb on the scale.  Questions would be who is “in the know” in this case, what their specific issue is, and how wide ranging is the opinion. 

[orbitalbuzzsaw]

9 minutes ago, Bombastinator said:

Perhaps there’s a flaw in the studies or they didn’t do them at all or someone had their thumb on the scale.  Questions would be who is “in the know” in this case, what their specific issue is, and how wide ranging is the opinion. 

I suppose most people even who are buying gaming PCs probably don't know / care about the NIC

[descendency]

17 hours ago, Soppro said:

Hmm ... what could they possibly gain from this acquisition

Killer has a huge market with board partners and OEMs because they sell "gaming NICs"

 

Plus, it removes some of intel's competition in the NIC space.