Intel to launch low-voltage chips, focus on digital home

(Clockwise) Visitors scrolling through different stalls in the exhibition area of IDF 2005 in Bangalore. Patrick P Gelsinger, Intel Corporation senior vice president and general manager, Digital Enterprise Group listens to Lenovo managing director during his keynote speech, 'Golden Gate', a ultra slim PC that will hit the market next year and Don McDonald, senior vice president and general manager of Intel's Digital Home Group, talks to the press after his keynote address. PHOTO: STAR

The theme outlined by Patrick P Gelsinger, Intel Corporation senior vice president and general manager, Digital Enterprise Group, revolved around Intel's new platform directions, reducing power consumption and Intel's role in driving innovation. About 1,500 engineers, developers and industry leaders from India and South Asia participated in the two-day annual session held at the Bangalore Palace grounds.

Gelsinger explained how the company's next generation, power-optimised micro-architecture will enable a new category of converged consumer devices for emerging markets, mobile platforms, digital home and the enterprise.

"Intel has combined its R&D innovation, manufacturing and technology leadership with energy-efficient micro-architectures and powerful multi-core processors to deliver unique platforms best tailored to individual needs," said Gelsinger.

IDF devices and chips
Merom, a notebook chip coming in the second half of 2006, is expected to provide substantially more performance than current notebook chips. Another chip coming a few years later is expected to consume a maximum of 5 watts of power, and an ultra-low-voltage version, 0.5 watts. Current Pentium M chips for notebooks consume a maximum of about 27 watts.

Conroe, a desktop relative of Merom coming out at the same time, will consume a maximum of 65 watts. Current Pentium 4s consume close to 95 watts. In servers, Woodcrest will consume a maximum of 80 watts, far less than the 110-watt maximum of today's Xeon processors.

Lower power consumption is vital to PC and handheld makers as chips get ever more powerful. The new architecture behind Merom, Conroe and Woodcrest contains a number of technological enhancements.

Servers: Intel will come out with a dual-core server chip, code-named Paxville, later this year. The initial version of Paxville will fit into two-processor servers. In the second half of 2006, Tulsa, for four-processor servers, will debut along with Woodcrest. Then in 2007, Whitefield, Intel's first four-core processor, will come out. Whitefield is being designed in the company's labs in Bangalore.

Desktops: Presler, a chip out of the Pentium 4 line, will appear in the first half of 2006, while Conroe will follow in the second half.

Notebooks: Yonah, a new notebook chip, will appear in the first part of 2006, before Merom.

Innovations for Emerging Markets
The world's largest chip-maker, has designed a low-cost community PC (personal computer) for launch in rural India by year-end to specifically meet the requirements of India's rural and farming communities. Currently being piloted in 10 locations across India, the Community PC is designed to provide Internet access to entire communities and villages in rural and remote areas.

During his keynote, Gelsinger explained that the Community PC is capable of functioning through the use of a car battery as its back-up energy supply, as electricity supply is sporadic in many rural parts of India. In addition, to meet the unique conditions of rural environs, the computer contains special screens and filters to reduce the amount of dust and insects that can enter the box and impact reliability. The computer has also been designed to handle extreme heat conditions -- more than 38 degrees Celsius (excess of 100 degrees Fahrenheit).

The Community PC is an example of how Intel is driving growth through localised computing solutions. Intel has established platform definition centers in four key markets: Bangalore, India; Cairo, Egypt; Sao Paulo, Brazil; and Shanghani, China. These centers are working on a number of local technology and platform initiatives throughout several countries.

Though the company is yet to announce the price, the community PC is expected to cost less than Rs.10,000 in the Indian rural market.

"We will provide the design to assemblers for building the PC with a better performance. Besides the regular features, the PC will also have wireless Internet access in rural and remote areas,"Intel vice-president said.

"Unlike the standard PCs that operate on 240 volts, the community PC has been designed to run on an 80 volt power source. Its platform has been built to work on AC or DC line," Gelsinger said.

Wireless and Mobility
While addressing innovations in the area of mobility, Gelsinger explained that Intel is involved in several trial deployments around the world to test the feasibility of WiMAX (wireless broadband). These trial deployments has shown how the promise of standards-based wireless broadband can impact the way that businesses and governments work, commerce is conducted and students learn.

Gelsinger also demonstrated several new capabilities planned for the company's next generation mobile platform, codenamed Napa, designed to lower power consumption yet improve graphics and wireless capabilities.

The Indian subsidiary is in talks with the Uttaranchal and Karnataka governments to start pilot projects on Wimax in their respective states.

"We are building the wireless infrastructure so as to gear up for the Community PC in the rural market, whose potential remains to be tapped," said Intel South Asia marketing director Amar Babu.

The Digital Home
Intel has come up with a brand name for home entertainment PCs that the company believes will provide quality experience. Intel 'Viiv' technology (Pronounced "viv" and rhymes with "five") has been designed to enrich consumers' enjoyment of digital entertainment.

PCs with the "Viiv" brand name will start appearing in the first quarter of 2006, said Don McDonald, senior vice president and general manager of Intel's Digital Home Group, in a keynote. It will be easy to use with a remote control, will be powered by a suite of Intel technologies, and surrounded by a number of verified consumer electronics devices, software and online services (including movies, music, photos and games). Intel Viiv technology will help users in a new era of entertainment choices for consumers.

Consumer Electronics Focus
Intel and the PC industry have latched onto consumer electronics as a way to stimulate the fortunes of the PC industry. Along with Microsoft, the companies have had some success selling Media Center PCs that allow users to watch TV, download movies, and play games on their televisions using remote controls. Some PC vendors also sell entertainment PCs, which are slim desktop-like devices that bear a greater resemblance to consumer electronics devices like DVD players or stereo receivers.

Viiv PCs will extend the concept of the living room PC by guaranteeing a quality experience and improved performance, McDonald said. New cool-running dual-core processors like Yonah and Conroe will provide enough performance to stream video content to multiple rooms in a home, he said. A quick-boot process will allow users to push a button and start using the Viiv PCs instantly.

Innovation for the Enterprise
Extending Intel innovation around several key capabilities to improve performance per watt measurements for IT as well as boosting productivity through embedded IT and seamless collaboration efforts, Gelsinger said that Intel platforms and technologies will enable enterprises to proactively prevent problems from occurring in their networks and react more quickly when they occur.

"Intel's new platforms are designed to deliver superior performance and power efficiency in order to increase compute density while reducing the total cost of ownership," said Gelsinger. "Yet we will provide noticible increase in performance as we continue to shift our server and office PC and notebooks to multi-core designs."

Multi-Core Platforms
Multi-core platforms are key to delivering new ways of using technology and providing the horsepower for embedded IT capabilities. A number of platforms were shown and demonstrated at IDF, including ones based on forthcoming and highly scalable dual-core Intel Xeon processors, based on Intel's new micro-architecture.

Now in its ninth year, IDF is the premier global technology forum for hardware and software developers to confer on Intel-based platforms, technologies and solutions, and the new usage models they enable. More than 25,000 technology experts come together at IDF in more than a dozen countries each year.