SAN FRANCISCO — Intel continued to woo hardware and software developers Wednesday with its chip making prowess.
Company executives at the Intel Developer Forum outlined the progress of several industry initiatives such as 3GIO, a high speed interconnection technology between devices within the computer; the Intel Personal Client Architecture (PCA) developer network, a support network for wireless developers; and a new Mobility Enabling Program, designed to enhance the future of mobile PCs.
For starters, the Santa Clara, Calif.-based chip making giant showed off its in the works Pentium processor, code-named Prescott, running at 4GHz. The next generation processor, slated for 2003, is based on the Intel NetBurst microarchitecture.
“The Intel Pentium 4 Processor has become the desktop platform of choice for both consumers and business,” says Intel Desktop Platforms Group vice president and co-general manager Louis Burns. “Intel is driving a number of innovative technologies over the next year that will accelerate the digital convergence at home and continue to enhance our desktop platform capabilities, including higher performing processors and revolutionary new form factors.”
Burns says Prescott will, among other things, include Hyper-Threading technology, an Intel technology that allows operating systems to view a single physical processor as if it were two.
On the mobile side, Intel’s forthcoming mobile Intel Pentium 4 Processor — M is expected to include mobile-specific features such as Enhanced SpeedStep technology, and Deeper Sleep for low power state and small mobile packaging for thinner, lighter mobile PCs.
Intle Mobile Platforms Group vice president and general manager Anand Chandrasekher demonstrated the processor’s performance with the first public demo of a soft decode of 1080i (HDTV quality) content on a notebook PC.
Chandrasekher also addressed Banias, the code name for Intel’s next generation mobile processor architecture. The chip will be available in the first half of 2003 along with a related chipset (code named Odem) and is based on a new core design.
Intel says its wireless products are now built around three core technologies — the Intel XScale microarchitecture for applications processing, the Intel Micro Signal Architecture for signal processing and Intel Wireless Flash Memory.
Intel senior vice president Ron Smith says future wireless technology from Intel will mix functions, processing power and memory features onto a single “Wireless Internet on a Chip.” Intel says it is the foundation for its GSM/GPRS (2.5G) and WCDMA (3G) communications processors currently under development.
“Our next-generation technology will provide new levels of performance at low levels of power to enable a class of wireless Internet applications that will help drive the next wave of growth for the wireless industry,” says Smith.
Intel has a 3G communications processor test chip in its labs and will be introducing a 2.5G version based on the Wireless Internet on a Chip technology later this year.
The company says each of the wireless technologies are key ingredients of the Intel Personal Internet Client Architecture, Intel’s development blueprint for designing handheld devices that combine voice communications and Internet access.
Smith introduced Intel PCA hardware and software developer kits for making Intel PCA-optimized devices and applications. The software kit features a tool suite for IBM WebSphere Everyplace Embedded Software optimized for Intel PCA. The Intel PCA Developer Network offers wireless companies development, technical and marketing support for designing cell phones, personal digital assistants and other mobile Internet devices and applications supporting Intel PCA.
