Linux Sidelined in Intel’s Mobile Future

Intel is riding the Linux bandwagon into the desktop, server room and
data center, but the chip-making giant may be under-serving the mobile worker
in 2010.

The Santa Clara, Calif.-based company has been on the
road of late, outlining its vision of the mobile office worker a mere
six years from now. A demonstration viewed by internetnews.com and
other press and analysts last week followed a typical field worker as he
wirelessly maneuvered his way through airports, coffee kiosks, customer
calls and overnight hotel accommodations. The scenario depends heavily on
three elements: a Centrino-enabled notebook, a multi-band mobile phone and a
Bluetooth headset.

Anand Chandrasekher, Intel vice president and general manager of its
Mobile Platforms Group, said Intel’s chips can power and best optimize all
three pieces of the puzzle — especially in the notebook space — but it is
not necessary for its XScale processors to be present in the handset or the
headset.

“While some of the elements of this demonstration are already available,
others are a few years out,” he said.

One of those technologies happens to be the operating system.
Chandrasekher said key to the 2010 recipe is Microsoft’s
next-generation operating system, code-named Longhorn. Commercial versions
of the OS are not due until 2006, but already Intel and Microsoft are collaborating on a few areas to make the systems run together, including the
BIOS
layer; Intel’s client security technology, code-named LaGrande;
and its anti-buffer overflow technology, the Trusted Platform Module
(TPM).

So what about the current versions of desktop and embedded Linux as
alternatives? Chandrasekher told internetnews.com he didn’t think that
would happen until well after the Intel/Microsoft combination came to
fruition.

“They [the Linux distributions] are just not there yet,” he said. “I
don’t know what it would take to get them up to speed with where we are with
Microsoft, but it will take a lot of work to get to that point.”

Your Mobile Office in 2010

According to Intel, the future mobile worker is able to traverse multiple
wireless hotspots to perform tasks such as placing VoIP calls
, managing client information, fighting viruses
and recharging batteries — without doing much more than walking around and
clicking a few buttons.

“Imagine what would happen if mobile computing were truly seamless, fully
connected, fully charged and fully functional?” Chandrasekher asked.

In the demonstration example, the mobile office worker could use the
integrated VoIP and Bluetooth headset to give commands to the laptop, which
automatically connects to a context-aware CRM application. The
worker later watches a DVD in low-power mode and installs a virus patch via
the operating system, which runs in the background. The constant connection
is supplied by a bevy of co-existing wireless standards including 3G, WCDMA,
UMTS, 802.11 (Wi-Fi), 802.16 (WiMAX), Ultra Wideband (UWB) and RFID.

Intel’s demonstration also included recharging the laptop by placing it
atop a specially designed table at a Starbucks kiosk.

Can the Penguin Fly?

Logically, the mobile office worker could run Linux in all of the key
elements of Chandrasekher’s vision.

This is not to say that Intel has no vested interest in mobile Linux. The
No. 1 chipmaker has a well-established relationship with MontaVista Software
to power its XScale processors. Sunnyvale, Calif.-based MontaVista makes a
Consumer Electronics Edition that targets Intel’s “Bulverde
processors.

Already, enterprise Linux runs on the desktop. HP even
went so far as to debut
its first laptop shipping with Linux this week.

For the handset, MontaVista’s Consumer Electronics Edition is
complimented by its Professional Edition. Version 3.0 of the software
addresses Intel’s handset chips like the PXAx series 210, 250, and 261, as
well as its communications processors like its IXPx family (1200/2400/2800).

Even Intel has white papers suggesting that mobile applications built
with its tools can use a debug monitor (such as Redboot) to run
applications, or can be targeted for an OS Environment (Linux). The GnuPro
tools are designed to work on three different host types: Microsoft Windows
NT, Red Hat Linux and Sun Solaris.

“If you were targeting Linux, you would have to use inline assembly with
operand constraints. Running the modified code on a PocketPC device with
Preload enabled (distance = 4), you obtain the following the VTune
analyzer,” the white paper said.

But Chandrasekher said for now Intel remains more committed to Microsoft
for its mobile enterprise customers.

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