Intel shows off Moorestown platform; Father of Atom!

TAIPEI, TAIWAN: There were quite a few treats in store for delegates at the recently held Fall Intel Developer Forum (IDF) at Taipei! The very opening day had some real specials, such as having a sneak peek at the world's first working Moorestown platform, getting to meet the Father of the Atom processor, , writing emails using voice dictation on MIDs, etc.

In his opening keynote on Day 1 at the IDF: Innovating a New Reality, Anand Chandrasekher, Senior Vice President, General Manager, Ultra Mobility Group, Intel Corp., said: "It is a world in transformation. There have been 3 billion new entrants in the global economy. The resilience of the global economy has been incredibly strong. The Internet has equalized the level-playing field."

He added how technology innovation and strong industry collaboration have driven the digital economy over the past 40 years, and the universal impact that the Internet and mobile Web has had in people's lives.

"Technology innovation is the catalyst for new user experiences, industry collaborations and business models that together will shape the next 40 years," said Chandrasekher. "As the next billion people connect to and experience the Internet, significant opportunities lie in the power of technology and the development of purpose-built devices that deliver more targeted computing needs and experiences."

Asia's growing might

Chandrasekher added: "IT is more important today, than it has ever been over the last 20 years. Asia has been playing a dramatic role." In fact, in 2007, Asia accounted for over 25 percent of Intel's revenue. "Look at the PC companies. ASUS, Acer, Lenovo, etc., are now in the top 10. The number of PCs in China exceeds the US's population. There are more handsets in Taiwan than the people in Taiwan," he highlighted. As for the Internet, Asia is now the fastest growing region online.

The foundation of the Internet is silicon, whose foundation is the Intel architecture (IA). Chandrasekher said: "It is the ecosystem for growth, tomorrow. If you don't have the tools to drive the Internet ecosystem, you have fallen behind." As a comparison, during 1971, the 4004 processor had 2,250 transistors. In 2008, the Core 2 Quad processor has 820 million transistors. It also consumes 93 percent less power.

"Process is one piece of the foundation. Architecture is the other," he added.

Welcome Nehalem!

Chandrasekher next focused on the upcoming Nehalem microarchitecture, which, he said, has an extremely energy efficient design. "We have introduced the turbo mode and dynamic power management. We have hyper-threading technology as well." He pointed out that Intel has a 32nm version of the Nehalem, which should be out soon. "There has been a huge performance increase, almost 2X, with Nehalem."

According to him, developers love parallel programming and the Intel IA. "We are giving the Larabee. It increases the throughput performance and the programmability."

Father of the Atom an Indian!

The IDF delegates were provided a rare treat when Chandrasekher introduced Belliappa Kuttanna, Senior Principle Engineer, Chief Architect Intel Atom Processor, whom he dubbed as ''the father of Atom,'' during the opening day keynote.

When asked about specific challenges faced while developing the Atom processor, Kuttanna said, "It was pretty challenging to reduce the power levels, while maintaining the balance with Intel architecture."

The Atom processor has brought about a fundamental shift in design, and was launched at the Shanghai IDF.

The Atom processor is said to be addressing four market segments: embedded, consumer electronics, mobile Internet devices (MIDs), and netbooks and net-tops.

Intel demos world's first working Moorestown platform

The event's showstopper: a live video from a Moorestown lab in Taiwan, which also demonstrated the world's first working Moorestown platform! The Moorestown platform is scheduled for 2009-2010 timeframe.

Moorestown comprises of an SoC, codenamed "Lincroft," which integrates the 45nm processor, graphics, memory controller and video encode/decode onto a single chip and an I/O hub codenamed "Langwell", which supports a range of I/O ports to connect with wireless, storage, and display components in addition to incorporating several board level functions. Chandrasekher also showed off a ''Moorestown'' wafer to the delegates.

The immersive Web

The digital home has been dubbed as the TV-Internet ecosystem. "Consumers love the rich, social experience of the TV. They can't get it on the Internet," added Chandrasekher. "We are merging the TV and PC worlds seamlessly."

The Intel executive highlighted the CE 3100 media processor, which is said to be the first optimized media processor for consumer electronics, a third-generation SoC. He cited Yahoo's example of the "Cinematic Internet."

Focusing on the embedded segment, Chandrasekher added: "Fifteen billion devices will get connected by 2015. People will interact 24x7 with the Internet. Embedded will be everywhere. Devices will be built for specific applications." Consequently, he felt that mobile Internet would explode. "Social networking today accounts for 27 percent of all traffic on the Internet. Rich media and social networking are driving the immersive Web," he said.

Send emails using voice dictation

Intel's partners took the opportunity to showcase their products and solutions. Eric Montague, vice president, Asia Pacific sales, Nuance, demonstrated two applications: one, sending email using voice dictation easily, even via a Bluetooth headset, and two, doing a voice search on the Web, over an MID.

Montague said: "We are leveraging on the power of the Atom processor on the MID. The Atom is built for mobility." It was no surprise that the IDF saw as many as 38 MID designs, 50 netbook designs, and over 70 net-top designs.

Next, Jonney Shih, chairman, ASUS, demonstrated an ultra-slim netbook. Shih said: "We have been able to achieve a compact design with low power. Besides a lot of our Eee PC products, we will implement the Atom processor into our eTops, eBoxes, etc. Our Eee family of products answers to the future evolution. We are also very excited about Moorestown."

WiMAX and broadband key

A robust broadband infrastructure is key for delivering an ultimate full Internet experience. Intel has been aggressively promoting WiMAX, which has so far had about 407 deployments in 133 countries.

Chandrasekher took time out to introduce Atish Gude, senior vice president, mobile broadband operations, Sprint. For the reference, the entire city of Baltimore is now on XOHM, a Sprint network. Speaking on this particular deployment, Gude said: "The in-building coverage has been fantastic. You know that our network is not complete yet. However, we have not had even one issue with our systems yet! Our highlight has been offering embedded devices."

Chandrasekher wrapped up his session adding that innovation had been his theme. He also highlighted the fact that Intel has been investing in education in over 50 countries. Intel invests over $100 million annually on education.

Inventing new realities

Earlier, welcoming the delegates at the Intel IDF, Taipei, Navin Shenoy, Vice President, Sales and Marketing Group, General Manager, Asia-Pacific Region, Intel Corp., said that computing has now become indispensable. Yet, users can't be satisfied!

"The Intel IDF is all about inventing new realities," he added. "The Internet continues to grow despite the recession!"

There are over 1 billion Internet users today. While it took 25 years to reach the first 1 billion users, it will only take about five years to add another 1 billion users.

Shenoy added: "Only 20 percent of the first billion were from the emerging markets. Over 50 percent users of the next billion will be from the emerging markets." He added that Intel expected Taiwan to play a huge role as well.

Shenoy was also excited about the Nehalem processor, which should launch within the next 30 days or so.