As all other IDFs, the 2007IDF (Intel Developer Forum) had a lot of technology updates for the IT industry. The conference highlighted the significance of 32 nm process, MIDs, WiMAX etc. In an interaction with CIOL, Sandeep Shah, Director Mobility Group, Intel Technology India Pvt Ltd, talks in detail about these technology updates.

CIOL: What exactly are Mobile Internet Devices (MID) that were being spoken about at the IDF (Intel Developer Forum)? What is the contribution of Intel India Centre in developing MID?
SS: Mobile Internet Devices are not fully functional PCs. However, they are a very good extension of phones. Since most Web applications are tuned to IA (Internet appliances), one can have a much richer experience on the Web using MIDs. Some part of the work of MID is being done in the India. We focus more on the side of optimizing the platforms on power and thermal management. Thermal management has become a very big challenge for mobile devices.

CIOL: Why do you think IA will work now when it didn’t work earlier?
SS: I think, sometimes you are ahead of time. Eight to nine years ago, the market was not ready for it. We think there is a great market for IA now, based on feedback from our customers. Take the example of the iPhone. You can see how many units have been sold over the past two months. We are trying to use the IA in many different form factors. We are using the IA to find specific solutions for different form factors like notebooks, servers, MIDs.

CIOL: When will these MIDs be launched? What is the roadmap ahead?
SS: We have a cadence of at least one product every year, which has a major change or a major feature differentiation from the previous year.