Experiences lead devices
Intel boss Paul Otellini officially launched IDF San Francisco 2011 with a keynote address detailing his vision for the company.
Otellini, soon to complete 10 years as president and chief executive officer, kicked off his speech by indicating the computing industry is still yet to undergo fundamental transformations that will move the focus from single-device computing to experiences, he said.
Experiences such as YouTube, Facebook and Twitter run on multiple devices, meaning that no one device is key. Experiences will drive up the need for always-connected devices and, in turn, the transistors that are the beating heart of any computer. Otellini indicated that an exponential growth in transistor production and usage will be needed to keep pace.
Smaller is better
Intel is on-track to produce '3D' transistors right down to a 14nm process and is actively working on new technologies to enable production of still-smaller transistors.
But coming back to today, Otellini said that technology needs to be engaging, consistent and secure. Illustrating the first point is an Intel-led initative to launch a new category of laptops called ultrabooks.
Ultrabooks will succeed
Intel China chief Sean Maloney briefly outlined ultrabooks back at COMPUTEX in May 2011. These super-slim laptops aim to shoehorn mid-range notebook power into a smaller, thinner, lighter form factor, right down to 1kg, while not compromising on connectivity - you'll be seeing partners launch models with Thunderbolt technology, for example. We'll know more about ultrabooks during tomorrow's keynote.
These ultrabooks will initially be powered by second-generation Core processors but will transition to Ivy Bridge, the next microarchitecture, when it's released some time 'next year'. Otellini then confirmed that the Haswell chip architecture, the follow-on to Ivy Bridge, is also on-track for 2013.
Haswell's low-power profile will help reduce always-connected power by 30 per cent compared to today's Core chips, provide 'all-day' battery life and offer 10 days of standby, always-connected-to-the-web time.
More than one device
But Intel recognises devices cannot now exist in isolation, as noted above. Otellini commented that Intel is working hard to increase interoperability between always-connected devices. We saw a few demos showing pictures and video transferred between devices, though just how this is new wasn't made clear.
The McAfee question - DeepSAFE
Intel paid $7.7bn for security specialist McAfee in August 2010. We've not heard a great deal since the purchase went through. However, during his keynote, Otellini highlighted some of the progress made with integrating McAfee's security knowledge into Intel hardware.
Soon to launch DeepSAFE into select Intel chips equipped with virtualisation technology, the hardware-based solution can identify harmful rootkits via kernel-mode detection. This means it should be work better than traditional software solutions which can't detect viruses that embed into the operating system itself.
We'll see chips and products with DeepSAFE technology later this year, he said.
Summary
Intel is a silicon company first and foremost. It remains excellent at producing cutting-edge silicon that powers the vast majority of PCs produced today. There's a fairly robust roadmap set for the next few years and there's little reason to doubt that the chip giant will continue to generate significant revenue year-on-year.
Intel's playing its cards safe; there were no revelatory launches during the keynote, but perhaps that's the entire point.
