Cloud buzz bandwagon
Intel does mention that it anticipates a change in the software market that will see customers paying on a "per use" basis as opposed to the current practice of high up-front capital investment and outright purchase of software applications.
Intel quotes an anonymous analyst report claiming the market for cloud services could reach €150.1 billion by 2013, some three times its current value. No wonder Intel's ears have pricked up then.
This particular market segment is also apparently driving the growth of data centers, "expected to be the fastest growing contributor to the ICT sector's carbon footprint (seven per cent growth by 2020)." Intel says analysts have also identified three core topics: Energy Efficient ICT Implementations, New Computing Architectures, and ICT Enabling Energy Efficiency, which "require additional understanding and research." Well, we certainly agree they require more understanding, because it's still not clear where Intel is headed with all this.
But at the end of the day, Intel doesn't need you to know what its announcement means. The processing behemoth just wants you all to know that in SAP it has found a "strong and symbiotic relationship," and that its new joint lab will provide a "unique" environment for "bi-lateral research."
Fair enough.
