MOORE'S LAW TO ACCELERATE
CONVERGENCE
OF COMPUTING, COMMUNICATIONS
Intel Outlines
Standards-Based Approach to Communications
INTEL DEVELOPER FORUM, MUNICH, Germany, May 28,
2002 - Intel Corporation's showcase for hardware and software developers opened
today at Munich's International Congress Centre. The two-day Intel Developer
Forum offers more than 1,000 developers, engineers and other technical experts
the opportunity to attend technical tracks and hear keynote addresses from three
top Intel executives sharing their foresight on the convergence of computing and
communications.
Intel Chief Technology Officer Pat
Gelsinger demonstrated the extension and expansion of Moore's Law, which,
formulated three decades ago, has become a guiding post for the technology
industry. He outlined Intel's intention to expand the benefits associated with
Moore's Law (high rate of innovation and decreasing cost) beyond computing and
into communications. In his keynote, Gelsinger expanded on "Radio-Free Intel,"
an R&D effort designed to integrate wireless capabilities into Intel silicon to
enable the industry to make wireless communication more ubiquitous.
Using examples, Gelsinger demonstrated three
technologies fundamental to the expansion of Moore's Law and Radio Free Intel,
which are under development at the company's extensive R&D network: Silicon
Radios that use Micro Electronic Mechanical Systems (MEMS) to enable radios with
intelligent roaming software to be broadly deployed delivering the promise of
"always connected" communications; wireless, self-organizing Sensor Networks
which combine silicon advances driven by Moore's Law with communications network
research to enable thousands of small, embedded sensing devices to wirelessly
connect; and Silicon-based Optical Switching that marries digital logic
functionality and silicon-based opto-electronic devices on a single chip with
the goal of reducing the cost of optical links up to 100-fold and broadening
high-speed communications.
"Europe has expertise in many of the areas
showcased today, including MEMS, wireless and optical," Gelsinger said. "The
developers here in the room today have the opportunity to shape and drive the
landscape of these technologies. I would like to challenge this audience to
start thinking about how they could integrate these future technologies into
actual products to deliver new benefits to people."
Modular Communications
Transitions in worldwide economic, regulatory
and technology environments are presenting tremendous opportunities to create
new advances and business success in the communications market, said Sean
Maloney, executive vice president and general manager of the Intel
Communications Group. One transition, as discussed today in his keynote speech,
is a movement away from expensive proprietary approaches to building equipment
and toward a modular approach based on industry-standard building blocks.
"The communications industry has
experienced 10 years of change in the last year with significant reductions in
revenue, personnel and R&D spending," Maloney said. "The companies that will
emerge successfully from this economic slump are the ones embracing a more rapid
and cost-effective modular design approach."
Maloney, who spent the first nine years of his
20-year Intel career in Europe, shared that Intel is working with the industry,
communications equipment vendors in particular, to accelerate a transition to
this new modular approach.
Maloney made news during his keynote by
announcing the Intel® PRO/Wireless 5000 LAN Dual Band Access Point, which allows
for simultaneous Wi-Fi (IEEE 802.11b) and Wi-Fi5 (IEEE 802.11a) connections to
the same device. In European countries where the use of 802.11a products has
been approved in specific bands of the 5,2 GHz frequency, the Access Point will
support both 802.11a and 802.11b. In other countries, the Access Point will
support 802.11b only and will be upgradeable to support 802.11a at a later
stage. This makes the Intel dual-mode access point a great future proof
investment, Maloney said, adding that Intel recently announced it is developing
a dual-band wireless LAN chipset that will be available in Intel products later
this year.
Maloney's keynote also delved in Intel's
investments in R&D and capital expenditures, and how they will result in
industry-leading silicon solutions in the core focus areas of optical
interconnects, network processing and Ethernet. Maloney pointed out that Intel
spent $1.2 billion in communications related research and development last year
while many industry players were cutting back. Intel has invested heavily in
manufacturing process technology, which will enable the company to begin
manufacturing some of its communications products on 90-nanometer technology by
next year, more than a year ahead of competitors.
Howard Bubb, vice president and general manager
of Intel's Network Processing Group, expanded on the modular communications and
standardized solutions themes addressed by Maloney.
"European communications and network equipment
providers are laying a leading role in the transition from proprietary solutions
to standard, modular communications solutions," Bubb said.
As part of Intel's commitment in this area,
Bubb in his keynote announced that Intel has outlined a blueprint for a standard
modular communications platform that will enable the communications industry to
transition from proprietary systems to standard modular implementations of
communications equipment and servers.
Bubb also stated that Intel and other industry
leaders have begun development of Advanced Telecom Computing Architecture (AdvancedTCA(tm)),
an industry standard blade and chassis form factor specification that is
optimized for communications, and is destined to be the required hardware
standard for the modular platform.
About IDF
The Intel Developer Forum is the technology industry's premier event for
hardware and software developers. Held worldwide throughout the year, IDF brings
together key industry players to discuss cutting-edge technology and products
for PCs, servers, communications equipment, and handheld clients. For more
information on IDF and Intel technology, visit
http://developer.intel.com.
Intel, the world's largest chip maker, is also a
leading manufacturer of computer, networking and communications products.
Additional information about Intel is available at
www.intel.com/pressroom.
