Keynote : Convergence
The entire world is running on evolution - this is something which we have always seen with the transition from Arpanet to the Internet and with the movement from the standard analogue phone to the mobile cell phone. There needs to be a roll out for high-tech infrastructure and many countries are adopting this. For example in Jordan and Dubai the rollout of fiber to the homes and offices is already occurring - slowly people are realizing that without such occurrences economies will suffer.
Within this evolution there is also a continued functionality and a reduced cost - it doesn't follow inflation as Barrett puts it.
Convergence and Silicon Photonics
Intel has been following up with the convergence look at things with the bonding of the computing/fast logic and the mixed signal - the wireless, switching, and fiber technologies.
Intel have been developing a new technology which is called "Silicon Photonics" - I know, it sounds worse than it really is - the bonding of the silicon and optical components - enabling optical modulation. The modulation is available via phase shifting - this can enable the slow down of the speed of light via a voltage increase. This enabled the optical transmission via Intel silicon.
A year ago Intel showed us the first silicon filter; at fall IDF Intel showed us ECL tuned filters. The future will be multiple modulators on the same die. Intel also have a SIGE platform for the translation of the optical communication back in to a digital signal - which the CMOS can understand. Currently optical technology is very expensive and not widely adopted due to this - but with this new creation of a silicon based convertion it will enable the roll out of fibre to occur - this is an evolution in the eyes of the optical data transfer.
The nanotechnology is currently at .13 which is 70nm in length over the coming year we will see this move to .09 micron (90nm) then lower - and by 2009 we will see .032 micron (32nm) processes - this means that the cores can become smaller with the chance of more transistors being mounted on the same amount of silicon. Intel has software which analyses the signal from a microscope which can enable them to remove the noise via a mathematical algorithm to make a clear picture. This does not stop in the silicon side - it can also be used within the biological sector where scientists can see more detail within viruses for example.
