Welcome to Intelworld
2007 marks the 10th year for IDF (Intel Developer Forum) and, boy, it is good to be back in San Francisco! Today is the first 'proper' day of IDF, and it was opened by the doyen of previous forums, Pat Gelsinger, looking lean, mean, and ready to eat the competition alive. Of course, we had the usual statements about it being so exciting and Intel being positively enthusiastic that so many delegates and press managed to attend the anniversary edition. Everything is always good in Intelworld, you see.
The first keynote was taken by Paul Otellini, Intel's CEO, who focused on the shift from extreme to mainstream, with certain products initially launching for the early adopters and then naturally following the trickle-down effect to the mainstream mass market, and, dare we say, mass bucks. We have, of course, seen this through the years and these early adopters often receive products either just after or at the same time as the lucrative workstation or enterprise market. You can often see what will be mainstream by following the high-end products' introduction, Otellini commented somewhat obviously. Intel's quad-core processors are a prime example of such trickle-down technology, as they were initially released as high-end parts and are now available from 'just' £160.
The keynote was split in to 3 main sectors, encompassing history, capabilities, and the 'next mainstream', whatever that may mean.
Carrying on the theme of extreme to mainstream, Otellini commented that tech considered bleeding-edge just a few years ago is now pervasive - just take a look at mobile phones, WiFi-equipped notebooks and Bluetooth headsets - overtly seen in practically every Starbucks today. Today's quad-core processor will be the runt of the litter in a few years, we suppose.
Over the past 40 years, Mr. O. continued, there have been four main innovations that we take for granted today. Talking of these in particular, Intel's jefe had the following to say:
Where can Intel make more money?
Microprocessor - adherence to Moore's Law has ensured that processors have become incredibly complex, and that increase in complexity is going to continue unabated. Intel's committed to releasing new iterations at regular intervals, so we have Penryn and Nehalem to look forward to, with 32nm-based production (Westmere) to follow in 2009.Connectivity - it’s all around us and we feel we have a God-given right to have a wireless connection wherever we are: at airports, hotels, and, of course, within the workplace or home. Intel is committed to building upon the success of Centrino by releasing newer iterations at steady intervals. Tick, tock, bank a lot, we say.
Memory/Flash - there's been explosive growth in solid-state storage and Intel sees this as continuing. To this effect, Intel is branching out further into the solid-state market with a range of SATA 3.0Gb/s drives. More details as we have them.
Power - with mobility and power costs being so important and visible in the press (hey, everyone wants to be environmentally-friendly now, right?) the power-management of products is becoming more key. Otellini purred that it's no longer a pure GHz race; it is, he commented, genuinely about the seemingly oxymoronic balance of lower power and more performance in one package.
Whilst Intel does not claim to have invented all of these products or technologies, which is a comforting admission, it's well-situated to take advantage in each area. Roll on, Mighty Blue!
Ticking and tocking to mighty profits.
