Intel Unveils Mobile, Wireless Chips

SAN JOSE, CALIFORNIA -- Demonstrations of wireless notebook and cell phone processors by Intel executives were the highlights of "Client Day" at the Spring Intel Developer Forum here Wednesday. Keynote speakers also provided a look into the future of Intel technologies on the desktop and the digital living room.

"We want to have a substantial impact on how people work, live, and play around the world," said Louis Burns, vice president and general manager of Intel's desktop platforms group.

Intel also announced an initiative called Granite Peak, which is designed to limit the number of changes in desktop and notebook software images by stabilizing core drivers shipped with Intel products for more than a year, Burns said. Some code may change above that core driver level, but Granite Peak will give IT managers one less thing to worry about, he said.

Mobile Power Demo

A chip comparison was the focus of the first part of the keynote speech, delivered by Intel Vice President and General Manager Anand Chandrasekher of Intel's mobile platforms group. Chandrasekher compared performance of Intel's older Pentium III and Mobile Pentium 4-M processors along with a 1.6-GHz Pentium-M processor, which will be part of Intel's Centrino product due to launch in March.

Three identically configured notebooks ran a spreadsheet program, Adobe Photoshop, and a DVD rendering application simultaneously in the demo. The Pentium-M was shown to use less power while completing the tasks faster than either of Intel's older mobile technologies.

Notebooks powered by the Pentium-M will have five hours of battery life while running the computing-intensive applications shown in the demonstration, Chandrasekher said.

Prescott Preview

On the desktop side, Burns revealed details about Intel's next-generation desktop processor, known as Prescott. This processor will come with 1MB of Level 2 cache, he said, almost double the cache of current Pentium 4 processors.

It will also come with an 800-MHz front-side bus, which will allow data to travel faster down the main data pathway of a processor than the current 533-MHz front-side bus in Pentium 4 chips. Intel's Canterwood and Springdale chip sets will support an 800-MHz front-side bus, and will be released in the first half of this year, Burns said.

Chandrasekher also confirmed that Check Point Software Technologies' remote-access software with virtual private network technology will be included with Centrino. Intel and Check Point representatives say the pairing will help secure wireless transactions and data.

Richard Wirt, a senior fellow with Intel's software group, discussed tools to allow the "write once/run anywhere" software that Intel Chief Executive Officer Craig Barrett talked about in his Tuesday keynote address.

Wirt announced a set of software development tools that will allow standardized applications across desktop, notebook, and handheld devices with Intel processors. For example, Intel demonstrated a parts-supply application that allowed a supplier, manufacturing executive, and mechanic to view the same part on the same video-rendering application on a variety of devices.

CPUs for Handhelds

Vice President Gadi Singer of Intel's wireless computing and communications group discussed how Intel's older XScale processor designs for handheld devices resulted in the development of the PXA800F, formerly known as Manitoba.

The handheld device will introduce the Internet and computers to a new generation of technology users, especially in emerging markets such as China and India, Singer said. This provides tremendous opportunity for the developers attending the conference to design innovative devices with some of Intel's new technology, he said.

In the cell-phone market, Intel is a newcomer and is working to catch up to the market share enjoyed by rivals Motorola and Texas Instruments. During a comparison of a processor from Intel's PXA26x series with "the competition's processor" playing music and a video game simultaneously, an Intel employee helping with the demonstration inadvertently let slip that the competitor was Texas Instruments, which recently announced new cell phone chips.

Hoping to capitalize on the increased demand for wireless Internet access, Intel will also work to develop software and hardware that enables what the company calls "occasionally connected computing," Chandrasekher said. Working with wireless ISPs such as T-Mobile and AT&T Wireless, Intel hopes to allow notebook and handheld users to navigate through changing hot spots, or wireless Internet access points, he said.