Intel Furnishes the Digital Home

SAN JOSE -- Intel is looking homeward, describing a Pentium aimed at gamers and a standard to strengthen home networking. Also making a preview at the opening of the Intel Developers Forum here are a reference design for future PCs, and a compact Gateway PC that runs the next version of Microsoft's Windows XP Media Center Edition operating system.

Gamers' P4 Due

In his keynote address Tuesday afternoon, Intel Vice President and General Manager Louis Burns introduced the gamers' CPU. The Pentium 4 with Hyperthreading Technology Extreme Edition is expected to ship within 30 to 60 days, according to Burns.

The CPU will be released at 3.2GHz, and Intel added 2MB of Level 3 cache to it, Burns said. Additional cache means the processor can store larger amounts of frequently accessed instructions close to the CPU, improving performance.

Wireless Security

Burns also shed more light on the Digital Transmission Content Protection over Internet Protocol (DTCP-IP) standard, which is designed to protect premium content as it travels between home networking devices.

DTCP-IP was announced by Intel President and Chief Operating Officer Paul Otellini Tuesday morning. It provides a way to ensure that only devices within a home network can share digital content by requiring public key authentication before transferring a file, Intel said.

By implementing the standard in PCs and consumer electronics devices, movie studios will be able to distribute content and prevent the files from being shared around the globe through peer-to-peer networks, Burns said. Without such protection, studios will be extremely reluctant to deliver such services as in-home premium movies on demand, he said.

Products based on the standard will be available in the second half of 2004, said Digital Home Working Group chairman Scott Smyers in a videotaped presentation during the keynote.

Living Room PCs

Intel's vision of the digital home was on display for the conference attendees, complete with futuristic products as well as demonstrations of existing technologies.

Burns demonstrated a compact PC from Gateway that uses the next generation of the Microsoft Windows XP Media Center Edition operating system. It allows consumers to run multiple programs at the same time, such as downloading a video while playing an interactive game, and is designed for use with digital entertainment, he said. Gateway plans to release the device within 30 days.

Intel also announced a new reference design for future PCs. Formerly known as Big Water, the new Balance Technology Extended (BTX) design is available to motherboard designers as of Tuesday, and products based on the design are expected to appear next year, Burns said.

BTX will contain technologies such as a resilient power supply, which protects unsaved on-screen data in the event of a temporary power interruption, Burns said.