Intel Sets Its Sights on the Digital Future

In less than two weeks a diverse cross-section of computer industry engineers, developers, and product vendors will descend on San Francisco's Moscone Center for the Intel Developer's Forum Spring 2002, taking place February 25 through February 28.

At IDF, Intel executives will articulate the chip maker's vision for current and future computing technologies in line with the show's theme of "Advancing the Digital Universe."

Intel Chief Executive Officer Craig Barrett will kick off IDF with a keynote that will double as something of a technology industry State of the Union Address, according to Pat Gelsinger, the vice president and chief technology officer of Intel, based in Santa Clara, California.

"Craig kicks it off. And if you think back, his key message to the industry last year was, 'You don't save your way out of recessions and slowdowns, you innovate your way out of them,'" says Gelsinger. "Now, building on that theme, this year it will be, 'Where do we stand as an industry?' Sort of a State of the Union Address of what happened last year and where we need to aim going forward."

Software Side

Also on day one of IDF, Richard Wirt, the general manager of Intel's software and solutions group, will hold a keynote on Intel's directions in software development. Improving Web services on Intel platforms and the progress being made in bringing hyperthreading and multithreaded applications into the mainstream will be key topics for Wirt, says Gelsinger.

Intel's vice president and general manager of its enterprise platforms group, Mike Fister, will also hold a Monday keynote at IDF. Fister will update Intel's strategy for products related to the enterprise and the data center, such as Intel's upcoming McKinley processor. McKinley is Intel's second-generation 64-bit Itanium chip and is scheduled to begin shipping later this year.

Sean Maloney, the executive vice president and general manager of Intel's communications group, will hold a Tuesday keynote at IDF. During his address, Maloney will oversee the launch of a wide range of network and I/O processors based on Intel's recently introduced X-Scale architecture.

On the third day of IDF, Louis Burns, the vice president and general manager of Intel's platform products group, will hold a keynote on the latest trends in desktop PC design and technology and new industry initiatives such as 3GIO, a third-generation I/O technology, and USB 2.0, a second-generation USB standard.

Going Mobile

Anand Chandrasekher, the vice president of the Intel architecture group, will also hold a Wednesday keynote at IDF. Chandrasekher will shed light on recent innovations and Intel's future vision for mobile PC systems and the trend toward wireless connectivity for mobile products.

Ron Smith, the senior vice president and general manager of Intel's wireless communications and computing group, will round out the Wednesday keynotes with a discussion of Intel's latest wireless technologies. Smith will offer new details surrounding Intel's Personal Internet Client Architecture, said Gelsinger.

Gelsinger will close the forum with a Thursday keynote address that will offer a long-term view of the computer industry.

"I'm giving a very different type of talk than I have ever done before, trying to lay out a much longer term view of the industry with this idea that we call expanded Moore's Law," says Gelsinger.

"When we say expanding, we are talking about taking the silicon landscape, that portfolio of technology that we have, and expanding it significantly," explains Gelsinger.

"I'll talk specifically about three areas: silicon radio, silicon photonics, and ad-hoc sensor networks. Now we have enough core silicon capabilities that by adding to that silicon portfolio we will be able to deliver entirely new capabilities in wireless communication, in the integration of photonics, and integration of MEMS [Micro Electro Mechanical Systems] and sensors networks as well. And we think the result of that will be silicon building blocks that open up entire new categories of application both for our products and the industry as well," he says.