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TAIPEI -- The next two years are going to see significant changes in the way that PCs are designed, according to Intel executives speaking here at this week's Intel Developer Forum.

At the heart of this change is an Intel initiative, code-named Big Water, which has set out to determine how future PCs can be designed to incorporate recent and future advances in technology.

Intel is saying little so far about Big Water's technical specifications.

The company has promised to reveal more details later this year, and will release the finalized Big Water specification in 2003, in time for the first PCs based on the design to hit the market in 2004, according to Louis Burns, general manager and vice president of Intel's Desktop Platforms Group.

Express Technology

However, some details of the initiative are clear. For starters, the Big Water design will rely heavily on PCI Express technology, a draft serial input/output specification formerly known by its code name, 3GIO, and under review by the PCI Special Interest Group (PCI-SIG), the industry organization set up to manage the PCI standard, Burns says.

PCI Express offers the benefit of faster data transfers between the components of a PC. It offers a communication channel of up to 200MB per second, close to twice that afforded by existing PCI technology, according to PCI-SIG. This increase is essential for future PCs to keep pace with advances in processor clock speeds, high-speed LANs and demand for greater graphics capabilities, it says.

Another characteristic of Big Water will be greater flexibility. During a keynote presentation at IDF here, Burns demonstrated how a Big Water PC would include add-in modules, based on PCI Express technology, that allow users to easily upgrade various PC components, such as a hard disk drive.

"Essentially, we're trying to show with Big Water a huge amount of flexibility," Burns says. "The concept of a single form factor, a single box, one size fits all, is clearly not what customers want."

Smaller, Faster PCs

Big Water designs will likely be smaller than many existing PCs and will be designed to be mounted in places where most users would hardly consider putting their current PCs, such as on a wall. "We think small form factors are a big play," Burns says.

In addition to faster data-transfer speeds and improved flexibility, the Big Water design will be designed to handle the increased levels of electromagnetic interference caused by faster microprocessors. Devices are currently available that can simulate the EMI characteristics of a processor running at speeds up to 8 GHz, allowing PC chassis designers to begin work on future PC designs capable of handling these EMI levels, Burns says.

Other technical issues that will be addressed by the Big Water project include a more cost-effective power supply, better thermal characteristics, and less noise, according to Burns.

As part of Intel's wider PC form factor plans, the company is meeting with Taiwanese hardware makers, such as Asustek Computer, Wistron, Foxconn Electronics, Mitac International, and others, as part of a forum it calls Desktop Form Factor Directions, which will meet twice a year. The first meeting took place in Taipei on April 23 and the second meeting is expected to take place in six months' time, Burns says.

"You'll notice that this meeting is taking place in Taiwan," he says. "Taiwan, and [Asia-Pacific] as a region, has become the center of a lot of [PC] design, development, and actual manufacturing."

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