Intel is on the verge of making its biggest push yet into mobile consumer electronics, seeking to replicate its success in mobile personal devices, as well as personal computers long before that.
"Intel is the undisputed market leader today with notebook PCs by
providing consumers with what they want in performance, battery life
and a fully loaded internet experience," said David (Dadi)
Perlmutter, Intel senior vice president and general manager,
Mobility Group. "Intel will satisfy those needs by delivering our
latest 45nm processors and WiMAX to notebooks, as well as Mobile
Internet Devices (MIDs) in 2008, and also using some of these
technologies to bring an affordable computing and Internet
experience to emerging communities and economies around the world."
Perlmutter continued by discussing how Intel continues to provide
advanced mobile processors based on innovative High-k metal gate
(Hi-k) silicon technology that deliver energy efficiency for great
battery life needed by users on-the-go. He showed what users could
expect in terms of more performance and battery life features when
the next-generation Centrino Duo processor technology is refreshed
with Intel's 45nm Hi-k dual core mobile processor, codenamed Penryn.
Perlmutter also demonstrated the graphics improvement for the
refreshed Centrino Duo based notebooks by unlocking advanced graphic
technologies for an enhanced visual experience, especially with
DirectX 10-based applications.
Montevina to Support Blu-Ray, HD DVD
Due out later in 2008, Montevina processor technology, also based on
Penryn, will span the full range of notebook designs from mini-notes
to full size. Also featured in Montevina is integrated HD-DVD/Blu-ray support for consumers and next generation data manageability and security features for the enterprise. Montevina will be Intel's first Centrino processor technology for notebooks to offer the option of integrated Wi-Fi and WiMAX wireless technologies. Montevina's Cantiga chipset will offer high definition graphics support, as well as HDCP support.
Full Internet -- In Your Pocket
Anand Chandrasekher, Intel senior vice president and general manager
of the Ultra Mobility Group, described the evolution of the personal
mobile Internet, outlined Intel's silicon roadmap that will deliver
radical reductions in power requirements and package sizes, and
disclosed a range of leading industry players working with Intel to
establish the MID and ultra-mobile PC (UMPC) categories.
In the first half of next year, Intel will deliver its Menlow platform, a collection of chips and other components to power Mobile Internet Devices, or MIDs.
MIDs are designed to deliver information to users of gadgets such as satellite-based navigators, rather than for entering data.
"Mobile users are demanding to take the full Internet experience
anytime, anywhere ? in essence these users want the full Internet to
be delivered to them wirelessly and in their pocket," Chandrasekher
said. "In the first half of 2008, Intel will take a major step to
deliver what these users are looking for with our first platform
designed from the ground up for MIDs and UMPCs ? codenamed Menlow,
which will deliver 10x lower power compared to the first UMPCs in
the market. After Menlow our next-generation platform ? codenamed
Moorestown, will increase battery life an order of magnitude by
reducing idle power by 10x compared to Menlow."
Menlow is based on Silverthorne a 45nm Hi-k low power
microarchitecture-based processor and next-generation chipset,
codenamed Poulsbo. Also featured on the Menlow- based customer
designs are optional standardized communications capabilities such
as Wi-Fi, 3G and WiMAX to enable more of an always-connected
experience. Wi-Fi is already widespread and enables high-speed Internet access over distances of up to about 300 feet from the broadcast point. By comparison, WiMax can provide broadband wireless network access across far longer distances and can be used to blanket entire cities or regions with coverage.
A number of early working prototypes, resulting from the formation
of the Mobile Internet Device Innovation Alliance 6 months ago, were
demonstrated by Chandrasekher.
Chandrasekher provided a sneak peek at Moorestown that consists of a
system on chip (SOC) design combining the CPU, graphics, video and
memory controller onto a single chip. A Moorestown-based MID will
have idle power that will be 10x lower than the 2008 Menlow design,
enabling longer battery life in smaller form factors.
In addition, Chandrasekher was joined on stage by Al Ramadan, senior
vice president, Mobile and Device Solutions Business Unit, Adobe.
Ramadan described Adobe AIR and discussed how the combination of
MIDs and Adobe AIR applications will bring new
experiences to the user. Adobe AIR will support Windows and Linux
based Menlow platforms in the future.