Intel to launch a 'digital makeover'
By Anand Parthasarathy
BANGALORE FEB. 10. The world's number one chipmaker will stop talking separately about computers and communications — and start delivering devices for the burgeoning market that lies at the meeting point of these two technologies.
According to Ketan R. Sampat, who took over last week as President of Intel's India operation, the company has planned a three-pronged tech-thrust this year to achieve what it calls a 'digital makeover' to ride the expected boom in wireless devices.
The initiative kicks off on March 12 with the launch of a bundle to be branded as "Centrino'': a chipset, a processor and a wireless networking module for notebooks and other portable computers.
At its heart will be the new Pentium-M processor, earlier codenamed "Banias'' — the first Intel chip designed bottom-up for the power-sensitive portable market, rather than tweaking one of the desktop processor family.
By putting many notebook functions `to sleep' until required, the ultra-low voltage Pentium-M promises to give up to six hours of working on a battery charge. The Centrino bundle will also give notebooks, default wireless access using the 802.11b standard.
Later this year Intel also plans to launch a brand new desktop chip family codenamed "Prescott'' involving major architectural reworking.
Little is yet known about how this will add to the desktop experience, but Mr. Sampat suggested that it might cater to wholly new ways of `talking' to the PC. Meanwhile speculation on the Internet suggests this will incorporate Intel's `hyperthreading' technology — allowing one chip to look like two to the software — as well as ramping up to the denser fabrication technology of 90 nanometers from the current 130.
Finally by year end, says Mr. Sampat, Intel will unveil "Manitoba'' — technology that will fuel new generation hand held devices which combine the functions of a mobile phone and a handheld computer.
It will achieve this by combining on board, a microprocessor, a digital signal processor and flash memory. Avtar Saini continues as Intel's Director South Asia, focussing on sales and marketing; while Mr. Sampat will oversee the research activities at Intel's Bangalore-based development centre
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