Seamless Connectivity For Any Device, Any Time

News Release

Intel Describes Seamless Connectivity For Any Device, Any Time, Anywhere Computing And Communications

Achieving seamless connectivity between devices is a key challenge facing developers and users of high tech equipment according to a trio of Intel Corporation executives who recently spoke at the Intel Developer Forum (San Jose, US).

The convergence of computing and communications, driven by the pervasiveness of the Internet, means all computers in the future will communicate and all communications devices will compute. Today, the company outlined products and technologies that will enable “any device, any time, anywhere” connectivity for converged computing and communications.

Building the Digital World

Louis Burns, vice president and co-general manager of Intel’s Desktop Platforms Group described examples of seamless connectivity in the home. The “digital home” promises easier ways to share digital media between PCs and consumer electronic devices. Overall, the digital home will help deliver a richer, more accessible digital experience.

Burns also called for cooperation among PC and consumer electronics industry leaders such as Microsoft and Sony, as well as others to further the any device, any time, anywhere computing vision.

“What people really want is the ability to have any device -- be it a PC, a notebook, a PDA or a consumer electronics device such as a TV or a stereo -- to interact seamlessly with any other device, anytime, whether they're at home, in the office or on the go,” said Burns.

“Industry collaboration, products and industry standards are what will make this vision a reality. We're excited to be working with other industry leaders to make this happen.”

Burns said that devices within the digital home environment should seamlessly work together based on widely accepted, open standards such as IEEE, IP networking protocols and Universal Plug and Play device protocols.

Platform Innovations To Drive Wireless Mobility Outlining seamless connectivity for mobile platforms, Anand Chandrasekher, vice president and general manager of Intel's Mobile Platforms Group, provided new details on the mobile Banias platform, which ties together a high performance, low power processor with dual band wireless connectivity in one single mobile computing platform.

Some of the Banias architectural enhancements include branch prediction, instruction combination, and bus power optimisation. When combined, these technologies will significantly improve performance without sacrificing battery life and are examples of important new features that end-users require.

The development community should continue to focus attention on these areas in order to realise the benefits of the convergence of computing and communications. “Wireless connectivity enables new ways to use computers and Intel is working to bring this important communications function to computing,” said Chandrasekher. “The upcoming Banias platform from Intel is optimised to deliver great performance and extended battery life in both wired and wireless environments."

Chandrasekher explained that Intel is also extending its rigorous validation expertise beyond the processor to the Banias platform's wireless capabilities, which should result in greater reliability, improved time to market and reduced development costs for computer makers.

Intel® PCA Adoption and Innovation Continues

Showcasing seamless connectivity for wireless platforms, Ron Smith, senior vice president and general manager of Intel's Wireless Communications and Computing Group showed how digital home and digital office environments could be extended to small form factor handheld devices. Intel® Personal Internet Client Architecture (Intel PCA)-based client demonstrations using the Intel®PXA250 processor and Intel StrataFlash® memory showed how wireless handheld devices using today's cellular networks now have the ability to access home PCs or corporate networks to view videos, pictures, or MP3 files stored on a PC or corporate server.

“The next phase of growth for the wireless market segment will be driven by the seamless integration of computing and communications,” said Smith. “Through Intel PCA building blocks and tools, Intel is enabling solutions to allow devices from PCs to PDAs and cell phones to share applications and data easily and consistently.”

For example, McKesson Corporation, a leading healthcare information technology provider, is currently using Intel PCA-based clients in its enterprise to deliver the right information to the right people at the point of care. Through a collaborative effort, Intel enabled McKesson to develop an “executive wireless dashboard” that allows McKesson to deliver patient care information directly to the health care provider on either a desktop computer or a handheld device.

Smith discussed the impact of convergence on hardware and software development for the wireless handheld market segment. He noted the tradeoff between performance and battery life remain key challenges for developers and pointed to Intel’s work in multi-chip packaging technologies and advanced integration as methods to address the issue. Intel’s “wireless Internet on a chip,” capability where compute, communications and memory functions are placed on a single chip, is a leading example of this approach.

About IDF

The Intel Developer Forum is the technology industry's premier event for hardware and software developers. Held worldwide throughout the year, IDF brings together key industry players to discuss cutting-edge technology and products for PCs, servers, communications equipment, and handheld clients. For more information on IDF and Intel technology, visit http://developer.intel.com.

ENDS

Intel, the world's largest chip maker, is also a leading manufacturer of computer, networking and communications products. Additional information about Intel is available at www.intel.com/pressroom

Intel and Intel Strataflash are registered trademarks of Intel Corporation or its subsidiaries in the United States and other countries. * Other marks and brands may be claimed as the property of others.

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