Intel Developers Forum Keynote
September 13, 2011, IDF, San Francisco—Paul Ottellini, CEO, talked about the future of computing at the Intel Developers Forum. Computing is going through some fundamental transformations resulting in the user becoming the center.
Although increased productivity is always a goal, we’re now in the early stages in the evolution in computing. PC used to stand for personal computer, but now is starting to represent personal computing which implies experiences rather than hardware.
Users are demanding more capabilities, there are more devices out there that can provide a computing experience, and the cloud hangs over all of this. These drivers require innovation so the Intel architecture is constantly evolving. The next generation of processors must address and increasingly diversified audience that is looking for engaging, consistent, and secure computing.
There were no new process announcements, because the 22 nm process was released a couple weeks prior to the event. We should expect a 14 nm process to appear in 2013. Next year, the Ivy Bridge APU (integrated CPU and GPU) will be available. Some of the first products will be ultra books. These laptop devices will be thin and light and might operate as long as 10 hours on a single charge, although mostly in standby mode, just like a MacBook Air.
In 2013, the Haswell chip will debut and will have a 30 percent reduction in standby power compared to the Ivy Bridge. System-level power management will enable a 20 X. increase in battery life. At the other end of the scale, the Xeon E5 server chips will raise the bar for performance without a dramatic increase in power consumption.
Computing will work on a continuum, and the framework for device interaction and secure pair and share capabilities are already in place a number of OEMs are developing platforms that allow other devices to share the computing power on the PC.
Another function moving into the hardware is security. Traditionally, security functions are handled in software, but the expanding range and complexity of security threats require and integration of hardware and software to preempt any attempts to take over the system. They are developing hardware capabilities in conjunction with McAfee to address the expanding universe of threats.
The opportunities for continued evolution and enhancement of user experiences are tremendous. The future will see greater integration of silicon, software, and standards to improve user experiences. The Intel architecture will be seen across the entire user spectrum from phones, to mobile tablets, two tethered desktop machines, and servers. To help address this range of potential applications, Intel now has a development partnership with Google’s Android operating system. The next 10 years will see more changes in the computing landscape in the last 30.
