Intel to Redefine Performance at IDF

Intel co-founder Gordon Moore’s famous law will be re-examined again next week, as Intel shifts away from pure speed to the more efficient utilization of silicon.

Moore’s Law, which generally states that the number of transistors will double every twelve to eighteen months, has been used as a rationale to explain the perpetual increases in processor speed that drive the chip industry. But Intel Corp.’s shift toward enhancing the internal transistors within a single chip will be the focus of the Intel Developer Forum next week in San Francisco.

If the IDF had to be summed up in a single compound word, it would probably be “multicore.” Intel has already said that it will combine two Itanium cores into a single chip, a practice the company will imitate in the desktop, server and eventually mobile microprocessor space as well. IDF will feature a demonstration of a dual-core processor, Intel executives said this week.

“If you think about the value vector for Intel, over the last few decades we’ve been delivering performance,” said Pat Gelsinger, Intel’s chief technology officer, in a briefing this week. “Moving forward, multicore will be the way that will be delivered in the future,” Gelsinger added. “But we’re also expanding the value proposition in meaningful ways.”

Those other “meaningful ways” will form the foundation of IDF, as well as Intel’s plans for the future. Intel President and Chief Operating Officer Paul Otellini will kick off the show by outlining more details of Intel’s “Ts,” the technologies that will enhance Intel’s silicon in other ways than mere speed. Intel’s HyperThreading technology is used in virtually all of its processors today, but Otellini will talk more about Intel’s LaGrande security technology, Silvervale and Vanderpool processor virtualization and partitioning technology, as well as the 64-bit Extended Memory 64 technology, aka EM64T.

Redefining performance will also mean an emphasis on management. Intel executives are expected to announce a platform management technology that will enable network managers to have complete control of every PC and server on their networks, regardless of operating status, executives said.

Intel will also update the audience on its wireless and mobility strategy, which will include announcements of battery enhancements as well as updates to its WiMax and ultra wideband initiatives.

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