Dual Core and Beyond

When Intel's senior VP and GM, Digital Enterprise Group, Pat Gelsinger

stepped on to the giant stage at IDF 2005 in Bangalore, he wore a big smile on

his face. He started his keynote with: 'Growth is back'. And why not; going

by the way things are panning out for this chip major, who is in the midst of a

transition to becoming a platform company, growth is going to do wonders for its

coming generation of processors. Quips Gelsinger, "Four years ago we spoke

about 'how to move forward' now it is about 'new technologies' and

delivering that via new products. Today we are talking not just processing

power; it is all about performance per watt."

According to Gelsinger, in order to deliver best of breed products in the

ever changing technology landscape, one needs to constantly innovate. "Centrino

is one such hallmark innovation that redefined mobile computing. We need to

build products that will create the 'new normal' in computing. A look at how

computing evolved: We have grown from mainframes to one size fits all in the

1990s, and on to the current usage-oriented computing era. In order to address

the current challenges we need new and innovative products."

Over two days at IDF, Intel technology gurus evangelized passionately about

dual core and multi-core processor architectures. To start with, the company is

getting more focused and is re-orienting itself on five business domains-digital

healthcare, mobility, channel platform, digital home and digital enterprise; all

these segments will be addressed by a range of products. The server side will be

addressesd by its new line of Woodcrest processors, while desktops will go with

Conroe, and Notebooks with Merom processors. These three processors are going to

drive the next wave of innovation, and will be available in the second half of

2006.

Up Ahead



The bottomline at IDF was that the immediate future is 64-bit dual core, and

going forward it will be multi-core. It was this thought that surfaced in all

sessions and the delegates were witness to the power of the dual core processors

that processed high end graphical rendering in a fly. Before the late 2006

launch of Merom, Intel is expected to roll out its first ever mobile dual core

processor called Yonah on a platform code named Napa-by January 2006. But the

key question here is that once Merom is launched, what will happen to Yonah?

Most likely the 64-bit Merom chips will complement Yonah in the notebook space.

So, going by the way things are emerging, Intel would be splashing 64-bit

computing everywhere. It would also be interesting to watch the phase out

strategy Intel will adopt for its existing processors like P4 HT, Centrino and

Celeron. Meanwhile, if Intel comes out with single core Meroms, it might well

replace the existing low cost Celeron family. Right now it looks like Intel's

future processor positioning across different verticals would be one of mixing

and matching of single, dual and multi core processors. Intel has also

established platform definition centers across India, Brazil, China and Egypt.

These centers are working on local technology and platform initiatives.

While Intel evangelized passionately about its dual core and multi-processor architectures, AMD was grabbing attention in a quite, subtle way

WiMAX



Intel talked about WiMAX and the magic it can usher in, though its role in

an emerging geography like India is still fuzzy and calls for more clarity.

Given the ambiguity surrounding WiMAX, Intel has embarked numerous trail

deployments across the world to test its viability. According to Gelsinger,

"Each of these trail deployments has shown how promise of standards based

wireless broadband can impact the way businesses and governments work". In

India the State of Uttranchal has been chosen as the WiMAX test site and with

full co-operation of the state government there, Intel is at the threshold of

pulling a major WiMAX reference for emerging geographies.

What emerged at the end of IDF were several pointers and the impending

paradigm shift in processing power in the days ahead. Intel is innovating beyond

the traditional and mundane and trying to establish newer ways of computing. The

enormous processing power Intel's new family of processors is going to create

poses great challenges for the developer community at large. It is now up to

them to come out with content and applications that will truly harness dual and

multi-core processors and may be take it beyond and realize Bob Noyce's (Intel

Co-founder) famous saying, "Don't be encumbered by history. Go off and do

something wonderful."

Shrikanth G in

Bangalore