Anand Chandrasekher: ‘The Art of the Possible’

In his keynote at 2009 Computex in Taiwan, Anand Chandrasekher, Intel Corporation senior vice president and general manager, Ultra Mobility Group, discussed the increasingly pervasive nature of the Internet, and changing consumers’ tastes accelerating its growth. As more people connect to and experience the Internet, Chandrasekher detailed how Intel is pursuing this growing market opportunity by delivering leading-edge technologies, ushering in handheld devices that bring high performance and software compatibility with lower power envelopes, smaller packages and reduced costs.

Building on the growing ecosystem innovation, Chandrasekher showcased category momentum behind the company’s first-generation Atom™-based mobile Internet device platform “Menlow,” which to date has garnered more than 70 design wins worldwide. He showcased a range of Atom-based designs and announced Compal’s next-generation design, codenamed “KAX15” and based on the Windows* XP OS. He also highlighted the performance of Intel’s product line with the 2GHz Intel® Atom™ Processor Z550, the highest performance processor in the under-3-watt power envelope.

Chandrasekher outlined progress with Intel’s next-generation “Moorestown” platform and announced that the company is on track to achieve up to 50x platform idle power reduction while reducing the board size by 2x compared to Intel’s first-generation “Menlow” platform. This is a dramatic improvement over Intel’s previously announced target of achieving >10x power reduction, and is being made possible through a combination of architectural, design and process enhancements. At Computex, Intel also displayed first form factor designs from Aava Mobile, CCI, EB, Inventec and Quanta as indicators of what the “Moorestown” technology platform will make possible.

Looking to the future, Chandrasekher pointed to Intel’s continued manufacturing and process leadership with 32nm and highlighted the third-generation platform, codenamed “Medfield,” scheduled for introduction in 2011. Medfield will be a single chip, 32nm SoC design. It will continue substantial reductions in size and power, and extend Intel’s product offerings solidly into smart phone segments.

Additionally, Chandrasekher discussed the inherent advantages of software and Internet compatibility in the Intel MID roadmap and discussed the progress Moblin v2.0 is making in the ecosystem. A number of software-related announcements were made in an effort to help usher in compelling user experiences.

Below are capsulated keynote highlights:

· Next-Generation “Moorestown” Platform -- Chandrasekher discussed the progress of Intel’s next-generation handheld platform, codenamed “Moorestown,” scheduled to launch by 2010. He indicated that the platform is hitting all the milestones and demonstrated up to 50x platform idle power reduction while reducing the board size by 2x compared to Intel’s first-generation “Menlow” platform.
o Moorestown consists of a SoC (codenamed “Lincroft”) that integrates a 45nm Intel® Atom™ processor core, 2-D/3-D graphics, video encode/decode, display controller and memory controller. The platform includes an input/output (I/O) hub, codenamed “Langwell,” that features a range of interfaces including CE-ATA, MIPI and SPI interfaces, SDIO ports, USB controllers, NAND controller and audio codecs.
o Moorestown will be accompanied by a newer Moblin software version, Moblin v2.0, that is based on the Linux operating system. This software is designed specifically to deliver a great PC-like Internet experience while also supporting cellular voice capabilities.

· Multiple Moorestown-based Devices -- Chandrasekher showcased a number of designs during his keynote, spotlighting what Moorestown is making possible. He highlighted designs from Aava Mobile, CCI, EB, Inventec and Quanta, and demonstrated compelling 3-D UIs, HD video, interactive gaming, rich graphics and 3G voice. Samson Sern, senior vice president, Compal Electronics, and Barry Lam, Chairman of Quanta Computer Inc., joined Chandrasekher onstage to discuss their shared enthusiasm for the category and talk about their plans for the Moorestown platform.

· Sneak Peek into 32nm “Medfield” Platform -- Intel’s third-generation platform is codenamed “Medfield” and scheduled for 2011. “Medfield” will be a single chip, 32nm SoC design. It will continue substantial reductions in size and power over previous generations and extend Intel’s product offerings into smart phone segments.

· Continued Momentum Behind Intel® Atom™ Processor -- Intel spotlighted category momentum behind the company’s first-generation Atom-based mobile Internet device platform “Menlow,” which to date has garnered more than 70 design wins worldwide. Chandrasekher showcased a range of Atom-based designs and announced Compal’s next-generation design, codenamed “KAX15” and based on the Windows* XP OS.

· Intel MID Ecosystem Momentum Continues -- Intel emphasized the inherent advantage it has around the software and Internet compatibility, and discussed the unified software stack it is able to provide across Windows* and Linux-based Moblin OS to the software community. Chandrasekher discussed a number of industry leaders which are embracing the Linux-based Moblin OS and developing their middleware and applications for Moorestown-based MIDs:
- Cyberlink, which is delivering optimized video codecs; www.cyberlink.com
- Discretix, which is developing a Multi-Scheme DRM client; www.discretix.com.
- Eyecon, which is making it easy to discover, play, and share content across devices; www.eyecontechnologies.com
- Livecast, which is developing an optimized solution for real-time live mobile video streams; www.livecast.com
- Mojo Mobility, which is showcasing a wireless charging solution; www.mojomobility.com
- Move Networks, which is developing a browser plug-in for Move player; www.movenetworks.com The unified software environment is making it easier for these ISVs to amortize their investments across multiple device implementations.