San Francisco — Power efficiency and a new micro architecture design were the focal points of Intel CEO Paul Otellini’s keynote presentation at this week’s Intel Developers Conference.
Otellini gave Intel’s first public demonstrations of three new Intel processor platforms and predicted that the company’s new low-powered chips will lead to an entirely new class of handheld PC/consumer electronic category.
The upcoming processor platforms Merom (mobile), Conroe (desktop) and Woodcrest (server) use Intel’s 65-nanometer technology manufacturing process and feature a new micro architecture that is a combination of those now used in the company’s Pentium M and NetBurst processors. Processors incorporating these new technologies should by out by the second half of 2006, Otellini said.
The focal point of all three chips is low-power consumption, Otellini said, to allow new computer designs such as “Handtop PCs,” which he forecast would combine computing and communications capabilities, use less then a watt of power and weigh less then 1-pound.
Otellini estimated that considering the rising costs of energy worldwide these new processors could save consumers and businesses save billions of dollars.
Other projects unveiled this week included more multi-core processors. Otellini said Intel is working on about 10 processors that will include four or more processor cores per chip. Intel has also partnered with Matsushita Electric to develop longer lasting notebook computer batteries. Intel will provide circuitry that could give eight hours of battery life.
