A Glimpse of the Mobile Future: The Intel Developer Forum

The technology industry is undergoing an amazing time of creativity and change. The world hasn’t seen the likes of this in years, maybe decades, and the pace of change is only accelerating.

Mobile is everything and everywhere. Consumers want the internet and computing capability with them at all times and places. The advent of smartphones, tablets and Ultrabooks means that every device is now thinner, lighter and with longer battery life. New tablets with incredible performance are on the horizon and the marriage of Ultrabooks and tablets can be seen in exciting new 2 in 1 devices offering the best of both worlds with both laptop and tablet capabilities.

Over the years, the Intel Developer Forum (IDF) has emerged as one of the key industry events reflecting and defining where technology is headed. This year's IDF is no different, reflecting the trend to mobility. The event, Sept. 10 to 12 in San Francisco, offers least two significant pieces of news to watch.

First, with Intel’s recent leadership transition now complete, the company’s new CEO, Brian Krzanich, and new president, Renee James, are well underway resetting the course of the company – with a clear emphasis on mobile computing leadership.

IDF marks the first major speeches by Brian and Renee in their new roles. They’ll set the tone for the conference – delivering the opening keynote on the morning of September 10. Brian and Renee will discuss the path they have set for the company and how the focus on all things mobile – from the data center to the device – is designed energize the existing ecosystem of Intel hardware and software developers and attract new developers.

The second big news is the official introduction of Bay Trail, Intel’s first 22nm “system on a chip” (SoC) for mobile devices. Bay Trail is based on the company’s much-lauded Silvermont microarchitecture and the chip’s low-power/high-performance 3-D transistors are expected to power a wide range of innovative designs.

We think Bay Trail will be a winner in mobile and are excited to introduce it to the world. Designed for both Android and Windows, Bay Trail out-smarts the competition in tablets, 2 in 1s, value laptops and desktops. Don’t take my word for it, though: A recent financial analyst report said that “Bay Trail/Silvermont will have a performance and performance/power advantage over competing ARM-based processors.”

In addition to the CEO keynote and Bay Trail announcement, IDF highlights are expected to include:

• A keynote on the future of mobility by Intel anthropologist Genevieve Bell on Thursday, Sept 12.
• Keynotes on Wednesday, Sept. 11 from Herman Eul on always on, always connected personal mobility devices, including those powered by Bay Trail; Kirk Skaugen on the innovation happening in mobile computing for both consumers and business; and Doug Fisher discussing Intel’s software and services strategy.
• A “mega briefing” for the media from Diane Bryant, general manager of the Data Center and Connect Systems group, on how mobile devices are putting tremendous pressure on servers and related equipment and how Intel is responding by re-architecting datacenters.

Overall, Intel is on a roll. In just the past four months…

• The Silvermont chip architecture, unveiled in May, is aimed squarely at low-power requirements in market segments from smartphones to datacenters. Industry observer Anand Shimpi said that Silvermont “…is the first mobile architecture where Intel really prioritized smartphones and tablets, and on paper, it looks very good…”
• 4th gen Intel Core (code-named Haswell), introduced in June, is inspiring dozens of innovative devices including Ultrabooks, 2 in 1s, all-in-ones, laptops and desktops and at a range of prices. Pundits used to say that Intel Architecture fundamentally couldn’t run at low power. 4th gen Intel Core proves that wrong, running on as little as 4.5 watts and, even more impressively, scaling up to power the highest-performing super computers and data centers. No other chip architecture does this.
• Intel’s CEO is aggressively aiming the company to excel in mobility, including tablets, smartphones and 2 in 1s that are in the market today, and also new device areas, some of which are still on the drawing board.

From phones to the data center, Intel is on the front foot, moving aggressively in mobile markets and beyond. See you at IDF!

--Kevin