The Promising Future of Intel: Quads and Ultra-Mobiles

Posted on | October 4, 2006 | Comments Off on The Promising Future of Intel: Quads and Ultra-Mobiles

The Sept. 27 Wall Street Journal article started this way, “Intel Corp is stepping on the gas…”. This caught my eye, not only because Intel is such a strong innovator in the area of health and technology, but more so because I thought Intel was supposed to be suffering in the tail winds of AMD (Advanced Micro Devices Inc.). Apparently, technology experts who gathered in San Francisco last week for the Intel Developer Forum were impressed by the company’s new “quad-core” chip, with its four microprocessors. Intel also showed this audience a future offering with 80 specialized computing cores able to deliver the same computing power as a late-last-century super-computer that filled a warehouse.

All this while Intel’s stock is in the basement and with plans to cut 11% of its workforce. Always an optimist, Intel CEO Paul Otellini says the smaller Intel will be faster and more innovative.

What excites him these days? Ultra-mobile PCs. Translation? Something between today’s laptops and cellular phones, packed with full-fledged wireless access. He’s sweetened the pot for designers, offering a $1 million prize for best design of an ultra-mobile PC using an Intel chip. “I think it’s going to be a really big deal,” he said.
“When is the question?”

I mention these developments because Intel’s health care division has a mission to connect “people and information for better health,” and I believe all of the company’s technological advancements bring us one step closer to my ideal home-centered health scenario.