by Anna Filatova
03/01/2005 | 11:46 PM
Good evening everybody! Welcome to the Spring Intel Developer Forum in San Francisco. Well, here we are sitting and waiting for the keynote to start. Just a few minutes before I got to the keynote I was saying to a friend of mine that I had real trouble getting up this morning, and then, guess what happened? I was awake! I was very pleasantly impressed by the setup at the keynote room, especially by the music playing in the background while people were taking their seats. I have recently told you that I am a big fan of house music, and this morning they had a very nice remix of the Hypnotized by Paul Oakenfold.
<%BANNER[article]%>But here it started. The introductory presentation guided us through the history of IDF shows, and showed an impressive growth of the event itself as well as of its significance. We were promised that over the next 3 days we will be given the latest update on technology by some familiar people in new positions as well as some new people who joined the Intel team lately. Well, welcome!
IDF is increasingly becoming a growing industry meeting place. According to Intel, it is the strongest show in terms of industry participation. It also a place where technology users like us and small business come for the latest and greatest technology.
This year, the show was also very packed, there are already over 500 press analysts from around the world registered on the first day of the event. However, I got the impression that there are fewer sessions carried out this time. I think it might be a good idea actually, because it has never been possible to attend even half of the interesting events at IDF. Hope I will be able to make the most of it this time :)
Intel also claimed that they were growing not only in terms of the attendance, but also in terms of the different technology that they represent here at IDF. At the same time Intel is working hard on making IDF the most rewarding place for geeks. This time they will be hosting a Server Geek Contest with incredible prizes.
You probably remember that at the last IDF they were talking about three “C” concept, which sounded like “Computers, Communication and Convergence”. This time Intel is moving more down the alphabet and presents a “three P” concept, where Ps stand for Platforms, People, Possibilities.
After that the floor was given to Craig Barrett, Intel Chief Executive Officer. It looks like this is going to be the last IDF for him. He was not very eager to talk about it, but he admitted that he decided to give way to the young. Anyway, during his keynote presentation called “A Path to Innovation” he focused mostly on the importance of innovative technologies for the evolution of the today’s world, on the factors that drive this innovation, on the foundation, building blocks and software aspects of innovation.
We all know that technology is growing. Innovations around us changed the way we look at different things. Take, for instance, car and airplane invention. These events have greatly affected the development of the world. During the last few years one basic form of technology changed the way we interact and communicate. Another example: first integrated circuit, which is around 50 years old today, has been dominating every aspect of electronics since then. We are witnessing the real-time working convergence of computers and communication combined with digital content. And it does change our life a lot: the way we work, educate, live.
RND is absolutely critical. You have the choice: you can lead or be led. And you never know where it will take you. The transistors led to microprocessor, computer, cell phones. RND drives us to the next level of innovation. According to Intel, success will go to the people who continue to invest in the future, create new ideas. This is what justifies for huge investments Intel is making into research and development of new solutions today. One of the things that has driven semiconductor industry is Moor’s law invented in 1965 (for more details about Moor’s Law you can check our article called Moore’s Law). That law is the foundation of what we talking today about: innovation and integration. Moor’s law is not slowing down and we are very confident about it continuing.
Craig Barrett, Intel CEO: "There is a lot of life in this technology".
During this IDF we should be able to learn quite a few interesting things. In his first keynote presentation Intel CEO made a few formal announcements, so that we all know what to expect these days. Among the most interesting things will certainly be the BT virtualization technology, I/O acceleration technology, dual- and multi-core technology that allows using more transistors in cores and then combining many of those cores into a single device, and much more than that.
Yes, he did touch upon a topic that we are all very anxious to know more about: multi-core technology from Intel. And to warm up this interest even more we could see a really nice demonstration performed by Steve Pawlowski, which roughly illustrated the power and advantages of multi-core technology from Intel.
Multicore processing. According to Intel, next year over 80% of our processors will be multicore. And they will boast significantly increased performance. Intel is truly excited about it. The current situation in the market indicates that there is still tremendous demand for performance without increasing the power. End-users want it in the first place. Here is an application that was working on a dual-core based CPU system:
This interface uses human hand as a sensor that allows rotating the database and selecting the desired files and folders. This is an example of a platform that will feature very user-friendly interactive interface. This system will support voice recognition, hand writing recognition, and other thing that will make it more usable for the consumer.
As you may have already understood, platforms are the major topic of discussion this time for both: Intel and partners. Today we had an opportunity to see a few platforms of the future:
Entertainment PC 2005
Entertainment PC 2006
These are a few 2005 and 2006 examples of a great entertainment PC based on dual-core CPU. This gives you a perfect idea what you should expect this year to see in the entertainment PC at home: high-definition audio and video and content protection are the key issues that will be addressed in systems of the kind.
This a new model of digital office with enhanced data integrity and security, and great interactive capabilities.
This stylish modern design is Craig’s favorite: he claims it is also bug-proof and can be easily transformed into a protective helmet :)
Another great example of how far contemporary computer technologies might go was demonstrated by the main characters of well-known MTV series called “Pimp My Ride”.
Ultimate mobile platform :)
It used to be a 4-door Chrysler 300. Now it is a 2-door convertible with fat rims, new brakes, cameras instead of mirrors, screens all over the place, and a Centrino laptop to manage your comfort and control all the electronics inside. And among the “comforts” I can list all sorts of entertainment solutions such as CD, MP3, DVD playback and burning, an additional PDA that acts like full-functional remote control for the car, built in web-cam, which allows you to see what’s going on inside the car once you’ve had it given to the valet parking. But there are some ongoing plans about improving this car even more, such as providing nit with wireless connection., so that it could wirelessly communicate with you at all times. Well, I think the next version of this baby will have a jacuzzi in the trunk.
There are other ways to enhance the mobility in the new platforms. Wimax is going to be the crucial technology to change our wireless communication. Wimax offers high speed wireless solutions at low cost. Intel expects a massive commercial rollout of this technology in the end of 2005 – beginning of 2006. This is when the biggest cities around the globe will go digital.
Besides that, Intel pays a lot of attention to educational capability, which they regard as the most important thing to all of us. Therefore, they participate actively in multiple educational programs to encourage innovative and creative thinking at an early age, when the future scientists and engineers are just starting to shape up. This way they are hosting the finals for the state science talent search in Washington DC, which is a kind of Nobel Prize for high school kids. Those projects as well as excellence in education will make the country competitive.
Next is governmental aspect. Intel is trying to encourage support of basic RND in universities, which should create the proper environment for new initiatives.
Such as the initiative supported and brought into life by Burt Rutan, who is running his own aircraft company.
This guy undertook 68-hour flight around the world without refueling. Right now he and his team are working on making the space flights possible for all of us, and in the first place they are certainly addressing safety issues for flights out and in the atmosphere. They claim that we are looking at 4-5 years before this initiative goes commercial. In 5-6 years it will cost around $30K-$40K to get to see the Earth from space. And they are certainly going to actively integrate new technology into their projects, which will eliminate the mere possibility of a boring approach to that. Hm, I wonder if these space-planes are going to be Centrino-powered, like the Chrysler I have just told you about... ;)
Well, I have to admit that this was a very interesting and exciting keynote. At least I did have a lot of fun this time :) But let’s continue with the latest news from IDF. Let me go a little bit more technical now, as I am going to tell you about the latest news from the memory market.
This presentation was devoted to Intel’s main memory direction for desktop, workstation, server and mobile platforms, to the advantages of the DDR2-667 for the upcoming multi-core platforms, the status of the new DDR2 800, and the market readiness for the new speeds and new bandwidths. This is the current company roadmap for the next few years:
As Craig Barrett said in his keynote presentation earlier today, by the end of 2006 80% of processors will be dual-core, and they will be exactly the ones benefiting from the new memory in the first place.
As you can see, Intel is still using SDRAM and RDRAM in limited applications, such as set top boxes, communication and embedded products.
Intel’s next generation desktop and workstation products due in Q2 will only support DDR2. Intel is transitioning them over to new memory technology right now. They still sell a lot for the older technologies in the emerging markets, though, that is why you can see DDR memory still there for the entire period of time we are considering.
DDR2 400 and DDR2 533 have been released in desktop and workstation market segments. In the server field though Intel now supports only DDR2 400.
As far as the mobile market is concerned, OEM and white-box supplies are all on DDR2 already. It is certainly very popular on Centrino platforms.
In Q2 of this year Intel will be adding DDR2 667 support to its platforms, as you can see from the roadmap. In the end of this – beginning of the next year new DDR2 800 is coming. Right now Intel’s primary concern is to make sure that it is robust and ready to go into the platforms that will be contemporary in those days. And in early 2006 we will also see new fully-buffered DIMM modules picking up (FB-DIMM).
Intel goes though a 7-step process to make sure that the new technology is supported. DDR2 667 is at the end of this process as you can see from the screenshot above. Intel tests thousands of systems and tens of thousands of units of memory for reliability and robustness during this validation procedure. We have to make sure that these are robust platforms. DDR2 800 is at the prototype stage right now. The specification is not closed yet. There are still quite a few challenges: for instance, it requires tighter AC timing values and improved DIMM and mainboard designs. Once the specification is closed Intel will get some prototype parts meeting the specs for testing and validation at the chipset and board level.
Currently there are 12 DDR2 667 DRAMs validated from 4 suppliers: Micron, Samsung, Hynix and Infineon. And quite a number of DIMMs validated from the above mentioned 4 suppliers and a few others, such as Elpida, Nanya, Kingston, Corsair and a few others.
DDR2 in the desktop segment brings significant improvements in integrated video and audio quality, as extra bandwidth ensures better media playback and higher 3D performance. Since dual-core architectures are going to pick up in the desktop market very soon, DDR2 can also contribute to higher performance of threaded applications and simultaneous work of multiple applications in the background of a played movie or music file.
In the mobile segment we will see more memory performance and at the same time lower power consumption (the transition to faster models of DDR2 will be accompanied by a huge drop in power). DDR2 enables average power savings of up to 120mW compared to what we get while using regular DDR.
In enterprise systems DDR2 with the increased peak bandwidth and overall memory capacity will certainly have its benefits from the performance and again, power consumption points of view. Here I would like to again mention the new FB-DIMMs that will hit the enterprise market in H1 2005.
FB-DIMM provides advanced data transfer rate of up to 4.8Gbps. In the new fully-buffered DIMMs all signals going to and from the DRAM chips are buffered in the High-Speed Advanced Memory Buffer chip located in the center of the module. This helps to secure the DRAM timing margins during high-speed functioning with a much shorter signal path between DRAM chips and the AMB. FB-DIMM also adopts bi-directional point-to-point connection on the PCI Express bus between the memory controller and the DIMM as well as between the DIMMs themselves. It not only provides increased bus speed with shorter connection path but also raises the maximum number of modules that can be connected to the same bus (tight now it is up to 8). Quite a few memory developers present on the show floor during the forum were showing working FB-DIMM products today. Here are a few pictures for you:
FB-DIMM from Kingston
FB-DIMMs from Elpida (No heatsink on the chip).
Intel working board for the new FB-DIMM memory modules.
Well, that’s the most interesting things I assume I saw and heard about today. In fact, this is not all. I suggest that you also check my Blog to read about the 64Bit Jam event and the News wire to get more details about the today’s IDF announcements.
Stay tuned for more IDF talk tomorrow!