Intel Realigns Business Approach: Aims to Drive Development of Tech Platforms

by Anton Shilov
01/17/2005 | 12:41 PM

Intel Corp. Monday announced a broad reorganization that is planned to bring all major product groups in line with the company’s strategy to drive development of complete technology platforms based on Intel ingredients. The main result of reorganization will be emergence of numerous groups inside the company, different to what the firm has involved so far.

Intel Gets New Organization

“Intel is putting the people and resources in place to sharpen our focus on the development of platforms that meet the demands of our customers and provide innovative and exciting new technologies for the marketplace. The new organization will help address growth opportunities by better anticipating and addressing market needs, speeding decision making, and ensuring world-class operational excellence. Each operating unit has the autonomy to allocate computing and communications resources to be successful, making Intel’s entire structure consistent with our platform products strategy,” said Paul Otellini, Intel president and COO.

The reorganization shuffles Intel’s present executives, but does not introduce any new, despite of the fact that the company plans to target new markets, such as healthcare markets, with its forthcoming products developed under new organization.

The new business units are:

• The Mobility Group, led by Sean Maloney, 48, and Dadi Perlmutter, 51, will develop platforms for notebook PCs and handheld computing and communications devices, and is aimed at making the growing numbers of different mobile devices work together better and easier to use.
• The Digital Enterprise Group as led by Pat Gelsinger, 43, and Abhi Talwalkar, 40, will develop computing and communications infrastructure platforms for end-to-end solutions in businesses. Justin Rattner, 56, will serve in an acting capacity overseeing Intel’s Corporate Technology Group until a replacement for Gelsinger is named.
• The Digital Home Group, led by Don MacDonald, 42, will develop computing and communications platforms for use by consumers in the emerging digital home, with emphasis on living room entertainment applications and consumer electronics devices.
• The Digital Health Group, led by Louis Burns, 47, will develop products and explore business opportunities for Intel architecture products in healthcare research, diagnostics and productivity, as well as personal healthcare. The Digital Health Group represents a totally new business opportunity for Intel Corp..
• The Channel Products Group, led by Bill Siu, 53, will seek to expand on Intel’s success in global markets by combining into one organization existing groups focused on developing and selling Intel products to meet the unique needs of local markets worldwide. The group is also new for Intel.

Intel Targets New Markets, Get Chance for Additional Sales

The reorganization of the company will give Intel’s a chance to sell more products to existing customers. For instance, currently Intel sells three products to notebook makers to power Intel Centrino notebooks – a microprocessor, a chipset and a wireless LAN controller. In case Intel proposes the same kind of platform for desktops, the Corp.’s revenues may skyrocket.

Today’s announcement aligns Intel’s organizational structure fully with this approach by creating three groups to lead the company’s efforts in platforms for mobility, the digital enterprise and digital home. The platform-based organizations also reflect the ongoing convergence of computing and communications by incorporating both capabilities across the new groups, Intel said. However, it is unclear, how the new structures would share R&D resources as well as develop any technologies in collaboration.

The company also said that Jason Chen, vice president and director, Sales and Marketing Group, plans to leave Intel at the end of January to attend full time to a family health matter. Anand Chandrasekher, 41, will become director, Sales and Marketing Group replacing Chen. He will jointly run the SMG organization with Eric Kim, 50, vice president and director of Sales and Marketing.

Reporting structures and assignments in other Intel organizations, including the company’s Technology and Manufacturing Group, remain unchanged.