"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." – Paul Otellini, Intel CEO

The world has changed. Digital technology is transforming every aspect of society, from enterprise to entertainment, from healthcare to education. This calls for a fundamental shift in technology development, from a narrow focus on delivering devices, gadgets and components to a more comprehensive focus on understanding how people actually use — or would potentially use — technology in their daily lives, and then delivering integrated solutions to address those usages.

This shift has been occurring at Intel for some time through the research and design of products from the outside in; first by understanding the real problems that end-users face, then by creating innovative technologies and working with the ecosystem to deliver the unique solutions that address those problems, addressing both mature and emerging markets, consumer and business.

Few devices can stand on their own today. Instead, platforms rely on an increasingly wide array of technologies, from high-definition audio and video to content protection (DTCP/IP) and management. These include chipset technologies, software, and services for integrating computing with consumer electronics (CE), as well as wireless Universal Serial Bus (WUSB) and ultra-wideband (UWB) technologies, and industry standards (such as DLNA) for connecting computers and CE devices.

Multi-core processors, multithreading technologies, and concurrent programming will provide enormous processing performance with low power consumption. And high-performance algorithms, such as recognition, mining and synthesis (RMS), will improve the usefulness of the information being acquired, downloaded, and managed. In fact, some of those algorithms are already making their way into future platforms.

Intel's research divisions are also working on high-quality microphone array technologies that will process voice and sound with excellent fidelity. At the same time, lifelike graphics will offer another generational leap forward for home theaters and gaming.

Intel has developed a number of advanced technologies for virtualization, technology management and more, and they are now being incorporated into Intel® platforms. These technologies will offer inherent reliability, transparent and/or remote manageability and security, and can help speed up server-network communications. Intel researchers are also working on advanced technologies such as data mining, photorealistic rendering and signal processing, which may show up soon in our platforms. Along with Intel's long roadmap of multi-core processors, these technologies will deliver a full generational leap in platform solutions.

Already, next-generation mobile platforms are in the pipeline, ready to offer high performance using Intel's multi-core, low-power IA processors. These platforms include advanced, platform-level thermal management (which offers five to six hours of battery life), lightweight form factors, and seamless communication to all Wi-Fi* protocols. Location-aware technologies are being designed to allow platforms to understand context and behave intelligently. And, Trusted Protection Module and other security technologies are already in second-generation development to offer users better protection across the platform, from content to communication.

Explore more at the following links:

• Intel’s Platform Approach
• User-Driven Innovation
• Intel World Ahead Program
• Advanced Technologies
• Intel Multi-Core
• Intel® Core™ microarchitecture
• Standards & Initiatives
• The Evolution of Parallel Computing
• Intel® Platforms: Innovation Beyond Processors
• A Platform 2015 Workload Model: Recognition, Mining and Synthesis Moves Computers to the Era of Tera [PDF 228KB]
• Technology & Research