Intel is counting on Microsoft pulling support or older
operating systems and legacy PC renewal to drive demand for new PC
technology.
During his keynote presentation at the Intel Developer's Forum
in San Jose, chief executive officer Craig Barrett discussed how
legacy PC renewal would allow newer, Intel-based technologies to be
adopted by business.
Intel has estimated that there are as many as 180 million old
PCs in existence running unsupported operating systems software.
Barrett said user upgrades were being driven by, "a whole series of
events including non-support of older operating systems by
Microsoft and inefficiencies within older PCs".
The theme of this year's conference was computing and
communications convergence. Barrett said Intel was developing new
ways to integrate more functions onto silicon chips. He added that
this integration "will bring benefits to the end user in terms of
performance, power consumption and cost through economies of
scale".
One example of integration is the Manitoba chip announced at the
3 GSM World Congress in Cannes. Designed for mobile phones, the
chip integrates an Xscale processor, 4 MB memory and a radio onto a
single chip.
Intel has also been conducting research into silicon photonics,
where fibreoptical and silicon technology are available on a single
chip. In what is believed to be a world first, Intel showed how
such a chip could be used to transmit data over a 5km fibreoptic
cable using a single silicon chip to perform both the optical and
electronic aspects of processing the data transmission. In the
future, Intel believes, such technology could lower dramatically
the cost of optical switching devices as manufacturing in silicon
would benefit from economies of scale.
Barrett also remained upbeat about future demand for technology
in both mature and emerging markets.
"The global desire for advanced technology by consumers,
businesses, governments and other organisations has not slowed," he
said. "The past two years have shown more clearly than ever that
innovation and technology continue to move forward, even in the
face of a weak economy. Businesses and governments in both mature
and emerging markets worldwide are viewing technology
infrastructure as critical to their competitiveness over the long
run."