Inside Intel
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At Intel's Spring Analyst Meeting in New York City on May 3, chief executive Paul Otellini and his brain trust provided detailed insight into the chip giant's plans. Amid an intense focus on cost-cutting, following the tough business environment of the past few years, Intel emphasized its intentions to go full-bore with new technologies.

On tap are numerous dual- and quad-core processors, the debut of an advanced 45-nanometer manufacturing process, and an ambitious attempt to jump-start the widespread use of handheld Internet devices. After sifting through the information at the sessions, we present our summary of the most important takeaways from Intel's near-term roadmap, along with an image gallery of the most notable PowerPoints from the executive presentations.

	(click image for larger view) Code names of the processors on Intel's roadmap. The Core micro-architecture, already here, will spread throughout Intel's processor lineup this year. view the image gallery

Intel is calling the downsized device it sees as the next big thing the UMPC, for Ultra-Mobile PC. But it's really a Smart- or iPhone on steroids, with beefed-up Web browsing abilities.

"In the next couple of years, we'll see [the] beginnings of these mobile Internet devices," said Otellini. "They're around now, but not in great volume."

Intel has already launched its first UMPC-class processor, in the form of a chip called McCaslin. Interestingly, it's used not in a handheld browser but in the Apple TV. A more powerful chip—the one which Intel is really pitching for these handheld browsers—is code-named Menlow. It'll be ready in the first half of 2008. Unlike McCaslin, which Intel says runs Windows, Menlow will run Windows and Linux.

After Menlow, smaller, faster, and less power-hungry processors are planned. "This is just the beginning for us," said Anand Chandrasekhar, the general manager of Intel's ultra mobility group. "We get the base technology elements in place with the Menlow platform and then we iterate on that and get the power down and performance up."

What's in a "Core"? For Intel, the word cuts both ways: Core with a capital "c" is the name of the micro-architecture which is powering Intel's newest processors. Lower-case core is in abundance, too, at Intel, because dual- and quad-core processors constitute its most profitable chips.

Intel already offers several quad-core desktop chips, as part of its Core 2 Quad and Core 2 Extreme families. On the server side, Intel ships no less than at 9 quad Xeons, in its 5300, low-voltage 5300, and 7300 series.

	(click image for larger view) Harpertown and Yorkfield will be Intel's first 45-nm quads. (65-nm quad cores are already shipping.) view the image gallery

At the Spring Analyst event, Intel emphasized the Core architecture as a whole—which includes both two- and four-way chips--more than it did quad core specifically. Said Intel CEO Paul Otellini: "We will ramp our Core micro-architecture, top to bottom, in all market segments: Single, dual- and quad-core."

Core is characterized by a feature called "wide-dynamic execution." More importantly, it operates at lower power than does the Netburst architecture, which powered the Pentium 4. "We expect to be 100 percent, top to bottom, with [the Core] micro-architecture, by year end," said Otellini. "We are moving very aggressively to replace all the products, even down in the Pentium space and Celeron space with variants of [Core], over the course of this year. This gives us a performance lead, in each of those segments, and it gives us a serious cost advantage."

Nevertheless, it's clear that quads will become increasingly important for Intel, moving forward. On tap for release in the second half of 2007 are two new quads based on Intel's latest 45-nm chip technology: Yorkfield for desktops and Harpertown for servers.