Tablets vs PCs

Check Out Brian Madden in this IT Consumerization video 'Tablets vs. PCs' brought to you by Intel. To learn more, please visit the IT Consumerization Corner at Tech Target, brought to you by Intel: http://searchconsumerization.techtarget.com/IntelITConsumerizationCorner

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Acer Liquid C1: The Intel-powered Android 4.0 Phone

Intel and Acer have announced the Acer Liquid C1, an Android 4.0 smartphone at an event in Thailand.
Read more at: http://ibnlive.in.com/photogallery/12481.html?from=HP&utm_source=ref_article

Intel integrated LTE Modem + AP only in 2014

According to EETimes Intel is already shipping data only LTE modems to customers and data-and-voice multimode modem would ship during 2013.

Intel is significantly lagging in the integrated modem and processor space that puts Intel way behind Qualcomm Inc., which already offers integrated LTE capability in its Snapdragon line of application processors. Intel's wireless capabilities are largely credited to the acquisition of wireless business unit of Infineon Technologies AG (Munich, Germany). This very team is known for its solid engineering capabilities while being cost effective and cost competitive.

Quick Introduction to LTE-Advanced

3G and 4G Wireless Blog: Quick Introduction to LTE-Advanced is an article written by Zahid Ghadialy where he explains LTE-A without going in technical details. This also includes the state of market on who is doing what.

Credit Suisse rates Intel Corp. stocks "Outperform" with a $32 price target

Read the full summary of Intel's Q4 results here and analyst estimates here. on Google Finance!

Lava XOLO X900 - AnandTech Review

Reader's in India, did you have a chance to try out this phone? would you buy/recommend it?

Lava XOLO X900 - World's first Intel phone

Discover what makes XOLO X900 with Intel Inside® the benchmark on speed and performance. Please head to the site directly by hitting the title.

Intel Mobile Comm's is looking for a Senior Verif Engineer

This opening is in Bangalore, India and the company is looking forward to close it at the earliest Job Description: 1. About 5-7 years of experience in functional verification with at least 3-4 years in HVL's like E language/specman and System Verilog. 2. Good experience at both module and sub-system/SOC level verification 3. Good knowledge of Verilog/VHDL 4. Good knowledge of UVM/eRM methodology 5. Should have developed complete test bench architecture, designing and coding of test bench components like UVCs/eVCs including checkers, monitors, scoreboards, BFMs 6. Should have architected the test plan including functional coverage and driven functional verification closure of complex DUTs 7. Expertise in sequences and sequence libraries 8. Working knowledge of register package model, regressions tools like eManager and perl scripting. 9. Should have working knowledge of ARM based processors and AHB Desirable skill set: 1. Exposure to other object oriented verification methodologies like VMM/OVM/UVM and system Verilog. 2. Exposure to C++, TLM and Co-verification Role: 1. Ownership and leadership of verification activity . 2. Good coordination skills to work in a flexible manner with multi-skilled teams and schedule-critical projects Technical interaction with concept, system, program and design teams that are geographically distributed If you are interested please contact using this link

IBM, Intel Start $4.4 Billion Chip Venture in New York

Kudos to IBM, Intel and New York state for putting together a deal that will make upstate New York the center of R&D work for chip production on 450-mm and the development of 22- and 14-nm process technology for IBM's so-called "fab club," the Common Platform Alliance. According to New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, the deal, which involves $4.4 billion of investment, will create about 4,400 jobs and help the region retain another 2,500. Many of those jobs might just have easily have ended up in Taiwan, South Korea, Abu Dhabi or elsewhere. The deal is a coup for New York, which is presumably offering the companies tax breaks or other incentives to locate the projects there. (New York state itself is kicking in some $400 million over five years, but Gov. Cuomo made it clear in a statement announcing the projects that no private company will receive any state funds as part of the agreement.) Albany, already home to the semiconductor research consortium Sematech, the Albany Nanotech Complex and, soon, the Global 450 Consortium, increasingly appears to have surpassed the Silicon Valley as the place to be for semiconductor industry R&D. [More]

Intel Medfield Atom based Android Tablet in 2012

Intel is one of few companies that was given access to the Google Android Honeycomb source code–which Google has to this date not made public yet because the company is still optimizing Honeycomb for future phone releases–and it took Intel a few weeks to re-compile the code to make it compatible for its x86 architecture–the code was originally written for ARM chipsets. "It is HOT" [More here]

Intelligent 4G basestations to be powered by Intel

The Inquirer reports that Ubiquisys has announced that it will develop WiFi base stations using Intel's processors. The intelligent base stations that Ubiquisys is developing are small cells for use in public spaces and big businesses. The need for Intel's processor comes from the growing need to have content within the principality of the base station rather than pulling everything off the internet.

Intel's new 4G acquisition is Sysdsoft

Intel has made a purchase to bolster its 4G wireless platform, buying Egypt-based Sysdsoft, a maker of 4G software stacks. Sysdsoft has been more closely associated with MIPS than Intel architectures, having created an LTE protocol stack for the MIPS/Android platform, with which the processor core maker hopes to penetrate the mobile sector. It may have to look for a new ally now, with Intel taking over most of the assets of the privately held Egyptian company, and hiring about 100 of its engineers and computer scientists.

Intel announces first Multistandard GSM Baseband chip and the much awaited Medfield processor

Intel has started production of its Medfield Application processor for smartphones and is sending samples to phone manufacturers. Intel also announced a low power, multi-standard baseband processor, samples of which would start shipping in the second half of this year. The new baseband processor will support LTE, a fourth generation, high-speed network technology currently being deployed by carriers, as well as older 3G and 2G technologies. Intel expects to make this chip widely available in the second half of next year.

Medfield is Intel's second smartphone processor. The first, Moorestown, did not have much success in the market due to power consumption too high for smartphones. Medfield and Moorestown are based on Intel's Atom processor. Medfield, which is built on the company's latest 32-nanometer manufacturing process, is expected to be better equipped for smartphones. Smaller in size and consuming less power than the 45-nm Moorestown, the new chip is expected to enter mass production later in the year. Intel has said Medfield-powered smartphones will hit the market this year. The company has not named the manufacturers. Intel dominates the processor market for PCs, but is playing catch up in the smartphone market, which is ruled today by processors based on the designs of ARM Holdings in the U.K. ARM processors are used by all the major smartphone makers, including Apple, Samsung, LG, HTC, Research In Motion, and others.

Intel's biggest advantage over ARM is in manufacturing. Intel is expected to move to a 22-nm manufacturing process next year, which is when ARM is headed to where Intel is today -- 32 nm. Size matters because reducing the size of circuitry on a chip boosts performance and lowers active power consumption. Therefore, Intel in time could produce a higher performing chip that's less expensive than ARM's. ARM is expected to stay on top at least till end of next year.

The LTE chip stems from Intel's acquisition last month of Infineon Technologies' Wireless Solutions business. Intel's strengths in communications before the acquisition was in Wi-Fi and WiMax chips. The acquisition has added 2G, 3G and 4G LTE technologies.

Intel, Nvidia ends legal battle with $1.5 billion cross-licensing deal

Intel and Nvidia announced Monday they are dropping their respective lawsuits with the signing of a six-year agreement to exchange patent rights. Under the deal, Intel will pay Nvidia $1.5 billion for the right to use the latter’s graphics processing units technology. Intel will pay the amount in five annual installments starting on Jan. 18, according to Nvidia.

“This agreement ends the legal dispute between the companies, preserves patent peace and provides protections that allow for continued freedom in product design,” said Doug Melamed, Intel senior vice president and general counsel. “It also enables the companies to focus their efforts on innovation and the development of new, innovative products.”

"This agreement signals a new era for Nvidia," said Jen-Hsun Huang, Nvidia's president and CEO. "Our cross license with Intel reflects the substantial value of our visual and parallel computing technologies. It also underscores the importance of our inventions to the future of personal computing, as well as the expanding markets for mobile and cloud computing."

Both companies are based in Santa Clara, Calif. One of Intel's largest chip manufacturing plants is in Rio Rancho, N.M., just northwest of Albuquerque.

Intel looks At Creating A ‘Sub-Atom’ Chip Out Of India, renews focus on affordable PCs

Praveen Vishakantaiah, president of Intel India, said one innovation in the area of frugal engineering could soon be in the market. "With HCL, we have launched a nettop with a battery backup in the power adaptor. It's a three hour backup that helps in areas that do not have continuous power supply. The innovation was in the adaptor; if we had done it in the nettop, it would have raised the cost significantly," he said.

The past decade has seen several attempts to mass market PCs through innovations like the Simputer, Classmate PC and a $100 portable computer under the one-laptop-perchild initiative, some of which had Intel's involvement. Vishakantaiah said some of these initiatives did not fully appreciate the complexities of the Indian market. "Broadband connection is a problem, so is reaching rural areas. Classmate PC has been a success in Latin America, with success in one country influencing others in the region to take it up. But in India, success in one area is no guarantee that others will want to do it," he said.

So, apart from efforts to bring breakthroughs in chip architecture to make them both
low cost and multi-functional, Intel India will be looking at triggering innovations around low-cost chips, like the battery backup in the power adaptor. "Besides, in India, we can't just provide a box and expect people to know what to do with it, like in mature markets. We have to provide content, we have to work with the teachers using the PCs to explain what's possible.We will have applications
preloaded on the system which are activated only when the buyer starts using them;
and they pay only for the time they use the app.We will work with our partners and the entire supply chain to do all of this," Vishakantaiah said.

The company's chief technology officer, Justin Rattner, who was in Bangalore last week, told TOI he's starting what he calls a "frugal engineering" effort at its India facility. "It's intended to bring high technology to these huge populations, to those whom our products for the most part do not touch today. And India seemed to be the perfect place to do that kind of work," he said.

Rattner said he expects early results from the 'rethinking' initiative a year from now."We will do a number of projects in this area and quickly weed out the ones that aren't going anywhere, and focus on one or two that look promising," he said.

More at this link from Times of India!

Intel India labs will focus on parallel computing

Intel dominates the business of PC processors. But as consumers shift increasingly to tablets and smartphones, the company is trying to quickly move to serve those devices. On a visit to Bangalore last week, Justin Rattner, CTO of Intel, talked exclusively to TOI on a range of issues, from the nature of work its Bangalore labs are being asked to do, to some really futuristic, almost sci-fi, stuff.

More at this link from Times of India!

Intel opens China fab

Intel Corp. has begun operations within its first fab in China, according to Dow Jones. In 2007, Intel won approval to build a $2.5 billion, 300-mm wafer plant in northern China for chip sets. The plan called for the fab to be in the city of Dalian. The fab will produce 65-nm devices.

Intel is also expanding in the U.S. As reported, Intel recently confirmed speculation that it will build a new R&D wafer fab in Hillsboro, Ore., and upgrade other existing U.S. facilities for 22-nm production at a total investment of between $6 billion and $8 billion.

The investment will create 800 to 1,000 permanent high-tech jobs and 6,000 to 8,000 construction jobs, Intel (Santa Clara, Calif.) said. The new development fab in Oregon, to be known as D1X, is slated for R&D startup in 2013.

One analyst thinks the fab will be ''450-mm ready.'' [Via: EETimes]

Is Intel prepping up for 450mm wafer sizes?

Is Intel preparing to push the issue with regard to its desire to move to 450-mm wafer sizes? One analyst thinks so. While most equipment is nowhere near ready at this stage (development has been limited ), C.J. Muse, an analyst with Barclays Capital, thinks the No. 1 chipmaker could specify that its newly announced D1X development fab in Oregon will be 450-mm capable (meaning it can accommodate 450-mm processing when/if the equipment becomes available).

Considering that Intel, Samsung and TSMC have said in the past that they want to see 450-mm development fabs by 2012 (fat chance), Intel almost has no choice but to build D1X with enough space to accommodate 450-mm processing. While the chances of the tools being ready for 450-mm by that date are slim, Intel must at least plan for the contingency if the company wants to send the message to its equipment suppliers that it is serious about this. While the 450-mm ball is rolling to some extent (450-mm wafer specs are ready; handlers and interfaces may be also), the question is when the big gear like lithography, CVD, RTP, etch systems and others, will be ready. Don't be surprised to see Intel make a public statement about this fab being 450-mm capable as a way to turn up the heat and spur tool development by equipment vendors who have mostly been dragging their feet. [via: EETimes]

Infineon takes over LTE specialist "Blue Wonder"

Infineon's Wireless Solutions unit has been working together with the Dresden design house "Blue Wonder" on the development of LTE technologies for one and a half years. Now Infineon has taken over the Saxony-based company together with its 50 employees.

Blue Wonder describes itself as a design house for LTE-IP and mobile communications
solutions serving the telecommunications and semiconductor industries. Blue Wonder’s team is made up of highly qualified specialists for mobile communications
solutions.

The core competencies encompass mobile broadband modem design and OFDMbased system development. First and foremost, the company’s special know-how in LTE Layer 1 supplements and complements the LTE development work of WLS and hence in future of Intel Mobile Communications.

The 4G mobile standard Long Term Evolution (LTE) is the successor of today’s 3G
standard UMTS/HSPA. It provides peak data rates of 150 Mbit/s downlink and 50
Mbit/s uplink. The perfor-mance in surfing the internet, playing online games and in
video telephony is as if the mobile devices were connected via DSL to the fixed
network.

Infineon wireless unit to be a "seperate legal entity"?

From the open forum that happened at Infineon today it was made clear that the carved out wireless division will be a separate legal entity with a new name (that is being figured out). It was also told that all the acquired employees will be blue badge Intel employees with their own HR, Marketing and Sales team that will work independently. That's interesting!