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Tuesday September 15 5:02 PM ET
Intel on fire in '99: New chips, technology ... and even an avant-garde PC
By Robert Lemos, ZDNet
PALM SPRINGS, Calif. -- PC chip giant Intel Corp. is preparing to open up the throttle on product releases for 1999, said Craig Barrett, Intel's president and CEO, at the Intel Developer Forum here Tuesday.
"1999 is going to be our most intense year for products yet," he said.
Among the new products: Fast multimedia additions to Intel's (Nasdaq:INTC) Pentium II and Xeon chips, a new Celeron processor, and the release of Intel's version of the consumer-appliance-oriented StrongARM processor -- a technology whose license Intel acquired from Digital Equipment Corp.
Visible differences
Perhaps the most focus was placed on the coming "Katmai" instruction set, which Intel intends to deliver in a Pentium II processor early next year.
The instructions are intended to accelerate media processing, delivering faster 3-D, video and audio processing.
"This technology is a leap to better performance, not a mere continuation of performance improvements," said Ticky Thakkar, principal processor engineer for Intel.
That leap was not in evidence at the forum here, however, as the technology demonstration was underwhelming. Instead of focusing on cutting-edge games, which tend to push the processor to extremes, Intel decided to show off e-commerce applications that are limited by bandwidth.
To top it all off, the demo -- using Microsoft's ChromeEffects Web-animation technology -- ended in the all-too-familiar error dialog box.
Out with the old
Barrett moved forward. Intel's chief highlighted the company's initiatives to do away with outdated PC technology.
"We need to remove some of the legacy features of PCs as we move forward, and drop technology that we no longer need," he said.
Among the technologies slated for obsolescence over the next few years are game ports, the PS/2 connector, serial and parallel connectors, the IDE bus, and floppy drives. Most of the connection technologies will be replaced with the new USB connectors.
"Phasing out [the older components] will deliver ease of use to the consumer," said Barrett.
Making Steve Jobs jealous
Of course, taking away the old may result in something very un-PC.
Barrett showed off a concept PC that was reminiscent of a high-tech Mayan pyramid, with the PC serving as a pedestal for the hallowed DVD-ROM drive. The Intel concept PC may make the iMac green -- or Biondi Blue -- with envy.
"I think that even Steve Jobs might become jealous of this sort of design," joked Barrett, to an appreciative audience.
The computer had four USB ports for all input and output, sported a 500MHz Katmai processor, 128MB of memory, and was connected to a flat-panel display.
Future "consumer appliance" devices could be based on the StrongARM processor and Intel's new single-chip home networking chip instead.
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