I just received my WinHEC '99 flyer and registration info. All I see is "digital video" in many applications, and from every angle.
microsoft.com
Eighth Annual
Windows Hardware
Engineering Conference
and Exhibition
April 7 - 9, 1999
Los Angeles Convention Center
Los Angeles, California
File Date: January 15, 1999
You are invited to attend WinHEC 99 - the eighth annual Windows® Hardware
Engineering Conference - in Los Angeles, CA. For the past seven years,
WinHEC has established itself as the most important conference for the PC
hardware industry by launching new initiatives, standards and technologies for
Windows platforms.
The WinHEC conference sessions and exhibits will give you access to the
technologies, products and people you need to develop components and systems
for the expanding PC product universe. WinHEC 99 features three full days of
presentations by PC industry experts, including in-depth technology sessions and
a full technical exhibition.
Key Topics and Speakers
1999 will be a year of major changes and new initiatives for the PC platform,
and WinHEC 99 will be your source for the news and new initiatives. It will be
your opportunity to understand the hardware standards and designs that will
launch the PC platform and related products into the new millennium. Important
news that you will hear at WinHEC 99 will include:
Architecture and standards for home networking of PCs and appliances,
including automatic discovery and configuration, and sharing of Internet
connections.
Application of digital media including imaging, digital television and digital
audio. New developments include the Windows Imaging Architecture,
and security, content protection, and digital rights management within
Windows.
Designing embedded systems using Windows CE and Embedded
Windows NT®.
Enterprise computing technologies for high availability, scalability,
performance, manageability and storage.
Microsoft's roadmap for Windows, including releases for consumer and
enterprise customers.
Technical details presented by Microsoft and industry leaders for
advancing and reinventing the PC, including CPU and memory
architecture advances, new high-speed serial buses for storage, higher
I/O bandwidth for servers and workstations, elimination of legacy I/O
architecture, low-cost designs, and new imaging, display and multimedia
architectures.
Keynote speakers will be Microsoft President Steve Ballmer, Brian Valentine,
Vice President of Windows Operating Systems Division, and David Cole, Vice
President of Web Client and Consumer Experience Division. General session
speakers include Michael Slater of MDR/Microprocessor Report, Pat Gelsinger
of Intel, and Carl Stork and Jay Torborg from Microsoft. All in all, the WinHEC
conference program promises to be relevant, technical and actionable.
Meet Key Industry Leaders and See Relevant Technology
Exhibits
WinHEC provides you the opportunity to interact with more than 3500 industry
leaders and your peers at other companies. Because WinHEC is the key PC
industry gathering, you can be sure to find colleagues with similar interests and
challenges in an environment for discussing solutions.
WinHEC includes a technical exhibition featuring the products and technologies
needed by the industry to deliver state-of-the-art systems. Over 100 exhibiting
companies will be showcasing their products and technologies.
Who Should Attend? What Will You Accomplish?
WinHEC is specifically designed for technical managers, developers, hardware
engineers and product planners from semiconductor, peripheral and system
manufacturers across all segments of the PC industry.
You will learn about the key issues facing makers of hardware for the PC
industry, hear what key companies are planning in response, and have access to
the technology suppliers who build solutions in these spaces. Whether you are
building server, desktop, mobile or handheld systems and components, your
participation in this annual industry event will enable your company to design
better products and compete more effectively in the years to come.
We look forward to seeing you in Los Angeles for WinHEC 99 this April 7-9.
Agenda:
microsoft.com
WinHEC 99 Session Descriptions
General Session Descriptions
Keynote: Advancing the Platform to Delight Customers
Steve Ballmer, President, Microsoft Corporation
Microsoft's overall strategy for advancing the platform is driven by carefully examining specific
customer viewpoints and scenarios. Mr. Ballmer will discuss how Microsoft forms and
executes its strategy for Windows, using as an example the customer scenarios for digital
copyright management and entertainment content, and leading to a provocative consideration of
what the hardware industry can do to join in making PC platform advances happen.
Scaling Windows Technologies for the Enterprise
Brian Valentine - Vice President, Windows Operating Systems Division,
Microsoft Corporation
Mr. Valentine will present Microsoft's plans for enterprise computing that embraces a
software-plus-hardware solution, focusing on two areas: Building reliable systems with capacity
for the Internet, and Reliability, Accessibility and Scalability (RAS). This session will present
the roadmap defining the breadth of infrastructure support provided by the Windows operating
system in conjunction with hardware advances in the industry to meet customer needs in these
areas.
The Hard Task of Making It Easy
David Cole - Vice President, Web Client and Consumer Experience
Division, Microsoft Corporation
Designers' efforts to advance the PC platform are focusing on ease of use for the end user and
simplicity in the PC architecture for the next generation of consumer computing. This session
explores the issues for advancing these goals for the PC and for the operating system.
Consumer Technologies for Windows: Digital Imaging and Home
Networking
Carl Stork - General Manager, Windows Hardware Strategy and
Evangelism, Microsoft Corporation
Two high-end consumer scenarios are growing in market demand: digital imaging and home
networking. Both are obtainable with today's technology, with new solutions being delivered in
the next six months. This session explores what system, peripheral and silicon manufacturers
need to do now to meet the needs of and take advantage of market growth in imaging and
home networking.
Intel Hardware Directions - Roadmaps and Initiatives
Pat Gelsinger, Vice President and General Manager, Desktop Products
Group, Intel Corporation
This presentation will explore changes in computing architectures and configurations to serve
the needs of users in business and home. Mr. Gelsinger will describe Intel's CPU, chip set, and
platform roadmaps for the next several years, including details regarding Intel's Pentium® III
processor. Key technical initiatives will also be covered including making computers easier to
use, advancing visual computing capabilities, taking the next step in systems management,
designing high bandwidth communications subsystems, improving server I/O performance,
implementing a baseline of PC security features, and enabling new mobile platforms. Mr.
Gelsinger will highlight software applications that demonstrate several of these important
initiatives.
Windows Multimedia Directions - Advancing to the Next Level
Jay Torborg - Director, Windows Multimedia Group, Microsoft
Corporation
Even the most basic PCs have advanced multimedia capabilities, compared to just a few years
ago. Developers will continue to implement additional multimedia functionality in business as
well as entertainment applications, and the operating system will include additional multimedia
and 3D functionality. Mr. Torborg will demonstrate the audio and graphics features in
Microsoft Windows 2000 (implementing Microsoft DirectX® 7 technology), discuss the
advanced architecture and future directions for DirectX 8, and discuss how Fahrenheit will
affect graphics vendors.
PC Hardware Design Trends - Choices Facing System Designers
Michael Slater, Principal Analyst, MDR/Microprocessor Report
This presentation reviews the latest changes and trends in system architecture, component
choices and cost. Mr. Slater will discuss how these changes and trends will affect both your
system designs and your business decisions. Topics include microprocessor technology,
multimedia acceleration, memory trends, peripheral interfaces and design for ease of use.
Technical Sessions
Future PC System Architecture - Internal
The PC architecture needs to allow greater flexibility in design choices while maintaining the
cost and performance benefits of the PC platform. This session explores opportunities to
dramatically improve the PC architecture by removing legacy I/O support and moving to new
chipset, bus and operating system architectures. The specific changes needed in system
hardware, bus, CPU and memory architectures, and Windows are discussed. The design
tradeoffs between CPU and memory architecture choices are explored in detail.
Future PC System Architecture - External
This session is a detailed follow-on to the Internal session described above. Concentration will
be on the architecture that supports the PC platform migration to high-speed isochronous,
external interconnects. While the focus is on external buses, the relationship and design
tradeoffs between these external buses and internal buses, such as PCI, are also explored. The
roadmap for Microsoft operating system support for USB and IEEE 1394 is presented including
details of new proposals for improving the technical capabilities of external buses.
Modem/Audio Integration and New Directions in Audio
PC audio is destined to make important inroads with the consumer electronics world in the next
few years. The first half of this session addresses the migration of audio and modem
subsystems into system driver software, discussing architecture, operating system kernel issues
and different mixes of hardware and software. The second part of the session presents details
about hardware design for multichannel audio to support PC DVD and home theater. This
session will show how state-of-the-art audio hardware using more powerful versions of
Microsoft DirectSound® and DirectMusic™ APIs plus the recent advances in audio
compression promise a revolution in music distribution and present enormous opportunities for
new products.
Computer Security and Content Protection
Computer security is no longer the province of only secure corporate and government sites -
the flourishing of the Internet requires a higher lever of security for all computer users. Closely
linked to security is the phenomenon of content piracy, since computers have made it easier to
flaunt copyright laws and to unwittingly steal content, particularly software and digital audio.
While customers are demanding a higher level of security in their PCs, they will also want to
purchase and enjoy music, video, eBooks and software on their PCs. This digital content needs
to be protected from theft. This forum presents details about the hardware, software and
operating system foundations for a complete Windows-based computer security and content
protection architecture.
Embedded Systems Based on Windows Platforms
This session is for PC system and peripheral designers who are creating embedded systems
based on Microsoft embedded operating systems. Current status and future roadmaps are
presented for related operating systems (Windows CE and Windows NT Embedded). This
session provides details based on case studies related to processor selection, tradeoffs for
embedded vs. full Windows operating systems, and tradeoffs among different devices,
applications and operating system feature sets.
PC Quality and Simplicity
Customer satisfaction can be increased and support costs decreased through an industry-wide
strategy of hardware and software improvements. This session talks about configuring
hardware and software for simpler out-of-box experiences for Windows-based PC platforms.
Demonstrations will include future chip sets and migration of technologies that will make the
PC easier to use.
Advancing the Mobile Platform
This session highlights technologies and architectures of interest to designers, planners, and architects for
mobile PCs and associated peripherals. A mobile PC must include a wide range of features and functions
housed in a lightweight, small form factor that can be powered from batteries while maintaining an
acceptable thermal envelope. The mobile PC is also expected to match the support in desktop PCs for
every communications protocol, plus wireless technologies and cross-platform communication with other
portable devices. This session presents new technologies such as Bluetooth and Mini PCI along with
discussions on advances in power management. The session also presents a new architecture for
universal docking stations.
Improving Imaging Through Innovation and Standards
This session discusses how the industry can work together to ensure the success of imaging on the PC by
radically improving the still and video imaging experience for both consumer and business users. The
session begins with an overview of the imaging workflow, interoperability issues, methods, and standards
for addressing current problems. Then the session will explore the system architecture challenges in
supporting digital content creation and how to meet these challenges in system design decisions. Microsoft
will present new, enhanced architecture for cameras, scanners and applications, which is built on the
WDM-based Still Image Architecture in Windows 98 and Windows 2000. This session also discusses
color management challenges and the benefits of sRGB to address end-user frustration with color. New
extensions to Microsoft DirectShow™ for digital video device control will also be introduced, ideal for
emerging digital video camcorders and videoconferencing cameras.
Windows in the Enterprise, Part 1:
Servers and High Speed I/O Technologies
This session will present an overview of the roadmap for Windows in the enterprise and will discuss some
of the issues for balancing server design among processing, memory and I/O subsystems. This forum will
also include an overview of new high-speed I/O technologies (PCI-X and NGIO), clustering, load
balancing, and high availability.
Windows in the Enterprise, Part 2:
Introduction to System Area Networks and Manageability Case Studies
This session will be a continuation of "Windows in the Enterprise, Part 1," examining issues important to
Windows as it is more broadly deployed in enterprise-wide computing. This forum will begin with an
introduction to System Area Networks, including a discussion of a Windows Socket-based programmatic
interface and the implications for hardware developers. Two case studies will be presented looking at
hardware platforms implementing WMI (WBEM) based management capabilities and solutions.
Selecting Microprocessors for Windows-Based PCs
Michael Slater, Principal Analyst, MDR/Microprocessor Report surveys the major microprocessor types
for systems that run the Windows and Windows NT operating systems. Topics include an evaluation of
processor cores, processor buses, L2 cache strategies, instruction set extensions to accelerate 3D
graphics, and the role of highly integrated designs. The seminar compares the architecture,
implementation, price, performance and power consumption of:
Intel Pentium II, Pentium II Xeon, Celeron, and Pentium III processors
AMD K6-2, K6-3, and K7 processors
Cyrix MII, Jedi, and MXi processors
IDT WinChip 2, WinChip 3, and WinChip 4
Rise mP6 and mP6 II
Compaq 21164, 21264, and 21364 Alpha microprocessors
The seminar will conclude with a forecast of the future roadmaps for each of the processor vendors and
an evaluation of where each is likely to be most successful.
Future Graphics and Display Architectures
This session highlights the PC platform challenges in supporting the next generation of applications, with
additional 2D, 3D and graphics animation features being added to future operating system releases and
becoming standard features of both the user interface and a broad range of consumer and business
applications. This session discusses industry-related issues for GDI+, Fahrenheit and a new interface
standard being developed for digital displays. It also addresses graphics performance and display quality
issues.
Advancing the Platform with High Quality Digital Video
The highly publicized transition to Digital Television broadcasting requires an enormous infrastructure
change. The consumer's need to buy new entertainment equipment for the family living room represents a
fantastic opportunity for the PC industry. To seize this opportunity, the industry must make high-quality
Digital TV-style video a low-cost, mainstream capability of the PC platform. This can be done by handling
the MPEG streams natively in Microsoft DirectShow software. This forum explores the details of all
aspects of the Microsoft Windows 2000 reference TV receiver and demonstrates it in action. This
session will also discuss the software and hardware changes necessary to establish a new PC-architected
platform that is optimized for family room entertainment.
Home Networking Standards and Technologies
This session describes the significant progress made since WinHEC 98 toward a technical foundation for
Windows-based home networking that leverages Internet models and protocols for device and service
discovery, Internet connection sharing, addressing, naming, reliability and more. The session provides a
status report on the software and hardware technologies enabling four key classes of home network
applications: information, entertainment, automation and communications. This forum is recommended for
anyone involved in planning and implementing consumer platforms and peripherals that will interoperate
with other devices in the home.
Implementing Home Networking Systems and Services
This companion session to the session above provides an in-depth examination of hardware and software
implementations for Windows-based public broadband and home networks. It is intended for designers
and implementers of PCs and devices, particularly those that will interconnect via Internet Protocol (IP)
on standard media (phone, powerline, wireless). This seminar provides detailed technical coverage of the
Microsoft implementation of Internet connection sharing, Home API, end-to-end broadband architecture
including the 'extra mile' within the home and more.
There's much much more on the site -- I don't have time to post it now. |
