INTEL OUTLINES EVOLUTION OF NEXT-GEN WIRED AND WIRELESS NETWORKS.

During their keynote at the Intel Developer Forum (IDF) last week, Intel's top two communications silicon executives outlined the company's strategies to enable richer applications and services for next-generation wired and wireless networks.

Intel has created two communication silicon architectures aimed at speeding the development of new communication equipment and wireless clients that address the opportunities emerging from the convergence of voice and data networks. The Intel Internet Exchange Architecture (Intel IXA) addresses the network infrastructure needs of next-generation networks. The Intel Personal Internet Client Architecture (Intel PCA) will speed the transition to next-generation wireless clients.

The need for greater Internet bandwidth is being driven by the rapid growth of wireless devices, continued growth in wired Internet access, and the convergence of voice and data over next-generation networks. This explosion of digital data over the Internet creates a market opportunity for Intel's communications silicon components.

"Intel is a leading supplier of communications silicon technologies to the networking and wireless communications industries, and has the expertise and variety of products to successfully develop next-generation networks," said Ron Smith, senior vice president and general manager of Intel's Wireless Computing and Communications Group. "Intel IXA and Intel PCA are the cornerstones of that strategy, and these architectures are gaining continual momentum and support in the marketplace."

Mark Christensen, vice president and general manager of Intel's Network Communications Group, demonstrated the world's first single-chip Gigabit Ethernet solution for PCs, servers and network infrastructure equipment. The new chip is less than half the size and uses half the power of previous Gigabit Ethernet solutions.

Christensen also unveiled Intel's latest array of components for optical networking systems vendors that give telecommunications service providers the ability to extend the reach of their optical networks, add intelligence to those networks and deliver new telecommunications services. These new semiconductors use a technology called "forward error correction" to increase the distance that data can travel over optical networks by up to 400 percent without having to install expensive repeaters that boost the signal of traffic traveling long distances over fiber optic cables. These components can also receive and transmit data over multiple communications protocols that service providers have to support on their networks today.

"These new products demonstrate the breadth of the Intel IXA product line," said Christensen. "When connecting PCs and servers to the network, the Intel IXA product line can intelligently move terabits of data across an optical backbone. Intel has the most comprehensive set of silicon and software solutions for enabling network equipment manufacturers to rapidly develop next-generation network equipment."

Intel's wireless building block components can be used to develop handheld devices taking advantage of Intel PCA. The Intel StrongARM(2) processor and future processors using the Intel XScale microarchitecture are ideal for processing solutions that need high performance and low power consumption. Intel also offers cellular baseband chipsets and high-speed flash memory for the communications market.

Smith introduced a new addition to the company's flash memory family, the Intel Persistent Storage Manager (PSM), version 3.0 software. Coupled with Intel StrataFlash Memory, PSM serves as a flash file and media manager that enables code execution, file storage and registry back-up. The software is specifically aimed at handheld devices using Microsoft's Windows(1) CE operating system.

"Intel Persistent Storage Manager software simplifies design by combining all nonvolatile memory functions into a single memory solution," said Smith. "This optimization reduces power consumption, component count and manufacturing costs, while providing increased system reliability and valuable user storage."

Smith also announced the availability of Intel Integrated Performance Primitives (IPP) for Intel StrongARM and Intel XScale processors, which enable designers to quickly develop applications that can be ported to run on any Intel processor. During the keynote address, Thomas Dolby Robertson, the founder of Beatnik Inc., demonstrated the Beatnik Audio Engine(1) for Intel StrongARM, one of the first technologies optimized using the IPP software libraries to enable users to experience CD-quality audio and music through a variety of digital devices.

The Intel Developer Forum is Intel's premier technical forum featuring more than 250 sessions and hands-on labs, and numerous demonstrations of cutting-edge products and technologies. Now in its fourth year, the semi-annual conference provides hardware original equipment manufacturers, and independent hardware and software vendors with in-depth information on Intel technologies and initiatives.