At an industry event in Taipei today, Hermann Eul,
general manager of Intel's Mobile and Communications
Group, unveiled new details about the company's
forthcoming Intel Atom processor-based SoC for tablets
("Bay Trail-T") due in market for holiday this year.
Based on the new Silvermont microarchitecture, the next
generation 22nm Intel technology for tablets and
ultra-mobile devices will enable sleek designs with 8 or
more hours of battery life and weeks of standby, as well
as support Android and Windows 8.1.
Eul also demonstrated the Intel XMM 7160 multimode 4G
LTE solution, now in final interoperability testing
(IOT) with Tier 1 service providers across North
America, Europe and Asia.
Building on the progress of the Intel Atom processor
Z2760, the new products will deliver efficient, quad
core processing that doubles the performance over the
previous generation, according to Eul.
The next-generation Intel Atom processor-based SoC for
tablets ("Bay Trail") provides the best balance of
performance, features and battery life, he added. With
the new 22nm Silvermont architecture, Intel delivers
high performance with fewer cores, allowing Intel
platforms to bring to life incremental features and
capabilities.
Eul discussed Intel's focus on enabling a richer media
and content experience by improving graphics
performance. He then highlighted the tablet platform's
new Gen 7 graphics that will offer more than three times
the graphics capabilities, with support for DX11 for
expanded PC application and game support.
The new Intel Atom processor-based platform comes
equipped with hardware-based security with McAfee Live
Safe. This digital life protection suite keeps online
identity private, protects from phishing attacks and
keeps data secure while protecting the devices.
Bay Trail also represents the first time Intel is
offering its customers a mobile platform solution that
is flexible with regard to operating system and the
company will provide the same great Intel tablet
performance and high-resolution graphics at cost savings
to consumers.
Intel's platform and ecosystem enabling efforts will be
focused initially on Intel Atom processor-based tablets
running Android and Windows.
Intel expects tablets ppowered by its Bay Trail processor to cost under US$200. The company's aggressive approach on price highlights its urgent need to grow its tablet business as PC shipments sink. Intel is trying to catch up with ARM, whose processor designs are used in most tablets today.
In addition, Intel's strategy is to deliver low-power,
global modem solutions that work across multiple bands,
regions and devices.
Intel's XMM 7160 is one of the world's smallest and
lowest-power multimode-multiband LTE solutions. The
modem supports 15 LTE bands simultaneously, and also
includes a configurable RF architecture running
real-time algorithms for envelope tracking and antenna
tuning that enables cost-efficient multiband
configurations, extended battery life and global LTE
roaming in a single SKU.
Eul demonstrated the solution by showcasing a Bay
Trail-based tablet over an LTE network connection, and
said that Intel will begin shipments of multimode data
4G LTE in the coming weeks following final IOT with Tier
1 service providers in North America, Europe and Asia.
Eul also highlighted recent momentum with the "Clover
Trail+".
ZTE disclosed the ZTE Grand X2 IN smartphone with Intel
Inside and the ZTE GEEK. Featuring the Intel Atom
processor Z2580, the smartphones are scheduled to be
available in Europe and then China in the second half of
this year.
Looking forward, Eul highlighted Intel's next Atom
processor-based SoC for smartphones, codenamed
"Merrifield." Taking advantage of the new 22nm
Silvermont microarchitecture, Merrifield will enable a
performance increase of greater than 50 percent and will
also increase battery life over current-generation
"Clover Trail+" product offerings. The platform also
brings support for contextual awareness and personal
services via an integrated sensor hub, and increased
data, device and privacy protection.
Intel's mobile development is mostly focused on Android. Its Merrifield chip for smartphones will initially support Android.
Intel also announced that Thunderbolt Thunderbolt
technology has been included on over 30 PCs and
motherboards worldwide, including on more than a dozen
new 4th generation Intel Core processor-based products.
At the video geekfest National Association of
Broadcasters (NAB) show in April, Intel announced plans
for an important advancement in Thunderbolt technology -
the upcoming controller codenamed "Falcon Ridge" running
at 20Gbs, a doubling of the bandwidth over the original
Thunderbolt. Named "Thunderbolt 2", this next
generation of the technology enables 4K video file
transfer and display simultaneously. It is achieved by
combining the two previously independent 10Gbs channels
into one 20Gbs bi-directional channel that supports data
and/or display. Current versions of Thunderbolt,
although faster than other PC I/O technologies on the
market today, are limited to an individual 10Gbs channel
each for both data and display, less than the required
bandwidth for 4K video transfer. Also, the addition of
DisplayPort 1.2 support in Thunderbolt 2 enables video
streaming to a single 4K video monitor or dual QHD
monitors. All of this is made possible with full
backward compatibility to the same cables and connectors
used with today's Thunderbolt.
"By combining 20Gbs bandwidth with DisplayPort 1.2
support, Thunderbolt 2 creates an entirely new way of
thinking about 4K workflows, specifically the ability to
support raw 4K video transfer and data delivery
concurrently," said Jason Ziller, Marketing Director for
Thunderbolt at Intel. "And our labs aren?t stopping
there, as demand for video and rich data transfer just
continues to rise exponentially."
Professionals and enthusiasts alike will be able to
create, edit, and view live 4K video streams delivered
from a computer to a monitor over a single cable, while
backing up the same file on an external drive, or series
of drives, simultaneously along the same device
daisy-chain. Thunderbolt 2 is currently slated to begin
production before the end of this year, and ramp into
2014.