Move faster than Moore’s Law? Yep, that’s what Intel says it plans to do, accelerating its Atom product line and bringing new products to market on three process technologies in the next three years.
Named after Intel co-founder Gordon Moore, Moore’s Law refers to doubling the number of transistors on a chip about every two years or 18 months. Intel made its declaration yesterday, the same day it said the Atom platform, formerly codenamed “Oak Trail,” will be in devices starting in May.
Intel’s need for speed has been well publicized as of late. Last month, Anand Chandrasekher, senior vice president and general manager of Ultra Mobility Group (UMG), announced he was ending his 24-year run at the company in order to pursue other interests. In a statement at that time, Intel said it continues to make investments needed to ensure the best user experience on smartphones and handhelds running Intel architecture and that a phone would ship this year.
Speculation ensued that Intel’s lack of luster in the smartphone and tablet space may have driven Chandrasekher’s departure, regardless of which party may have initiated it. Competition from ARM processors in smartphones and tablets and the no-go with the MeeGo initiative with Nokia haven’t been kind to Intel.
But now Intel says more than 35 tablet and hybrid designs from companies like Fujitsu, Evolve III, Lenovo, Motion Computing and others will use Oak Trail. The company also said it’s giving a sneak peak of its next-generation Atom platform, codenamed “Cedar Trail,” at the Intel Developer Forum in Beijing.
Intel says the new Intel Atom processor Z670, part of the Oak Trail platform, delivers better video playback, fast Internet browsing and longer battery life without sacrifices in performance. The platform also supports Adobe Flash and allows apps to run on various operating systems such as Android, MeeGo and Windows.