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Intel’s Emerging Compute Model Forum

Catherine Girardeau — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 07:01:10 +0000

There are now possibilities in enterprise computing that have the potential to solve mainstream problems and become widely adopted. These “Emerging Compute Models” are creating a lot of buzz, but also a lot of confusion in the IT community. That’s why this video podcast focuses on Intel’s Emerging Compute Model Forum. Jason Davidson, technical evangelist for the forum, says IT shops are experimenting with new ways to deliver applications and operating systems, but there’s no consensus on the best model, or models, to use.

In this podcast, Davidson and his colleagues Mike Ferron-Jones, marketing manager for Intel’s Emerging Compute Models program, and Chuck Brown, who directs the program, lay out the basic questions IT managers need to ask before choosing new compute models, discuss some of the pros and cons of different models, and preview some Intel and industry developments in the ECM space.

Tags: Intel, Emerging Compute Model, Jason Davidson, Mike Ferron-Jones, Chuck Brown, Thin Client, Rich Client, Terminal Services, Virtual Hosted Desktop, Blade PCs, OS Streaming, Application Streaming, SaaS

Data Centers Recycle Excess Heat

Catherine Girardeau — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 15:01:20 +0000

Instead of wasting all the excess heat your data center generates, wouldn’t it be more efficient to reuse it to heat offices, water, and more? With the growing number of data centers being built, now is the time to integrate energy saving and reuse methods. In part one of this two-part podcast, Doug Garday, a data center design engineer with Intel Information Technology, explains energy recycling, a method of reducing the impact of data centers on the environment. Intel IT recommends building systems to recover data center heat into the design of new facilities. Garday explains Intel’s design scheme, and gives tips on calculating your return on investment.

Tags: datacenter, data center cooling, data center power, green data centers

IDF Shanghai 2008: Atom-Enabled Devices To Debut

Jason Lopez — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 12:00:23 +0000

A new processor for the ultra-mobile market is Intel’s latest move to revolutionize mobility computing, from UMPCs to mobile Internet devices and even notebooks and desktops (er, “netbooks” and “net-tops”). While Atom (née Silverthorne) received its brand-new brand name recently, the family of tiny processors, which relies on 45nm technology just like the Penryn line of Core 2 Duo processors, will debut in devices on display at IDF in Shanghai in early April.

It’s no secret that China has come a long way in a short time — from being a country known for manufacturing cheap products for export to being, potentially, the next great IT superpower. National Science Board figures show that in 1994 there were only seven U.S. companies doing research in China. Ten years later, that number had risen to more than 500. Gartner analysts James Popkin and Partha Iyengar wrote, in their 2007 book I.T. and the East, that the world “will witness the birth of a real IT superpower if government restrictions are loosened and the Chinese instinctive talent for entrepreneurialism continues to be encouraged.”

It’s against this backdrop that the Intel Developer Forum in Shanghai, April 2 and 3, 2008, takes on extra significance. China now supplies the talent, within the country, to conduct advanced research in chip design. At this year’s IDF in Shanghai, Intel will provide an update on new technologies and features that enable devices with better performance, less power, more mobility, and lower cost.

If you’re not attending the event in person, be sure to follow online at Intel’s IDF pages and check in here for more video podcast coverage.

Tags: new processor, ultra-mobile, Intel, mobility computing, UMPC, mobile Internet devices, notebooks, desktops, netbooks, net-tops, Atom, 45nm technology, Penryn, Core 2 Duo, IDF, National Science Board, James Popkin, Partha Iyengar, I.T. and the East, Intel Developer Forum

ACM Adoption Update

editor — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 15:00:48 +0000

In the last of a three-part series on the growing interest in alternative client compute models, Mike Ferron-Jones, manager of Intel’s Emerging Models Program, provides an overview of a study Intel conducted to determine the current status of adoption.

Tags: alternative client compute models, Mike Ferron-Jones, Intel, Emerging Models Program

Overview of Client-based Models

editor — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 01:02:58 +0000

In the second of a three-part series on the growing interest in alternative client compute models, Mike Ferron-Jones, manager of Intel’s Emerging Models Program, looks at client-based models, including OS and application streaming.

Tags: Mike Ferron-Jones, Intel, Emerging Models, client-based models, application streaming

A Look at Server-based Models

editor — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 16:00:13 +0000

There’s been a growing interest from cost and security perspective in new ways for providing personal computing services. In the first of a three-part series on the topic, Mike Ferron-Jones, manager of Intel’s Emerging Models Program, looks at various personal computing models based on server-based systems, including terminal services, virtual hosted desktops and blade models. In subsequent podcasts, he will discuss client-based models and the results of a study into the current state of adoption.

Tags: Mike Ferron-Jones, Intel, Emerging Models, virtual hosted desktops, blade models

Fall IDF Video Demo - Faster video encoding on Penryn family of processors

editor — Mon, 11 Feb 2008 16:00:56 +0000

Darren Yee, Tech Marketing Engineer Intel Software Solutions Group, and I shot a video demo of TMPGEnc 4.0 Xpress, a popular video encoder that was optimized for Quad-core and Intel Streaming SIMD Extensions 4 (Intel SSE4) instructions on the Penryn family of Intel processors at the Fall 2007 Intel Developer Forum. The demo in the video show how the same application encoding video on both a Core 2 Duo and a Wolfdale dual core processor in Penryn family. This optimized version resulted in an over 2X improvement over Core 2 Duo using the same application encoding the same video clip. The Core 2 Duo machine encoded the file in 1:06 seconds where the Penryn machine tool only 40 seconds. The primary instruction used in this software optimization was MPSADBW for optimized Sum absolute difference calculations, a common operation used in motion estimation. More information on Penryn and the SSE4 instruction sets can be found at:
www.intel.com/software/penryn

IT@Intel: Software as a Service

Catherine Girardeau — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 13:00:05 +0000

In a big company like Intel, users get their software in a variety of ways - on their desktops, delivered over a network, or some combination of those. Catherine Spence, an enterprise architect with Intel IT Research and Technology Development, studies alternate and emerging compute models for enterprise operations. In this audio podcast, Spence discusses what her group learned through a recent study on the effects of streaming and virtual hosted desktop computing models on server and network utilization. On-demand software, or Software as a Service, is one of the emerging software delivery models showing benefits in boosting productivity and lowering costs.

Tags: Intel, Catherine Spence, enterprise architect, IT Research and Technology, compute models, streaming, virtual hosted desktop, On-demand software, Software as a Service

Intel Asks “What Is This Thing?” at CES 2008

Paul Lancour — Wed, 09 Jan 2008 18:10:02 +0000

The Consumer Electronics Show is going on in Las Vegas. In this video podcast we walk out of the Intel booth at the show and onto the Las Vegas Strip to ask “what is this thing?” … and we get some interesting answers.

Tags: Consumer Electronics Show, Intel

vPro: Encryption at the Hardware Level

Jason Lopez — Sat, 29 Dec 2007 17:29:23 +0000

There’s a revolution afoot in the computer industry that’s not so sci-fi. It’s more in line with the notion of “heavy lifting” and “blocking and tackling.” Corporate networks are benefiting from software at the chip level below the operating system. Intel has been providing the software building blocks for greater functionality in the hardware in vPro and CentrinoPro. The updates to the technologies continue in 2008 with “Danbury,” which performs core encryption in hardware. PodTech’s Jason Lopez interviewed Intel’s Steve Grobman, director of business client architecture.

Tags: Corporate networks, vPro, CentrinoPro, Danbury, core encryption, Steve Grobman

Virtualization and Data Center Consolidation

Jason Lopez — Fri, 14 Dec 2007 16:30:27 +0000

Intel is launching an eight-year process of data center consolidation, as Brently Davis, communications and stakeholder manager, blogs on IT@Intel. In this video podcast, he discusses the benefits — reducing costs, improving server and storage utilization], creating higher density & more energy-efficient data centers — and challenges, like impact on business partners, impact on different parts of the company, and costs. The strategy is known as “D.O.M.E.,” which stands for “Design, office, manufacturing and enterprise” computing. IT Architect Travis Broughton, who uses a parking lot to illustrate some of the challenges of virtualization in a recent post on IT@Intel, also weighs in on virtualization’s role in data center consolidation.

Related links:
Intel’s Matthew Rosenquist blogs about Virtualization from a security professional’s perspective - is it a dream or a nightmare?

Some images courtesy of: Frederik Vandaele, Jon Hurd and Philip Schatz via Attribution 2.0 Generic; Stan Wiechers, via Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic

Tags: data center consolidation, Brently Davis, IT@Intel, storage utilization, data centers, D.O.M.E., Travis Broughton, virtualization, Matthew Rosenquist

Intel vPro Technology: Activation Getting Easier

Jason Lopez — Wed, 12 Dec 2007 01:30:38 +0000

In this video podcast, IT pros from the Enterprise Solutions Group at Intel join Josh Hilliker, manager of the Intel vPro Expert Center, to discuss vPro activation. (more…)

Tags: Enterprise Solutions Group, Intel, Josh Hilliker, Intel vPro, vPro activation

ROI: Intel vPro Technology in the Enterprise

Jason Lopez — Wed, 05 Dec 2007 04:02:50 +0000

With Intel vPro Technology, the enterprise has a measurable way to improve IT efficiency and cut costs significantly. Enterprises that deploy Intel vPro technology-based PCs as part of a comprehensive PC refresh program can expect to reduce hardware complexity and the expenditures associated with that complexity. Wipro conducted a survey of IT managers from 40 different companies in a variety of industries, asking about current desktop management activities and costs that could be reduced by PCs with Intel vPro technology. The results the research team came up with were impressive — according to the white paper documenting their findings, a company with 32,000 desktops and a 4-year refresh cycle can achieve desktop management cost reductions of approximately $1 million in year one of the refresh, and as much as $7.5 million in year five, by which time the entire PC population would be part of a base featuring PCs with Intel vPro technology.

In this video podcast, Intel Senior Business Marketing Manager Justin Van Buren, Wipro Chief Application Architect Patrick Kalaher, Wipro Architect Timothy Morey, and Intel’s own Josh Hilliker discuss the technology and its implications for business with PodTech’s Jason Lopez.

Check out the Intel vPro Technology ROI Estimator

Some images provided with permission via Creative Commons by Brian Floto, Ben Donley, Mo Riza and Megan Ann, via Attribution 2.0 Generic; Kyle Flood, chapleauportal, Tammy Green and Julien Hourbrechts via Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic; and Gailjadehamilton and Murtaza Gulamali, via Attribution-No Derivative Works 2.0 Generic

Tags: Intel vPro Technology, IT efficiency, PC refresh program, hardware complexity, Wipro, desktop management, Justin Van Buren, Patrick Kalaher, Timothy Morey, Josh Hilliker, ROI Estimator

Virtualization and Enterprise Architecture: The Security Architect

Jason Lopez — Sat, 01 Dec 2007 02:34:55 +0000

Data centers today are under pressure from rising compute requirements, demand for storage capacity and energy costs. In this video podcast from IT@Intel, Alan Ross, principal engineer and enterprise architect with Intel IT, shares experiences, technology assessments and best practices around data center efficiency, virtualization and consolidation.

Transforming the data center requires understanding the underlying domains: facility, network, server, storage and how security interacts with manageability and other technology. The security architect has to evolve plans for business continuity and disaster recovery, as well as jump into emerging threat and risk arenas like Web application security. Facilities monitoring and management and energy savings require understanding and balancing customer service levels with the need to pinpoint where, when and how much compute power is needed, and migrating workloads accordingly. Virtualization is another game-changer in the data center, increasing capacity and manageability while decreasing energy consumption.

Alan Ross comes to enterprise architecture from an unconventional background. He holds a number of patents, has worked with electrorheological fluids to change the behavior of automotive dampers, and hopes someday to be part of future innovations in energy efficiency, photovoltaics and photolytics.

Blogs IT@Intel

Some images courtesy of:
Andrew Wales, Gisela Francisco, John Trainor, Koshy Koshy, Refracted Moments, Les Chatfield and Robin Hutton via Attribution 2.0 Generic; Bill Stilwell, Jamie Beverly, Craig Rodway, Fod Tzellos, Eric Schmuttenmaer, Stan Wiechers, gailf548, Andy Melton, Dawn Endico amd Mike Lowell via Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic; Hans Splinter via Attribution-No Derivative Works 2.0 Generic

Tags: storage capacity, IT@Intel, Alan Ross, virtualization, data center, Alan Ross, enterprise architecture, electrorheological fluids, energy efficiency

Intel Ships New 45nm Penryn Chip

Paul Lancour — Sun, 11 Nov 2007 19:01:30 +0000

Gordon Moore’s Law will remain in effect for the foreseeable future. Intel Corporation’s new 45nm Penryn microprocessor relies on a new recipe that combines the element Hafnium and metal gate technology to increase performance and significantly reduce eco-unfriendly, wasteful electricity leaks. (more…)

Tags: Moore’s Law, 45nm, Penryn, microprocessor, new recipe, Hafnium, metal gate, eco-unfriendly, wasteful electricity leaks

Intel’s Xeon Custom-Made for High-Performance Computing

Catherine Girardeau — Sun, 11 Nov 2007 19:00:58 +0000

High-performance computing presents unique challenges in performance, energy efficiency and parallel processing, and Intel has just unveiled a unique solution. The Intel Xeon processors and platforms use an entirely new transistor formula based on the second generation of the Intel Core microarchitecture. Intel’s new high-performance computing (HPC) platform is made possible by technological advancements in the new quad-core Intel Xeon processor 5400 series or dual-core Intel Xeon processor 5200 series, and Intel 5400 chipset. Intel Co-Founder Gordon Moore calls the processors which use Intel’s Hafnium-based High-k metal gate transistor formula and will be manufactured on the company’s 45-nanometer process, the biggest transistor advancement in 40 years.

The new Xeon family continues Intel’s leadership in delivering faster, more energy-efficient processors, with a 38 percent improvement in performance per watt over its predecessor.

Intel and HP Discuss Latest in Energy-Efficient Computing

Catherine Girardeau — Fri, 09 Nov 2007 19:30:20 +0000

Energy management and energy efficiency in data centers: Intel and HP are working together to save energy and money while boosting computing performance. The Climate Savers Computing Initiative is one way that Intel and HP are working to create sustainable high-performance technology for the enterprise. How do the energy management capabilities achieved by deploying Intel’s vPro platform contribute to power savings across an entire business? And what should the energy-conscious data center manager consider in trying to implement power savings in the data center? (More information on energy-effient chips related to this week’s announcement from another sponsor of the initiative, Marvell — a chip that actually determines the energy requirements of individual applications.

Tags: Energy management, energy efficiency, data centers, Intel, HP, computing performance, Climate Savers Computing Initiative

Security Plan - Risk Assessment, Modeling and War Gaming

Jason Lopez — Thu, 01 Nov 2007 01:36:45 +0000

Security risk assessments, security risk modeling, and protecting against security threats by maintaining a threat agent library — these and other programs form the basis for understanding threats to network security for Intel. In this video podcast, TIm Casey, senior strategic analyst for information security at Intel, discusses the strategy behind Intel’s efforts.

Intel maintains a “threat agent library,” with profiles of security threats, and the agents who might perpetrate them. It also uses real-time threat scenarios, or war games, to try to bring information about the actual environment together with threat agents and threats to test and improve threat response.

From fending off ordinary hackers to more organized crime or cyber terrorism, Casey’s role is like that of an IT secret agent working to keep Intel’s secrets out of the hands of real-world threat agents.

Casey blogs about IT security at IT@Intel. In a recent blog post, Power Tools in Information Risk Management, he discusses the tools he uses in managing information security risks at Intel. Check out other Intel blogs at Intel Open Port. (A recent post by Intel’s Matthew Rosenquist’s notes that the threats to network security are living, breathing opponents who are creative, knowledgeable, motivated, and have personal objectives in mind.

Security with Manny and Malcolm of HP and Intel

Jason Lopez — Thu, 25 Oct 2007 23:03:39 +0000

What’s new in security? In this podcast Intel’s Malcolm Harkins and HP’s Manny Novoa chat about the latest issues in security technologies, notably the emergence of hardware assisted virtualization. They also discuss, with PodTech’s Jason Lopez, coping with zero-day threats and the benefits of automated management of PC fleets.

Intel’s OnConnect Authentication Saves Intel Millions Through Secure Networking

Jason Lopez — Fri, 19 Oct 2007 00:04:27 +0000

Sanjay Rungta works with Intel’s Network Engineering Organization on keeping the Intel computing network safe and intrusion free. In addition to external threats from hackers, Rungta has done a lot to identify and combat internal threats. As increasing numbers of Intel employees work from home or WiFi hotspots, opportunities for exploiting certain network vulnerabilities increase. In this podcast interview, Rungta explains that It’s not that Wi-Fi holds greater risks or vulnerabilities, but that it’s experiencing such tremendous growth that it holds opportunities for all kinds of exploitation. He says that, with a network as large as Intel’s, efforts including remote employees’ access via VPN and implementing what he calls OnConnect Authentication have saved Intel millions of dollars. Rungta is an author of OnConnect Authentication.

IT@Intel

Tags: Sanjay Rungta, Intel, Network Engineering, hackers, internal threats, VPN, OnConnect Authentication, IT@Intel

IT@Intel: Return on Security Investment

Jason Lopez — Sat, 06 Oct 2007 00:05:35 +0000

Matt Rosenquist, Information Security Strategist at Intel, says that measuring success in the security industry is difficult, since there isn’t a perfect tool for measuring what doesn’t happen. In this podcas talks about how he approaches a nascent practice like security. Rosenquist blogs about security for IT@Intel, where in a recent post he posited some reasons why virtualization remains a open — and important — question for security professionals. In his post, Rosenquist argues that, since “you can’t get any deeper than the hardware,” Intel and other hardware designers are best positioned to help take the high ground in any battle against attackers. And it’s worth checking out the podcast video and reading his full blog post to see what Rosenquist means by success (hint: security isn’t an end, in Rosenquist’s thinking).

Insights From Intel On Integrating Marketing, PR and Advertising

Jennifer Jones — Mon, 01 Oct 2007 21:32:35 +0000

Nancy Bhagat is the vice president for the sales and marketing group and director of integrated marketing at Intel. She joined MarketingVoices’ Jennifer Jones a little background on the Upload Lounge that Intel provided for the first time this past year at the Fall IDF. Every year for the past ten years in San Francisco, Intel has convened its Fall developer forum, and as the chip giant continues to address integrated computing environments, the Upload Lounge was a physical acknowledgment of the significance that social media messaging is taking on. Bhagat says that, at least at Intel, the executive team is on board when it comes to implementing social media strategy — a reality that has allowed her to re-brand her own team as an “integrated marketing” department. The marketing “mix” that Bhagat is excited to foster includes traditional media as well as the elaborate peer-oriented network that developers around the world already rely on for so much information and support. Looking ahead, Bhagat says that the measurement for new efforts online will stress engagement through increasingly complex messaging. On the marketing budget side, Bhagat is expecting that Intel will continue to stay out front in terms of stressing innovation in online and social media marketing efforts.

Tags: Nancy Bhagat, Jennifer Jones, Upload Lounge, Fall IDF, social media messaging, social media strategy, integrated marketing, engagement, marketing budget

IDF Casual: Behind the Social Media at Intel’s Blogging Event

Jason Lopez — Wed, 26 Sep 2007 19:11:27 +0000

This year’s Fall IDF in San Francisco provided the perfect opportunity for Intel folks from all over the world to meetup in one room, socialize, and relax with some of the people who cover their efforts, from traditional press to bloggers. The attendees at this year’s “blogging event” included CEO Paul Otellini, Intel bloggers Josh Hilliker and Ylian Saint-Hilaire, Intel Vice President and General Manager of the Mobile Platforms Group Shmuel (Mooly) Eden, Intel spokesman and technology strategist Manny Vara, spokesman Bill Kirkus, Intel Senior Vice President and General Manager of the Digitial Home group Eric Kim, Intel Senior Vice President and General Manager of the Ultra Mobility Group Anand Chandrasekher, Intel Vice President and Director of the Digital Enterprise Group Operations Stephen L. Smith, and blogger Chris Heuer.

The meetup took place at Ducca Restaurant, in downtown San Francisco.

Click here to visit all Blogs@Intel

Tags: Paul Otellini, Josh Hilliker, Ylian Saint-Hilaire, Shmuel (Mooly) Eden, Manny Vara, Bill Kirkus, Eric Kim, Anand Chandrasekher, Stephen L. Smith, Chris Heuer, Blogs@Intel

Live at IDF: Engaging With Global Intel Software Communities

Catherine Girardeau — Thu, 20 Sep 2007 18:27:49 +0000

In what Intel called the “first ever software keynote address,” Intel Vice President and General Manager of the Software and Solutions Group Renee James kicked off Day 3 of the Fall IDF in San Francisco.

James, who manages the global network of teams that interact with all of the software companies that do business with Intel, spoke about, “Where Innovation Happens: Engaging with Intel Software Communities.”

In this podcast, we hear how the “community” aspect turns out to be key, as the relationships James oversees encompass the entire product lifecycle from early planning all the way through to sales and marketing. James devoted some time during the keynote to a few of those communities, including Moblin.org, a new community site that hosts the Mobile & Internet Linux Project, an “umbrella, open source project” for mobile Internet devices (MID). Another community, www.lesswatts.org, is a developer community for reducing power consumption that’s supported by Oracle (the site explains that, rather than being “about marketing,” it’s about “creating a community around saving power on Linux, bringing developers, users, and sysadmins together to share software, optimizations, and tips and tricks.” There’s also a global developer relations group, in addition to engineering and product teams.

James also pointed to whatif.intel.com, an Intel initiative that encourages communities to weigh in on the software development process, providing resources like, at the moment, an Integrated Debugger for Java/JNI Environments, for example.

In addition to supporting such a diverse array of global communities, James also oversees Intel Solution Services, Intel’s worldwide professional services organization.

At Intel, James was the product and program manager for the first software video codecs (Indeo), and was a member of the team developing Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) for the unification of Unix on Intel Architecture.

To learn more about the Intel Software Community, click here.

Tags: software keynote, Software and Solutions, Renee James, Fall IDF, software companies, Software Communities, Moblin.org, Mobile & Internet Linux Project, open source, mobile Internet device, MID, Oracle, Linux, developer relations, software development, Integrated Debugger, video codecs, Indeo, Application Programming Interfaces, APIs, Unix

Live at IDF: Shoptalk With Intel Execs

Rio Pesino — Thu, 20 Sep 2007 03:16:17 +0000

One of the many opportunities for Intel leaders to answer questions from press, bloggers — anyone, really — is the popular panel q&a, “Shoptalk.” This time, Intel Fellows including Matthew Adiletta, Ajay Bhatt, Richard Lee Coulson, John Crawford, Vivek De, Kevin Kahn, P. Geoffrey Lowney, Eugene S. Meieran, Thomas A. Piazza and Raj Yavatkar fielded questions about Intel, the future of technology, the speed of developing platforms and processors, memory, voice recognition, Intel’s strategies in planning for the future, and those blue aprons.

What comes after silicon-based technology? How is Intel addressing growing concerns about the environmental impacts of technology? What about scaling for nanotechnology? The future of DRAM?

Click here to meet the Fellows.

Tags: Shoptalk, Intel Fellows, Matthew Adiletta, Ajay Bhatt, Richard Lee Coulson, John Crawford, Vivek De, Kevin Kahn, P. Geoffrey Lowney, Eugene S. Meieran, Thomas A. Piazza, Raj Yavatkar, processors, memory, voice recognition, silicon, environmental, nanotechnology, DRAM