Intel CEO Sees a Greener Future

SAN FRANCISCO—Intel CEO Paul Otellini pledged his companys commitment to cutting power consumption in the technology industry during his remarks Nov. 13 at Oracles OpenWorld conference here.

"Today, for every dollar you spend on server hardware, youre spending 50 cents to cool and power that machine," Otellini said. "By 2010, it goes up to 70 cents per dollar, so focusing on energy efficiency is becoming job one."

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In June, Intel and Google led the formation of the Climate Savers Computing Initiative, a collection of technology companies—including Oracle, IBM and Hewlett-Packard—and entities such as the Environmental Protection Agency looking to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by making computers more energy efficient. Intel also is a member of the industrys Green Grid Alliance, which is focusing on making data centers more envi-ronmentally friendly.

"Data center power consumption doubled from 2000 to 2006, and just in the United States, the electricity consumed by data centers represents 1.5 percent of the total U.S. energy consumption, or enough energy to fuel 5.8 million households in a year," Otellini said. "Intel is focused now on delivering better performance per watt in everything we do."

Everything included the design of the Penryn chips, Intels new family of processors built using the companys 45-nanometer manufacturing process and introduced Nov. 12. The move added 16 new microprocessors to the companys portfolio—12 quad-core models for traditional computing, and three dual-core chips and one quad-core processor specifically designed for high-end desktops and gaming PCs.

"Not only is it lead-free, were also implementing the industrys first halogen- or halite-free microprocessors with this generation of products as it ramps over the course of the year. So were focused on not only cooler and faster, but also better in terms of envi-ronment things," Otellini said.

Looking towards the future, he said society is approaching the era of ubiquitous computing. The number of million instructions per second per person is increasing, he said, as is the prevalence of Web 2.0 environments in an increasingly consumer-focused market.

"Twenty-four-by-seven computing has become the norm. … What I think we need to think about is socializing our networks," Otellini said. "These are means for us to be able to think about the interconnectivity of all the elements that touch are business.

"From Intels perspective, you have our commitment to not slow down the pace, keep the innovation coming, and to give you great products year after year," he said.

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