Intel Developer Forum Preps for Era of Terabytes, Teraflops

At its semiannual Developer Forum on Tuesday Intel Corp. will shift gears into the “Tera Era” of computing. In this case, “tera” refers to teraflop speeds and terabytes of storage.

In addition, the chip giant will discuss initiatives to help resuscitate its wireless business.

IDF will bring together elements from all of Intels businesses, incuding its core microprocessor and chipset products, its digital home initiative, flash memory, as well its less-successful efforts in wireless communications.

In his keynote address, Intel chief executive Craig Barrett will discuss how Intel escaped the industry downturn. Chief technology officer Pat Gelsinger, meanwhile, will look ahead toward the “tera-era”, an age where powerful teraflop computers access terabytes of storage, and the challenges Intel will have to overcome to reach that threshold.

Finally, Intel executives will recap the companys slow progress in the handset and PDA markets, with the announcement of dedicated reference designs and a new wireless USB initiative. A demonstration of Intels next-generation “CT” 64-bit compatibility technology is also expected on the first day of the show, which begins Tuesday at the Moscone Center in San Francisco.

IDFs three-day run is the companys opportunity to influence the speed and heading of the technology industry. Intel expects to draw about 4,800 attendees from 50 or 60 countries including journalists and analysts, a slight increase in the total attendance from last year, according to Intel spokesman David Dickstein.

This years IDF has also slightly revamped its focus. Intels traditional stance has been to push the industry along with new, faster chips and other silicon. This year, Intel has added a “solutions” track, repackaging some of the shows technical content into IT-level presentations, according to John Davies, vice president of the sales and marketing group at Intel and director of Intels solutions development group.

Instead of talking only about Intels silicon, company executives will highlight the companys compilers and supporting software. Intel executives will also try and quantify the advantages of, for example, equipping a companys workforce with wireless-enabled Centrino notebooks.

“Well be more focused on software, and the usage of product platforms,” Davies said.

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