Fall 2002 IDF – Day 2
Today at the Fall 2002 IDF, we spent our time talking with companies about products and learning about the direction that each of them would take to deliver on the mission that Intel outlined in the keynote address on Day One.
Many companies have already developed a clear strategy on how they are going to deliver on the assignments that Intel has given them. Others prefer to march to their own drummer and are adopting strategies that best suit their own agendas. However, the bottom line is that progress must continue and business must move forward. Of course, in order to do this, companies are forced to find innovative solutions to problems, and to find customers that want to buy these solutions.
It might sound like a cat-and-mouse approach, but the honest truth is that what the industry really needs is to generate a buzz in order to get customers to buy products once again. While many companies have fallen on hard times, things still seem rather upbeat when talking with many of the companies that we met with today. No one is throwing in the towel just yet, but there is much work to be done to get people excited about buying again, so companies are making every effort to grab the attention of potential customers.
A ViewSonic View
When you think of ViewSonic, what comes to mind? Well if you answered monitors, you are only half right. We spent a great time talking with Viewsonic about what they are doing. ViewSonic is very excited about their move into Tablet PC technology.
Introducing the ViewSonic Tablet PC V1100.
The V1100 is powered by 866MHz Pentium IIIm. It comes with 256MB of RAM and is expandable to 512MB of RAM. They will ship with a 20GB hard drive, which is a standard 9.5 mm 2.5″ IDE drive, so expansion is possible. The V1100 features built-in 802.11b MiniPCI Wireless, a 56K Modem, 10/100 LAN, one Type II PC Card Slot, one Compact Flash Slot, AC 97 Audio, a four-cell Lithium Ion battery, USB and 1394 Firewire.
From this angle, you can see the V1100 in its combination cradle/ docking station. The unit is thin, which we think will be one of the many keys to getting people to consider adopting tablet PCs.
A ViewSonic View, Continued
Tipping the scales at 3.4lbs, this powerhouse is loaded with enough features to take the road warrior to the next level. On the other hand, the V1100 would be just as happy at home with you on your sofa. What impressed us was the level of detail given to the design of this unit. It supports a resolution of 1024×768 in landscape mode or 768×1024 in the portrait mode. The panel offers new electromagnetic digitizer technology that really makes the V1100 a pleasure to use. The V1100 is scheduled to ship on or about November 7th, when Windows XP for Tablet PCs is expected to ship.
ViewSonic’s Gene Ornstead holds the V1100 to give you a better idea of the size and shape of the unit.
Have you seen the Apple Cinema flat panel display yet? If not, you are perhaps missing one of the top drool-producing items out there. ViewSonic sets out to top that with the introduction of the new VP2290b LCD display. The VP2290b is a 22.2″ TFT 9.2 megapixel widescreen display with a contrast ratio of 400:1. It includes not one, but two TMDS digital interfaces. It offers an incredible set of features, but for most of us, the price will keep it out of reach for a while. In the meantime, it sure was impressive to see.
The ViewSonic VP2290b 22.2″ Widescreen TFT 9.2 megapixel display.
Since the vast majority of us can’t afford the VP2290b, ViewSonic had to come up with another solution, and they did so with the introduction of the new N1700w 17″ Widescreen display.
The ViewSonic N1700w 17″ Widescreen display.
Perhaps the most unique feature of the N1700w is that ViewSonic will include a breakout box from the box of the monitor that will include audio-in, right and left RCA audio-in, composite RCA video-in, and, best of all, component HD video-in. Yes, you can hook up your HiDef receiver right up to the N1700w for those times when you are not using it with your computer. The N1700w looked great, but we don’t know when it will ship or how much it will cost. Stay tuned for additional details.
A ViewSonic View, Continued
The breakout box that will be included with the new N1700w display.
Many regular readers who know that I am an avid home theater enthusiast won’t be surprised that I couldn’t resist the chance to tell you about one of the most impressive things I have seen so far at this year’s IDF – the new ViewSonic NextVision N3600w 36″ High-Definition LCD-S Digital Monitor. Besides having one of the longest product names in recent memory, this little gem is an absolute powerhouse.
ViewSonic directed traffic for me so that I could takes some pictures of the N3600w. I shot about 25 pictures in an attempt to capture the exceptional image quality from the recorded HD DVHS content that they were pumping into the N3600w. After looking at all of the pictures that I took, no picture can even begin to do the N3600w justice.
The N3600w features rock-solid fixed convergence and a stunning picture. The N3600w has a front panel and side panel, as well as rear input connections for a variety of sources. ViewSonic did not choose to offer the new 1394b connections, but a variety of other options instead. Perhaps the one question that you are asking yourself is “How was the picture quality from a standard VGA source?” The answer: exceptional! The rich contrast between colors and the overall clarity from the PC was great. The N3600w supports VGA resolutions up to 1600×1200 with its 4.19 megapixel images. The unit includes three 1.39 megapixel resolution LCD-S panels. I didn’t expect to see such an exceptional high-definition product from a display company, but ViewSonic has done a good job on the set, and if you are in the market for an HD set, the N3600w is sure worth a look.
Look at the front panel input selection on the front of the N3600w. Don’t you wish all sets had this kind of support right out of the box?
Before our time was up with ViewSonic they wanted to show us a prototype of their new AirPanel product. The AirPanel is a 3lbs tablet 802.11b device that allows you to access your desktop PC via wireless. It can be best described as a wireless way to extend your PC into other areas of your home. It will be available in both a 15″ and 17″ version, however details and cost are still sketchy at the moment, but it was an interesting solution that offers many innovative ideas to change the way that you use your PC. It offers the form factor and is convincing in ways that are not found with many other products. Keep an eye out for more details on the AirPanel in the future. The concept/ prototype version that we saw worked pretty well and offered another way to extend the use of your PC beyond what we have seen before.
The 17″ ViewSonic AirPanel brings an innovative concept to the table for extending the range and use of your PC throughout your home.
Samsung, No Matter Which Direction The Industry Is Headed
Samsung has one message that it wants consumers to know: no matter which memory technology the industry chooses to adopt, they stand ready to provide it. Samsung has been quietly sneaking up on the other companies in the memory sector. Samsung had a market share of 29.3% in 2001 and expects its market share to increase to over 33% in 2002.
The company continues to offer a wide variety of options in memory for a variety of products. They still see a divergence of memory applications in all facets of the business. Memory is no longer exclusively for computer products, but now for other devices as well, and this has led to Samsung’s continued growth and expansion. They have invested much in detail and process, which has resulted in their being able to consistently provide a wide variety of options at competitive costs.
Samsung outlined the current and future memory technologies and things quickly become more clear.
Samsung told us that they expect to ship 1 million pieces of PC 1066 RDRAM next month, which came as quite a surprise to us. They indicated that Intel will validate PC 1066 RDRAM for use with the Intel 850E platform. This, coupled with SiS’s RDRAM P4 solution, shows that those who have been wanting to drive the final nail into the RDRAM coffin might be acting a bit too quickly. Samsung believes that it would be possible to deliver quad channel RDRAM quickly, and it could prove to be a higher bandwidth and better scaling solution than the current proposals on the table for DDR II which, it has been suggested, will top out at only 533.
Samsung projects that DDR II will only be able to deliver somewhere between 3.2 and 4.8 GB/s of peak memory bandwidth. On the RDRAM front, it’s a different story. PC 1066 RDRAM offers over 4.2 GB/s and PC 1200 RDRAM is expected to deliver over 4.8 GB/s. PC 1333 RDRAM is expected to provide somewhere in the 5.x GB/s range. Not until DDR III 667 will it be able to closely match the performance of PC 1333 RDRAM.
Expect to see PC 1066 in Q3 2002 and PC 1200 in Q3 2003. On the other hand, don’t expect to see DDR II till 1Q’04. So if you are waiting for DDR III, you are in for a little bit of a wait. One other point of interest – Samsung suggested that the new SiS RDRAM chipset, the R658, could easily handle PC 1200 Rambus with very little work and perhaps as little as a BIOS flash, maybe?
Analog Devices – SoundMax & New Cooling Technology
SoundMax is an AC’97 compliant sound solution for core logic chipsets with integrated audio controllers. In simple terms, it is integrated audio that is currently found in many of Intel’s motherboards. Although many don’t like integrated audio, Analog Devices has developed a low CPU impact solution that sounds better than many add-in solutions, and the cost, of course, is incorporated into the motherboard.
A system from Micron that features the SoundMax technology and is currently shipping.
What is perhaps more exciting is the new stereo microphone technology, for which Analog Devices has teamed up with Andrea Electronics. The Andrea Superbeam microphone technology frees you from being tethered to a headset style microphone, and with impressive results. Expect to hear more about this new technology soon, as it is something from which many people and applications can benefit.
The thermal solutions group at Analog Devices also showed us some very new fan control technology that will be able to start and stop the cooling fans in a system, based on the data being monitored from the Pentium 4 CPU. With this temperature monitoring technology, it is possible to have an almost silent PC. The ambient room noise was louder than the PC itself. It aims to revolutionize the way cooling is handled on the PC. More details are to come soon, but from what we saw, the results and control of the technology were impressive, to say the least.
A prototype of a system containing some new thermal solutions technology from Analog Devices. Expect to hear more about this technology in the upcoming months.
What is the next battery technology that we can expect to see in mobile platforms?
We have said for some time that in order to extend the battery life of the typical modern notebook, we need a breakthrough in battery chemistry. Things are about to finally heat up on this front with the development of Silver-Zinc battery technology.
Silver-Zinc battery technology may hold the key to reaching the goal of eight hours of continuous battery life for the mobile PC of 2004. In order to achieve eight hours of battery life, it is important to realize that you will need 80 watts per hour battery power. Of course, this is why battery technology continues to be one of the most important and talked about problems with today’s mobile technology.
Silver-Zinc and Fuel Cells are two of the latest solutions that attempt to address the need for more battery life in mobile PCs.
Perhaps the most difficult thing for many users to understand about battery life is that the problem is really where you think it is. 33% of the power required to run the typical mobile PC is used to power the panel and the inverter. A breakthrough in mobile display technology is also going to be necessary to achieve the ten watt target that Intel has suggested for 2004. The current crop of notebook PCs average about 15.5 watts of power consumption.
The components that OEMs choose to cut corners and keep prices low often lead to shorter battery life. Many of these problems are found in the display panels that companies choose.
The new Banias platform for mobile PCs is only piece of the puzzle, and there is much more work to be done to achieve the goal of ten watts. Silver-Zinc has good potential, but in order to reach the market, much more research and development is necessary.
Musicmatch Jukebox
Musicmatch Jukebox continues to be one of the most popular applications for MP3 users. It has the ability to do many things, and it’s a very quick and easy-to-use package. Using Intel’s new wireless Media Navigator, it is possible to control your Musicmatch interface from a device such as your TV. Media servers for the home, as well as media integration, will continue to be a central focus in products of the future. Musicmatch continues to respond with development targeted at helping people enjoy music. Look for a new revised interface to come to Musicmatch in one of the next releases.
The Musicmatch boot with the Intel wireless media technology in the background. Control your Musicmatch file from the comfort of your living room.
Pronto ++ – A Software & Systems Platform Developed By Philips
Do you own a Philips Pronto remote control? If so, it might surprise you to know that Philips has developed a new technology called Pronto ++. Pronto ++ is a complete software framework that allows you to develop applications that run on Java and the Pronto ++ framework. What is cool about this is that it will run on devices using the new Intel X-Scale architecture. Philips will introduce this in a few weeks on a grander scale when they introduce the new Photo remote. Philips is in the process of putting together a Pronto ++ development kit which will allow the development of applications for these devices, with the backend services infrastructure that they have in place. Of course the big question I asked is, what are you going to do when people start to hack the stuff? Although it isn’t Philips’ official policy yet, they think they would embrace it, since it would really help to get this platform off and going. It would also help develop new and exciting applications for the Pronto ++ platform.
The Philips Pronto ++ development platform.
LSI Is On Board For Serial ATA
LSI showed us their new Serial ATA solutions, which included the MegaRAID SATA 150-6, their six channel RAID solution. They also showed us their new MegaRAID SATA 150-2, which was their two channel RAID solution. Both of these showed the attention to detail that LSI continues to dedicate to RAID controllers. With a very usable interface and high performance, they hope to see continued growth in the serial ATA niche market, but the lack of serial ATA drives continues to be a stumbling block. It seems as if no one wants to ship serial ATA, but at LSI they are committed to serial ATA and are working with the drive manufacturers in order to get the drives out.
LSI MegaRAID SATA 150-2.
Expect to hear more from LSI and their serial ATA solutions over the next several months – from what we can tell, they are committed to launching serial ATA RAID in a variety of useful configurations.
LSI MegaRAID SATA 150-6.
Palm / Kyocera – Want a look at a NEW, integrated, Palm OS-based phone?
Most PDA users know that Palm was the first to market with an integrated PDA cell phone solution. After the Handspring Treo was released last year, the flood gates opened, and now we are seeing all kinds of designs that attempt to merge a cell phone and a PDA into one device.
Kyocera takes a radical new approach with the introduction of the new 7135, which combines a color Palm PDA and flip phone into one unique package. The size is a little thicker than we perhaps expected, but the overall result is good. If you thought that the Treo was too big, or you can live without your keypad, this might be the device for you.
The Kyocera 7135 combines a PDA and flip phone into one innovative package.
Many people might have wondered what Palm was doing here, but the truth is that they were trying to drum up developer support for the new Palm OS 5, which will feature support for both the Intel PXA250 and PXA210 processors. The new Palm OS 5 will continue to offer support for older applications that were designed to run on the Palm OS 4.0 platform. Of course, the introduction of the Palm OS on these processors will give companies another, more powerful processor choice around which to design their next generation PDAs.
When compared to the Treo, it is clear that the two devices are targeted at different segments of the market.
Fujitsu Shows Serial ATA 2.5″ Hard Drive
In the Fujitsu booth, they were showing a Serial ATA 2.5″ 9.5mm hard drive that is currently targeted at blade servers. We asked the Fujitsu folks if this was a clear indication that we could soon expect Serial ATA on mobile platforms. They responded that, as far as they knew, no chipset has been planned to support serial ATA on the mobile platforms. This isn’t to say that it isn’t possible, it is just that no one is talking about doing it yet.
Yes, it is really a 2.5″ 9.5mm Serial ATA hard drive from Fujitsu, which was a very big surprise.
In other news from Fujitsu, they have new 2.5″ 9.5mm 5400 RPM mobile drives on the way. They don’t yet have any idea when they will ship, but they will feature an 8MB cache in addition to the 5400 RPM speed increase.
New Serial ATA RAID Controllers From Promise Technologies
No name is better known in ATA RAIDs than Promise Technologies, and they had a complete line of Serial ATA RAID products on display. They showed an excellent selection of both two and four-channel controllers. They also showed a combination ATA and Serial ATA controller that was interesting.
A look at some of the new RAID controllers that are coming from Promise.
You can continue to expect some additional surprises and higher performance Serial ATA controllers from Promise. They will remain focused on both, meeting the needs of add-in card customers and providing solutions for OEMs.
Close up picture of the new S150 TX4 four channel serial ATA controller.
Ali also to release new Pentium 4 chipset!
Ali is planning to release a new Pentium 4 chipset. This new Pentium 4 Chipset will feature the new M1681 North Bridge as well at the new M1563 South Bridge. This new motherboard features USB 2 and ATA 133 support. Ali told us that their new board for the Pentium 4 features a Hyper Transport I/O link. They are continuing development, and no release date has been announced yet, but expect the board to show up from the usual suspects in the next month or so.
The new Ali M1681/M1563 Pentium 4 solution.
3ware – Another Serial ATA Provider To Check Out
When you talk to anyone about add-in Serial ATA RAID cards that are shipping right now, the name that keeps popping up is 3ware. To be honest, we didn’t know much about them, apart from the fact that they just submitted their cards to us for testing.
In the 3ware booth they were showing off their new Escalade 8500-8 and Escalade 8500-12 serial ATA RAID solutions. It seems to us that they have some interesting products, and we found the demo in their booth to be impressive.
The 3ware Esclade 8500-8 & 8500-12 Serial ATA RAID solutions.
Please follow-up by reading Fall 2002 IDF: Day 3 How About A Little Video?.