By now we are all aware of the fact that because Intel (News - Alert) was slow to see the possibilities of mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets, it missed the boat, possibly even falling into the water. There is a new opportunity on the horizon and it seems that Intel plans to get a firm hold on the Internet of Things (IoT).
In fact, Intel CEO Brian Krzanich made it clear when he said that the chip maker will lead in new growth areas, such as the IoT and wearable devices. According to Cisco (News - Alert) and many research firms we can expect to see up to 50 billion devices connecting and communicating with each other over the next five years.
Over the past 18 months, we have seen Intel breaking some of the tried and true methods and models and having success. Since the beginning of this year, Intel has been forging ahead by introducing its sixth generation microarchitecture. A recent article in eWeek by Jeffrey Burt shows that the forward looking direction that Krzanich has for Intel leads to the IoT.
According to the company, Intel is determined to be a leader in the Internet of Things. It is with this in mind that Intel has unveiled new platform reference architecture, and a new Quark chip along with new support software and services.
The Intel Quark SE SoC and Quark microcontroller D1000 and D2000 bring a lot of processing performance in a small, power-efficient package. The D1000 is currently available now and we can expect to see the D2000 later this month; as for the Quark SE SoC, we will have to wait until the first half of 2016.
The overall goal that Intel is attempting to achieve is to have its silicon in as many devices as possible, covering everything from the user devices back to the datacenter and the cloud. Intel is developing a lineup that goes from low-power Quark systems-on-a-chip (SoCs) for sensors and edge devices right up to Xeons for datacenter processing and the cloud.
Of course, Intel knows that it cannot accomplish this on its own. We see that SAP (News - Alert) is incorporating Intel’s platform into its IoT enterprise solutions. In addition, we have a maker of devices for smart building, Yanzi, using Intel's Quark SoC for its Yanzi Plug energy-monitoring sensor.
Besides the IoT, Intel is also working with companies like Honeywell (News - Alert), who demonstrated a prototype of a wearable device that monitors the environments of mission-critical workers like first responders, firefighters and industrial workers which uses Intel’s Quark technology.
It appears that Intel has learned from its mobile tribulations and plans to take full advantage of what the IoT and the world of wearable devices will have to offer.
Edited by Rory J. Thompson