Intel Leads Industry To Design Secure, Wireless Platforms With Extended Battery Life Intel Developer Forum, San José, Sept. 10, 2002 - Intel Corporation released information on its upcoming mobile PC platform, codenamed Banias, which features an entirely new processor microarchitecture. The forthcoming platform is designed to provide extended battery life, outstanding performance, new thin and light form factors, and simple, seamless wireless connectivity.
Additional technical details were released on the Banias microarchitecture, on the platform's integrated 802.11a/b dual band wireless local area network (WLAN) solution, and on a number of software solutions that improve security and decrease the complexity of wireless networking. Intel also introduced a new single-chip Gigabit Ethernet controller, the Intel® PRO/1000 MT Mobile Connection, that is optimized for mobile designs.
"Mobile PCs with the Banias platform will provide simple, untethered, cutting edge wireless performance in a choice of cool new form factors," said Anand Chandrasekher, vice president, Intel's Mobile Platforms Group. "With the Banias platform, Intel is taking a totally new, holistic, approach to designing for mobility - from the way the Banias microarchitecture was designed from the ground up for low power consumption and high performance, to the way that the other platform components work in concert to deliver better wireless mobility, to the work that Intel is doing with other companies to address wireless security and ease-of-use issues."
New Mobile Architecture
Banias includes a new mobile-specific microarchitecture designed to maximize performance within the low power consumption and heat dissipation constraints of a mobile PC by maximizing the instructions-per-cycle. The new Banias architecture combines four new cutting-edge technologies to increase performance and reduce power consumption including; Advanced Branch Prediction, Micro-Op Fusion, a Power Optimized Processor Bus and Dedicated Stack Manager.
Advanced Branch Prediction analyzes a program's past behavior and predicts which operations it is likely to request in the future, resulting in higher performance. When several operations are ready to execute at the same time, Micro-Op Fusion technology merges them into a single operation, which improves both performance and power efficiency. Unlike many current systems, which provide power to components even when they are not in use, Power Optimized Processor Bus implements architectural and circuit innovations that allow lower voltage swing and tight buffer management resulting in lower power consumption by providing power only where it is needed. Additionally, the Dedicated Stack Manager uses dedicated hardware to keep track of internal accounting, allowing the processor to execute program instructions without interruption. Combined, these technologies significantly improve performance without sacrificing battery life.
Seamless Wireless Connectivity
The Banias platform will offer a dual band wireless LAN solution developed by Intel that delivers both 802.11a and 802.11b wireless connectivity at 54Mbps and 11Mbps respectively. This solution is backward compatible with existing WLAN infrastructure and enables access to a broad range of networks including corporate, home and wireless hot spots in airports, hotels, restaurants and other public locations. It can automatically connect via the fastest connection available at the given location. In addition, Intel PROSet software will enable Banias platform users to move seamlessly from a wired connection to a high-speed wireless LAN connection without having to shut down applications.
The Intel wireless LAN component of the Banias platform will include a solution that significantly improves the simultaneous operation of Bluetooth(tm) and 802.11b wireless technologies in mobile PCs. This will minimize the potential for conflicts between the two wireless technologies and provides optimal data throughput, operating range, and responsiveness on both 802.11b and Bluetooth wireless networks.
Gigabit Optimized for Mobile Platforms
Intel also introduced the industry's first Gigabit Ethernet controller developed to meet the high-performance, low-power demands of mobile PCs. The Intel® PRO/1000 MT Mobile Connection has reduced power usage and heat generation for longer batter life, lower system costs and more flexible designs. The new Gigabit controller is being validated with the Banias platform, to shorten the design qualification process. The Intel® PRO/1000 MT Mobile Connection delivers 10/100/1000Mbps network connection over standard Category-5 copper cable and will automatically negotiate to run at the fastest speed possible.
The PRO/1000 MT is pin-compatible with Intel's latest 10/100 LAN on motherboard (LOM), which means that mobile PC manufacturers can provide 10 times the throughput without having to redesign their motherboards. The Intel PRO/1000 MT Mobile Connection is generally available and costs $27.96 in quantities of 10, 000.
Intel is 's werelds grootste chipfabrikant en een vooraanstaand producent van personal computer-, netwerk- en communicatieproducten. Meer informatie over Intel is te vinden op: http://www.intel.com/pressroom/.
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