Intel?Processor and Platform Evolution

The emergence and migration of new workloads and usage models to mainstream computing will put enormous demands on future computing platforms, including demands for:
Much higher performance
Much lower power density
Greatly expanded functionality
Given these seismic shifts in computing usage, how we define and architect future computing platforms has to change dramatically. These changes must holistically comprehend and satisfy not only computation, but also interface and infrastructure requirements. Intel‘s long-range vision for the collective evolution of these three fundamental platform elements, and the architectural innovation and core competencies enabling that evolution, is what we call Platform 2015.
Looking forward, the microprocessor, as the key determiner of computational capabilities, will only increase in importance in driving and defining theplatforms based on it. The reason? The microprocessor itself is on the verge of undergoing significant transformation, requiring new advances in addition to achieving the predictions ofMoore‘s Law. Continuing increases in transistor count are vital, of course, but the next leap requires us to rethink the basic foundations, such asprocess technology, architecture andsoftware.

Laying the Foundation for Platform 2015
Intel is already laying the foundation for the next digital decade. These beginnings enable us to start envisioning what processors might look like 10 years down the road.
As demonstrated throughout Intel‘shistory of processor and platform innovation, we steadily integrate new features into our chips to bring more performance and capabilities to the platform, while maintaining compatibility with thousands of already existing applications and support for the ecosystem surrounding them.
This vision is also based on a continued evolution of Intel‘s drive for increased parallelism and our proven investment,research, development, manufacturing and unparalleledecosystem enabling capabilities that, when taken together, will continue leading us into an era of more powerful, versatile and efficient processing engines and platforms containing those engines.

A Digital Transformation
Ultimately, this evolution is driven by usage?A href="http://www.intel.com/technology/techresearch/reallives.htm">what people want from technology and what they do with it. And though no one can precisely predict the future course of technology, current developments point to some probable outcomes.
Based on current requirements and trends, we believe that processor and platform architecture needs to move toward avirtualized, reconfigurable chip-level multiprocessing (CMP) architecture with a large number of cores, a rich set of built-in processing capabilities, large on-chip memory subsystem and sophisticated microkernel.
This architectural evolution, delivered with volume computing economics and an adherence to maintaining compatibility with thousands of existing applications, will ensure thatIntel?platforms and processors continue to power a breathtaking array of sophisticated new applications over the coming years, and continue to transform business and daily life in ways we can only begin to imagine.

2005 IDF R&D Keynotes ?Platform 2015

Justin Rattner, Intel senior fellow and director of Intel‘s Corporate Technology Group, discussed this future direction in the research keynotes at both the Spring and Fall 2005 Intel Developer Forums, explaining that people want to interact with technology much in the way they do with people. This will create tremendous demands on the performance and functionality of electronic products, requiring new ways to develop both hardware and software.
"Imagine a phone that can translate languages in real time so you can talk to people in other countries more easily, or finding a photo of your children playing with a pet from among the thousands of photos you have stored in multiple computers in your house," said Rattner. "These tasks might seem simple, but they require levels of performance, sophistication and intelligence in both hardware and software that don‘t exist today. To deliver these capabilities in products that are easy to use and attractive to many people requires that we, as an industry, rethink our approach to platform development."
Read two articles featuring highlights from Rattner‘s IDF keynotes:
Platform 2015 Unveiled at IDF Spring 2005
Platform 2015 Update: Technologies That Are "Aware"
Or read the full keynote transcripts of Rattner‘s speeches for more details:
Transcript of Rattner‘s Spring 2005 IDF keynote [PDF 77KB]
Transcript of Rattner‘s Fall 2005 IDF keynote [PDF 75KB]
View the Webcast:
Justin Rattner‘s IDF keynote, "Platform 2015 Update," taped on Thursday, August 25, 2005 (High |Low) [Windows* Media]

Learn More
TheTechnology & Research Web site is a good place to stay up-to-date on the latest Intel technologies.
You can also learn more about threading and parallelism at theThreading Developer Center.
The following papers and articles provide more technical insight into Intel‘s future platforms. All PDFs on this page are inAdobe Acrobat* file format.
White Papers:
Platform 2015: Intel Processor and Platform Evolution for the Next Decade [PDF 172KB]
Platform 2015 Software: Enabling Innovation in Parallelism for the Next Decade [PDF 70KB]
A Platform 2015 Workload Model: Recognition, Mining and Synthesis Moves Computers to the Era of Tera [PDF 228KB]
Intel?Platforms: Innovation Beyond Processors [PDF 151KB]
Initiatives and Technologies: Intel抯 Ts Deliver New Platform Enhancements Beyond Gigahertz [PDF 215KB]
Architecting the Era of Tera [PDF 298KB]
Virtualization: Bringing Flexibility and New Capabilities to Computing Platforms [PDF 727KB]
Proactive Computing [PDF 1.2MB]
Articles:
Platform 2015 Unveiled at IDF Spring 2005
Platform 2015 Update: Technologies That Are "Aware"
The New Net [PDF 240KB]
The Digital Office: Cross-Platform Embedded IT for Manageability, Security, and Connectivity [PDF 88KB]
Intel?Active Management Technology Reduces IT Costs with Improved PC Manageability [PDF 47KB]
The Diamond Project
Precision Location Project
Machine Learning/Vision
All information provided related to future Intel products and plans is preliminary and subject to change at any time, without notice.
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