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• Going into the future, Intel is working on another Atom processor code named Pinview which will feature an integrated GPU. Based on the Lincroft architecture, Pinview will be released in a single-core package or a dual-core package with both featuring an integrated single-channel DDR2 memory controller. Both single and dual-core versions of Pinview will feature HyperThreading Intel today also demonstrated its Montevina platform which will replace Santa Rosa. Montevina, now officially called Centrino 2, is being formally demonstrated very much at the same time as when Santa Rosa based products were last year. With what is essentially "Centrino for 2008," the new platform will officially support solid state memory, both on the hard drive front as well as a large static buffer for storing portions or all of an operating system. Called Turbo Memory, Intel demonstrated its high speed small buffer memory technology in a Centrino 2 prototype notebook against conventional models using Santa Rosa. Under heavy movie rendering, a Centrino 2 notebook with Turbo Memory and a solid state HD (SSD) bested a traditional SATA Santa Rosa platform by over 33-perfcent - taking only 2 minutes to render instead of 3. Interestingly, all the benchmark laptops were using Windows XP instead of Vista, pointing to a possible driver issue with new Centrino 2 hardware and Windows Vista. The new platform will also be paired with ICH9M or ICH9 Enhanced, which replaces ICH8 used with Santa Rosa. Intel also announced that along with Centrino 2, it will begin manufacturing its own line of SSDs. Coming in 1.8" and 2.5" form factors, Intel will initially produce drives in capacities ranging from 32 GB to 160 GB. Intel did not confirm to us whether or not its SSD drives will be available for retail purchases. With Intel jumping into the SSD market, its sales will help to drive the cost of SSDs down. Even though SSDs are available today, prices are still way above what most consumers are able to afford - or justify. For reference, Apple gives customers the option of upgrading its MacBook Air’s conventional 80 GB HDD to a 64 GB SDD for a whopping $1000. Intel also talked about vPro, essentially the wireless management technology included with Centrino 2. With vPro, users will be able to wirelessly manage their laptop even when the laptops are asleep. This means starting, restarting and stopping a laptop from a remote location. Being remote, a laptop is also at risk of being compromised and stolen. Intel Anti-Theft technology prevents access at chip-set level. Disabling and locking access to BIOS, RAM and hard drives, Intel said Centrino 2 will be the most secure mobile platform ever. According to roadmaps, Intel will introduce vPro to the Core 2 platform in Q3 of this year. Intel roadmaps indicated that Centrino 2 based laptops will be available in the market after June of this year.

• Remote PC Management with Intel's vPro

  Managing multiple or even numerous computers in a network is very important for enterprises, because an intact IT infrastructure is imperative for a healthy business, and maintenance in IT can add considerable cost. Small offices may be relatively simple to manage, because you don't lose time walking between different floors, buildings or campuses. In such a case, elementary tasks such as taking an inventory, updating software or replacing faulty hardware can become time consuming - not to mention expensive. There are various management solutions on the market, but many of them require a workable operating system to service the remote PC, or they are based on additional hardware, which, again, can be expensive. Operating-system dependent management typically doesn't allow accessing BIOS settings or changing boot settings, cold reboots or similar actions. If the operating system is down for any reason (think of a virus attack or a serious program error), many systems cannot be remotely accessed any more, and an administrator's onsite presence is required. Although there are standards that enable remote PC management on a higher level than just the operating system, these lack interoperability and manageability. You might be familiar with some of the wake features, which enable computers to wake-on-LAN, wake-on-modem or wake-on-RTC. Then there is PXE, the Pre-Boot Execution Environment, which allows for a computer to be booted from a network source. This way it is possible to install an operating system or execute BIOS updates without inserting a physical medium into the PC. The network card looks for a PXE boot server within the local network, which provides a path to the NBP (Network Bootstrap Program). Lastly there is the ASF (Alert Standard Format), which takes care of advanced warning and system failure indications. It also allows for OS-independent management. But ASF leaves room for improvement, because it does not support authentication, encryption, the ability to reboot, real remote control, remote BIOS update and policy-based alerts. What Exactly Is VPro? vPro is a marketing-friendly product name such as Viiv or Centrino. It summarizes a number of features designed for business customers in the PC space. And it basically combines a number of existing features and technologies that can be found in the Intel portfolio: vPro requires a certain version of the 965 chipset, the Q965 and Intel's AMT (Active Management Technology). Lastly, the vPro Website also refers to the Core 2 Duo processor as a part of vPro, although our test system by Acer came with a Pentium D. The important thing here is to have a processor that supports VT, Intel's Virtualization Technology, so you can run a maintenance operating system partition. Intel's description of vPro is centered on manageability and security. vPro is intended to reduce desk-side visits by administrative staff and to reduce labor-intensive manual processes in IT, and Intel promises seamless integration into existing management infrastructure. Manageability refers to the ability to inventory PCs, including their components, via hardware-based, OS-independent and system status-independent communication. System information can either be collected, or fetched from a small non-volatile memory on vPro-enabled systems. And it refers to minimizing desk side visits to client PCs by enabling remote boot, diagnosis and backup/restore capabilities. Security is offered by filtering network traffic, easy isolation and quarantining infected systems; up-to-date asset information, remote/push updates and the optional creation of a virtual system environment for management services. vPro provides out-of-band communication for all management related activity, which means that it runs on a different sub network, although only one physical network connection may be used. The vPro BIOS extensions allow you to either fetch an IP address via a DHCP server dynamically, or you can manually assign one. The onboard LAN controller is used for vPro; other network cards are not affected. All management activity generally works regardless of the power state or the operating system. Join our discussion on this topic

• Turning the Knob on Bandwidth The current wireless card going into Centrino notebooks is the WiFi Link 4965AGN PCIe — by all standards, a solid representation of the latest networking technology. The benefits of 802.11n are still in draft form; the task group has approved draft 4.0 and is now working on draft 5.0, so who knows when we’ll see a concrete standard. Nevertheless, Intel is revamping its entire lineup of wireless notebook adapters for Centrino 2 with four new models. The WiFi Link 5100 and WiFi Link 5300 should be available within the next month, while the WiMAX/WiFi Link 5150 and WiMAX/WiFi Link 5350 will go on sale later this year. The difference between the first two and second pair is, of course, WiMAX support. When we asked Intel about the readiness of WiMAX infrastructure to give the 5x50 cards some value, its response was: “WiMAX provides much wider Internet and phone voice coverage, and unlike Wi-Fi, has the ability to unwire entire cities or communities, [ensuring connectivity] even when on the move. Intel is working with service providers around the world to deploy WiMAX networks, with initial U.S. network availability starting later this year from Sprint XOHM and Clearwire.” In other words, even if Centrino 2 were immediately available with WiMAX hardware, it’d idle until the wireless networks came online in your area. What, then, is there left to add to the Wi-Fi-only cards that’ll make notebook vendors want to spend as much as $30 on them? Well, according to Intel, the new wireless offerings are going to zero in on three things. First, there should be a big step up in performance. The entry-level WiFi Link 5100 is expected to receive files at up to 300 Mb/s using a 2x1 MIMO configuration. The higher-end WiFi Link 5300 gets a claimed 450 Mb/s using a 3x3 antenna setup. Incidentally, the 4965AGN should also deliver up to 300 Mb/s, putting the 5100 on par. We’re going to assume that Intel is employing the same technology that Marvell uses to get 450 Mb/s out of three sub-streams with its TopDog 11n-450. It isn’t clear whether or not you’d need a router built on a particular draft of the 802.11n specification to take advantage of the faster data rate, though. Intel is also shooting for power savings with the new 5000-series WiFi Link cards. It cites consumption numbers at idle, associated with a network, at less than 25 mW. It also claims to offer significant reductions in power consumption and increases in power efficiency, but fails to provide the data to support those percentage increases. Finally, the new WiFi Link cards include support for Active Management Technology 4.0, helping tie Centrino 2 into Intel’s more enterprise-oriented vision. A notebook boasting Centrino 2 with vPro technology includes the Core 2 Duo chip with Virtualization Technology, a Mobile 45 Express Chipset with the ICH9M-Enhanced controller (a $5 BOM increase), the 82567LM Gigabit chip with AMT 4.0 support, one of the new WiFi Link cards with AMT 4.0 support and a Trusted Platform Module v1.2. With all of those pieces in place, IT administrators can manage wireless clients, even if they’re powered off. We’ve seen this functionality for a while now on wired systems, but it’s brand new in the notebook space. With that said, only the enterprise folks will really care about its implementation. Intel hasn’t yet started talking about pricing on the 5x50 cards with WiMAX support, but we can’t help but think that they’re the biggest piece of this Centrino 2 story. All of the other components really just represent incremental improvements, but WiMAX is completely new. If you’re going to spend a grand on a notebook that won’t be replaced for another couple of years, it really makes sense to wait and see how the metropolitan networking technology unfolds in the next six months.