Intel’s Technology Branding
Intel's been on a mission of late. That mission revolves
around grouping and standardising key technologies under various
banners that are designed to ensure hardware compatibility and consumer
ease of use.
We'll take a closer look at three such technologies that fall under
the headings of Centrino, Viiv, and vPro, respectively.
Intel Centrino Technology
Chances are that you've come across Centrino branding before.
In a nutshell, Centrino is the umbrella term given to a specific
combination of Intel mobile CPUs, associated chipsets and wireless
connectivity. First introduced with the Pentium M processor, having
Centrino certification is Intel's way of informing the consumer
that the key constituents of a notebook have been tested to work
flawlessly with one another. Integrators can them take them as a
base, knowing that they've been validated via Intel's stringent
testing, and engineer notebooks around them.
The initial Centrino release centred around the Pentium M CPU,
i855PM/GM chipsets, and the 2100 PRO/Wireless card. Subsequent product
refreshes, including 'Sonoma' and 'Napa' have changed each constituent
part of Centrino Technology but, and here's what important, each
update carries the same inter-product validation. You can see the
progression of the Centrino platform here.
Centrino Technology, then, has allowed Intel to control the quality
of the most-important parts that make up a certified notebook. Users,
then, needn't worry if a certain CPU will work effectively with
a chipset and wireless module manufactured by a third party.
The latest-and-greatest Centrino incarnation revolves around Intel's
Core Duo CPUs (dual-core, codenamed Yonah), Intel 945 Express chipset,
and PRO/Wireless 3945ABG network connection. The low-power and high
performance nature of the combination allows the Centrino brand
to be used in laptops that range from the ultra-portable (sub-1.5kg)
to desktop-replacement laptops with discrete graphics (4kg+), so
it's an all-encompassing standard.
Centrino Technology will continue to evolve with new product releases
from Intel. Later on this year, Intel will rollout its fastest notebook
processor to date, dubbed Core 2 Duo, which will be a drop-in upgrade
for existing Napa-certified notebooks.
The next time you see the Centrino branding on advertisements you'll
know that it's an Intel-validated mobile platform that takes the
guesswork out of core component compatibility.
Intel Viiv Technology
Much like the Centrino platform is designed to ensure seamless
mobile connectivity and performance, Viiv, which rhymes with 'five',
is Intel's attempt at standardising the core equipment that, it
feels, is needed to take full advantage of the burgeoning digital
entertainment market.
Hardware-wise, a Viiv-compliant system requires the use of an Intel
dual-core processor based on its advanced 65nm process. HEXUS' benchmarks
have shown, time and again, that dual-core CPUs are especially suited
to media-related activities, so it's a sensible inclusion. It's
important to note that Intel is happy to recommend any of its dual-core
CPU, be it desktop or mobile, for Viiv usage.
Again, similar to Centrino's requirements and hardly surprising,
Intel requires the use of its own chipset that features the ICH7-DH
(Digital Home) southbridge for its dual-core desktop processors
and 945G Express chipset for mobile parts. Both provide native support
for High-Definition Audio (HDA) and an instant on/off feature (after
initial bootup) via the use of the company's Quick Resume Technology
and compatible remote control. Keeping the Intel theme going and
the coffers full, Viiv also requires an Intel PRO Client LAN and
Intel's media server software. Intel, however, leaves the choice
of TV tuner card up to the system integrator.
What Intel is attempting to do is to verify and validate the infrastructure
it thinks is needed for the rapidly expanding digital media world.
The vision is of an Intel-powered box that sits in your living room
and allows you to seamlessly access content, be it gaming, music,
or movies/TV. The hardware and underlying software technology (Microsoft
Windows MCE) are already in place. The real challenge will lie with
working with software companies to facilitate quality content delivery,
which, frankly, is the important part. Intel claims that over 40
companies offer content that is verified to work with Viiv PCs and
we expect that number to grow substantially in the coming months.
The ideal attributes for a Viiv box, as far as we can discern,
would be a fanless Intel mobile dual-core CPU-powered PC that's
housed in a sleek Hi-Fi-style chassis, complementing other multimedia
devices in your living room. Viiv is an interesting concept that's
been taken aboard by many system integrators already. The present
challenge is in educating the general public that PCs can be a do-it-all
interface for all your digital multimedia needs.
Intel vPro Technology
Intel's vPro Technology can also be considered as a validated
platform/brand for business users who seek to add greater levels
of manageability, security and performance to their existing network.
Talking first about manageability in relation to business PCs,
vPro, once installed, has built-in remote manageability that in
conjunction with Active Management Technology (AMT) allows an administrator
to wake a PC up from a remote console, install the various software
updates deemed necessary, and then return the system(s) back to
the original sleep state. This feature, obviously, can be carried
out over multiple vPro-supporting PCs at one time, and Intel AMT
allows individual PCs to be updated without affecting the rest of
the network.
vPro's also big on business security. Leveraging its Virtualisation
Technology (VT) on both a hardware and software level, Intel's vPro
will allow administrators to run multiple hardware-isolated operating
systems on a single partition. One real-world implication of VT
is in the ability to concurrently run an isolated partition that
features, say, security software. VT ensures that it's a hardware-based
solution that's invisible to the general OS (it's run from a dedicated,
isolated partition, of course) and therefore immune from attacks
that attempt to disable security software on the main OS. In addition
to this, vPro puts forward the use of nonvolatile memory, another
hardware-based space designed to protect critical data from malicious
attacks. Further, we've seen that AMT can be used to update software
remotely, supplementing the OS with security updates.
Performance, Intel reckons, will be gained by using its next-generation
of desktop CPU, currently codenamed Conroe. It will support the
necessary Virtualisation Technology and 64-bit addressing as standard,
and its wider dynamic execution core offers higher work-per-clock-cycle
than the current Pentium 4 Presler. Just take a peek at our first-look
results for confirmation.
Essentially, Intel vPro, much like Centrino and Viiv, is a collection
of technologies and tools, empowered by Intel-verified hardware,
that form the basis for enabling business PCs with greater security,
manageability and, with the upcoming Conroe architecture, performance.
Summary, and understanding Intel's vision
Intel's nomenclature is more than just branding. It has identified
key attributes for each platform. For example, you may know that
Centrino's key vectors, or attributes, are performance, battery
life, connectivity, and, optimally, a thin-and-light form factor.
Each new iteration of Centrino, then, is an attempt to improve each
vector without negatively impinging upon others. Viiv's vectors
can be defined as ease of use, harnessing the broad spectrum of
entertainment on a PC, and maximising the vast array of content
that's going digital, so each progression of the Viiv standard,
like Centrino, seeks to add better hardware and software support
to enable Intel to better meet its stated vectors. We already know
that performance, manageability and security define vPro.
Platform branding is here to stay. Time will tell just how well
Intel has met its stated goals, and, we feel, that branding of this
kind is more than a mere marketing trick; there's genuinely useful
innovation underneath each sticker.
