Interview: Intel's Don MacDonald talks Centrino

 

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Posted on 26 Sep 2003 at 16:54

At the recent Intel Developer Forum, I caught up with Don MacDonald, Intel's Director of Marketing, Mobile Platforms Group. Following a Mobility Computing keynote by Intel VP Anand Chandrasekher - IDF Fall 2003: Next-gen Centrino processor takes a bow - we talked about all things Centrino: the forthcoming Dothan mobile processor, strained silicon, and the next-generation 'Sonoma' platform.

A good one to start with - how will Dothan benefit the consumer as compared with previous Intel processors?

MacDonald: Dothan is a system chip to replace what we codename the 'Banias' CPU, which is one of the ingredients of the Centrino package. This was designed simply for notebook users. So if you use a notebook and care about battery life, wireless connectivity or thinner, lighter systems, then these are the features the Centrino family delivers to you. It is a much better mobile experience.

Dothan is the next generation enhancement to that (manufactured on a 90 nanometre process). It's basically more of the same - a beautiful product, but from the same stable as the current Centrino technology.

Even further ahead, mention was made of the Sonoma platform. What does this signpost for the future?

MacDonald: Basically, what we do is we plan, around every eighteen months roughly, for a new platform. And that will be the time when a lot of change is implemented.

So, Sonoma has got the Dothan processor, it's got a new chipset which has a whole bunch of features, and it basically has new wireless capabilities, which include things like additional security features that don't exist today but will in that time frame.

Some of the chipset features will include new sound systems, with better sound that uses less power and causes less crashes. Things like faster graphics support. So it's a combo of performance, battery life and it will support the new Express Cards - the replacements for PCMCIA cards, or card bus technology - it means they are smaller, consume less power and are cheaper to make. So, there are a number of innovations along those lines which at a platform level means a much-improved mobile system compared to the ones you can buy today.

On top of that the infrastructure we are investing in will be more mature. So today it is public wireless LAN, but you'll begin to see some wireless WAN - cell phone technologies built in to notebooks - and you'll be able to do things like get your football scores automatically even when your notebook is in your briefcase, for example, or get that important presentation or that virus download while you are on the go somewhere, even if you are not using your notebook.

So, the concept of having your notebook working for you even when it is in your briefcase will be one of the aspects that we think will be enabled in the Sonoma platform.

Intel has been showcasing Dothan and Sonoma is on the horizon. What are the timelines we are talking about?

MacDonald: The key timelines are: Centrino is available now, that's based on the Banias processor. We will start shipping to manufacturers Dothan, the CPU portion which replaces Banias, at the end of this year. So probably in the very beginning (January timeframe) of next year, you'll begin to get Centrino mobile technology that uses the new Dothan technology. So that's the timing for Dothan.

Sonoma is likely to be in September of next year, as a ball-park figure. But basically the second half of next year. Usually we don't launch products in the middle of the summer, so somewhere around September you will see new platforms using these new products. It will still be Dothan as the CPU but we will have a new chipset and, if the OEMs decide, it will take advantage of all those the new features - the Azalia audio, the Express card, new graphics performance, etc. A whole bunch of new features will come together in that timeframe.