Wintel变“Antel”，英特尔靠拢Android阵营

英特尔首席执行官Paul Otellini在IDF英特尔开发者大会的主题演讲中承诺明年将会有多家手机厂商推出采用英特尔x86芯片的Android手机。英特尔和谷歌拓展合作关系为这些手机带来针对x86优化过的Android版本。

Otellini的承诺标志着英特尔在爆发中的移动市场中寻求设计胜利的漫长努力的又一次波折。几年前英特尔开发出集成闪存的应用处理器，未能赢得响应。去年英特尔又与诺基亚合作开发采用Atom和MeeGo移动Linux软件系统的手机。

回想过去几十年来，微软一直与英特尔紧紧相依，被人们称为“Wintel”双寡头垄断。今年1月份，微软宣布支持ARM，春季以来英特尔也一直发力进入Android平板电脑。但微软英特尔两家公司渐行渐远的速度如此之快还是令人惊奇。现在英特尔向Android阵营靠拢，Wintel是否已经结束，新的“Antel”时代将开启？

曾经的Wintel时代

诺基亚在新任CEO Stephen Elop的带领下转向Windows Phone 7和ARM的方案。在发布会问答环节中Otelli说道：“诺基亚(Atom/MeeGo手机)本该在今年第四季度出货，我们损失了六个月时间，但我们也找到了新客户，已经整装待发。”

“智能手机市场成败未定，好产品依然有机会成就不凡，我们希望拿出这样的产品。”他补充说，“MeeGo没有终结，在嵌入式和汽车市场过得很好，在这些领域它依然是我们的宝贵财富。”

Otellini对英特尔在手机领域的机会乐观而坦率

“我们也在和全球各地的硬件厂商优化MeeGo系统在平板和手机上的表现。”Otellini说，“手机厂商和运营商也一直对一个开放生态系统抱有兴趣，这也是MeeGo的价值所在。”

谷歌移动副总裁Andy Rubin登台与Otellini一同讨论了公司的合作。不过双方没有提供多少细节，只说两家公司将会提供从软件栈最底层到最高层都为x86进行优化的版本。

Otellini还展示了可用的基于Atom Medfield处理器的Android智能手机参考设计，以及运行蜂窝版本的Android 3.0平板电脑。英特尔也在分析师会议上展示了智能手机参考设计。

Real World Technologies分析师David Kanter表示：“这相当于谷歌确认英特尔是Android生态系统中的一级公民。”不过他表示，如果希望在智能手机市场取得成功，英特尔还需要获得硬件厂商的支持。

下一页：关于ARM和Ultrabook

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关于ARM和Ultrabook

一年一度IDF大会和微软展示Windows 8细节的大会同期举行，后者也带来了第一版运行于ARM处理器的Windows系统的信息(参阅电子工程专辑报道：微软Windows 8终露面，移动市场能否扳回一局)。

“在我看来没什么变化——你得有最好的处理器才能赢，”Otellini表示，“微软可以(通过Windows 8)让平板市场更具活力，(x86平台的)600万个应用非常决定性——我不认为用户能够忽视这些，所以我看好我们的机会。”

此外，英特尔还完成了Haswell芯片设计。该芯片将用于驱动2013年的Ultrabook——像MacBook Air一样轻薄的PC笔记本电脑。英特尔将对用于Haswell Ultrabook元件的新型系统级电源管理框架展开公开讨论。

Otellini保证Haswell笔记本的功耗降减少二十倍，他说新产品一次充电能够在待机模式下运行十天以上。

基于Haswell微架构的太阳能供电PC系统

英特尔也在开发一些应用以方便智能手机、电视和PC分享数据。第一款应用被称为“配对分享(Pair and Share)，将在今年预装在OEM产品中。”

Otellini还宣布说英特尔的McAffe部门将在今年晚些时候推出名为Deep Safe的新产品，该产品是McAfee软件与英特尔处理器硬件的结合，能够探知并消灭之前未被识别出的Rookit恶意软件。

此外英特尔的研究人员也展示了一个完全依靠邮票大小太阳能电池运行的奔腾级系统。英特尔会在周四的主题演讲中提供此项目的更多信息。

基于Haswell微架构的太阳能供电PC系统

最后，Otellini说英特尔“已经逼近14nm工艺技术，正在为相关工厂进行准备，将在2013年进行生产。”

该工艺最初预计会采用现有的193nm浸润光刻技术。EUV系统仍在早期开发阶段，远未达到商用所需水平。

点击参考原文：Intel: Android on x86 phones TK in 2012

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Intel: Android on x86 phones TK in 2012

Rick Merritt

Multiple handset makers will ship next year Android phones using Intel's x86 chips, vowed Intel chief executive Paul Otellini in a keynote speech at IDF. Intel and Google expanded their collaboration to deliver optimized versions of Android on x86 to enable the handsets.

The pledge marks the latest twist in Intel's long road to finding significant design wins in the booming mobile market. Years ago it worked on an integrated applications processor with flash that failed to gain traction, and more recently it worked with Nokia to design a handset using Atom and MeeGo mobile Linux software.

Under new CEO Stephen Elop, Nokia shifted its plans to using Windows Phone 7 and ARM. "In Q4 2011 [the Atom/Meego handsets] were supposed to ship from Nokia, so we've lost six months, but we found new customers and we are off and running," said Otelli ni in a press Q&A.

"The smartphone business is not established, and the ultimate shakeout is yet to come for who wins and looses so good products can still make a difference and we hope to be one of them," he added.

"Meego is still alive and well in embedded and the automotive industry where it’s a major asset for us," Otellini added.

"We also are working with hardware vendors around the world to optimize [Meego] for tablets and phones," he said. "There remains a continuing interest among handset makers and carriers to have an additional ecosystem that is open and that is the value proposition for Meego," he said.

Google's vice president of mobile, Andy Rubin, briefly joined Otellini on stage here to discuss the company's collaboration. There were few details given except to say the companies will deliver versions of Android optimized for the x86 from the lowest to the highest levels of the software stack.

Otellini also showed working versions of a smartphone reference design based on the Medfield version of Atom and a Medfield tablet running the Honeycomb version of Android. The company had shown the smartphone reference design at an analyst meeting.

Otellini was upbeat but candid about Intel's chances in handsets.

On ARM and ultrabooks

The annual IDF event here comes as Microsoft reveals first details of Windows 8 in a separate event in Anaheim, including news about the first versions of Windows to run on ARM processors.

"From my perspective nothing has changed--you always have to have the best chips to win," said Otellini. "Microsoft could energize the tablet market [with Win 8], and the value of the 6 million apps [on x86] is pretty substantial--I don’t think end users will walk away from that, so I like our chances," he said.

Separately, Intel has completed the design of Haswell, a next generation notebook chip expected to power 2013-class ultrabooks, PC notebooks that are thin and light like the Apple Mac Air. Intel will hold public session here on a new system-level power management framework for components used in Haswell-based ultrabooks.

Otellini promises Haswell systems will have a 20x reduction in power consumption thanks to the new framework. The systems should last ten days in standby mode on a single charge, he said.

Intel also is working on a handful of apps to let smartphones, TVs and PCs share data. The first of the apps, called Pair and Share, will be available in OEM systems this year.

Otellini also announced Intel's McAffe division will ship later this year a new product called Deep Safe that can use a combination of McAfee software and Intel processor hardware to detect and eliminate previously unidentified malware rootkits.

In other news, an Intel researcher showed a tech demo of a Pentium-class system running off a postage-stamp sized solar cell. Intel will give more details on the lab project in a Thursday keynote.

Finally, Otellini said Intel "already has line of sight on our 14nm process technology, and we are tooling our factories for it 2013."

The process is initially expected to use existing 193nm immersion lithograpohy. Extreme ultraviolet systems are still in an early development stage with throughput far below commercial needs.