Intel Developer Forum – Intel’s “New Era” focuses on Mobile, Perceptual and 2-in-1 Computing

“IDF 2013 represents the beginning of a new era for Intel” says the first line of the keynote overview for Intel’s Developer Forum 2013. It starts on Tuesday Sept 10th in San Francisco and we’ll be there. IDF is always an informative experience and, if you listen and read carefully, you get some big tips on Intel’s strategy.

This year the focus is on mobile. That means Atom (and Celeron and Pentium) We haven’t had an Atom-focused IDF for some years so clearly the new architecture, that we’ll see in BayTrail, is an important one for Intel. BayTrail doesn’t extend up to Ultrabooks but it doesn’t mean we won’t have plenty to report on from our sector.

We’re likely to see a lot of new Ultrabooks based on the 4th-Gen core including Connected Standby and Intel Iris graphics models. We’ll see new convertibles and dockables too. We should also see the first of the low TDP/SDP Haswell devices which will go into those dockables and fanless tablets.

We might hear about the next generation Core too. Broadwell is due after Haswell and although it’s likely to be just a manufacturing change down to 14nm, there could be changes on board too. We saw those last year in the new HD3000 GPU. The question is, when will it come? Some sources say it won’t come until 2015. We’re likely to get the answer at IDF.

Here are some key pointers from the IDF content so far.

Day 1 Keynote: Intel’s new CEO Brian Krzanich and President Renée James will talk about a focus on mobile.

Day 2 Keynote: Doug Fischer, Kirk Skaugen and Dr Hermann Eul will talk again about mobility. Kirk’s keynote will be a good one for us here. “Kirk Skaugen will discuss a new category of 2 in 1 computing that combines the best of tablets and the best of the PC.” Doug is likely to talk about HTML in his software and developer focused session.

Our Ultrabook Developer resources can be found here.

We’ll be at IDF. If you have something you want us to bring to Intel’s attention, write some detail in the comments on this post.

Important Ultrabook-related sessions at IDF. (Click for more info.)

• Hands-on Lab: Adding Natural User Interfaces to Software with the Intel®Perceptual Computing SDK (Software Developers Kit)
• System Optimization for Video Communication and Perceptual Computing Experiences
• Adding Natural User Interfaces to Software with the Intel® PerceptualComputing SDK (Software Developers Kit)
• Technology Insight: Interactive Experiences with Perceptual Computing
• 2014 Mobile Platform: System Design and Path to Fanless Designs Intel is very excited about the prospect for even sleeker, cooler and quieter designs enabled by the 2014 Mobile Platform, including fanless designs. 
  This session will cover:
  Why we believe that fanless designs for Ultrabook™ form factors are compelling to end users
  Platform and System-on-Chip (SoC) power and thermal solutions needed for fanless cooling
  Tablet and PC application performance
  The role of thermal management in managing skin temperature and performance
  Design trade-offs of including WWAN, WiGig, depth camera perceptual computing, and Thunderbolt™ technology
• Intel® HD and Iris™ Graphics: Welcome to the Visual Age and Capabilities of the 4th Generation Intel® Core™ Processors
• Intel® Wireless Display Technical Overview: Enabling Dual Screen Applications
• Gaming Across the Compute Continuum: Delivering Outstanding Visual Experiences with Intel® HD/Iris™ Graphics on Every Platform
• Enabling New Usages with Improved Audio, Voice, and Speech
• Build Effective and High Performance Hybrid Applications Targeting Windows* 8 UI and Desktop Environments
• Write Transformational Applications for the 2 in 1 Devices Based onUltrabook™ Designs
• Memory and Intel® Products
• Introduction to System Design for the Next Generation Ultrabook™ and 2 in 1 Devices
  Topics include:
  Usage models that are driving a set of components for integration into Ultrabook and 2 in 1 devices
  Review of system level issues related to integrating this set of components into one platform
  Demonstration of the design trade-offs
  Forward-looking usage models, features and components that will create more complex design challenges
• Improve Ultrabook™ Battery Life Using Power Optimized Software
• Designing Connected Standby for the Ultrabook™: Instant On Responsiveness and Aggressive Low Power
  This session will share the details on CS implementation for low power and responsiveness across relevant platform components for hardware, BIOS, and software.  It will include shared learning and experiences from both the factory, ecosystem and customer enabling.
• Ultrabook™ Design and Lifecycle Considerations for BIOS and Flash Security
• Intel Haswell Microarchitecture – A Conversation with the Architects
• Poster Chat: Innovating Embedded Designs with 4th Generation Intel® Core™ Mobile U-Processor Family

We plan to attend as many of those sessions as possible. We’ve got an Ultimate Coder meetup, some press releases coming, a bloggers get-together, meetings with execs, meetings with Bob Duffy (Ultrabook developer community manager – Link) and time with other experts and bloggers at the event. It will be a busy, busy three days of event and weeks of follow-up articles and videos! We’ll also be covering BayTrail for our mobile productivity focused site, UMPCPortal.

Full disclosure: As in previous years, Intel are paying for our travel and accommodation at IDF 2013. We thank them for their support of Ultrabooknews and UMPCPortal