Intel (Nasdaq:INTC) today revealed the brand name for its new processor - “Centrino”. Designed for mobile computers, the processor was developed in Israel under the code name “Banias”.
Intel VP Mobile Platforms Group David (Dedi) Perlmutter also today confirmed to “Globes” that Intel was developing the processor to succeed the Centrino, codenamed “Dothan”. The new processor will also be developed at Intel’s Haifa development center, using advanced 90-nanometer technology.
Perlmutter said the Centrino processor would initially include only b802.11 standard wireless network technology, with an operating speed of 11 Mpbs. He said within three months of the processor’s launch, scheduled for the first half of this year, the processor will also include the parallel a802.11 standard technology, with an operating speed of over 54 Mpbs. The Centrino processor was originally scheduled to be launched with both technologies simultaneously, but the joint launch was scrapped in order to avoid delaying the launch. Perlmutter added, “Most existing infrastructures support only the b802.11 standard, anyway.”
Perlmutter said one the most important advantages of the Centrino processor, compared with the performance of its competitors in the mobile computer sector, was its low electricity consumption. Intel’s main competitor in the field is the Crusoe processor, developed by Transmeta (Nasdaq:TMTA), founded by Linus Torvalds, the inventor of Linux. Perlmutter added that the Centrino processor would enable the development of thinner, faster and lighter mobile computers.
Intel, the world’s largest chip maker, has been operating in Israel since 1974, and has 5,200 employees at its four main development centers in Jerusalem, Haifa, Kiryat Gat and Petah Tikva. Intel Israel has been involved in the development of the Manitoba processor for cellular telephones, among other projects.
Published by Globes [online] - www.globes.co.il - on January 8, 2003