Intel everywhere

Intel this week launched a new processor platform with a couple of new Atom chips targeted squarely toward appliances and small servers. Originally created for low-end netbook devices, these newest Atom processors on-the-block are more powerful than ever, and come in single-core and dual-core flavors. 

What is interesting here is how Intel has positioned itself to leverage its investments in the Atom processor as more than just a CPU chip. With the simultaneous introduction of a powerful I/O controller, Intel has effectively created a versatile yet low-powered computing platform for all manner of devices that caters to small and mid-sized businesses.

Based on products that Intel says are already lined up by storage hardware vendors the likes of LaCie, QNAP, Synology and Thecus, a robust niche does indeed exist. If anything, the greater processing abilities and I/O performance makes the new platform a quick and easy way to up the performance ante of these storage devices.

And Intel is clearly not focusing exclusively on the low-end offerings either. While the inexorable migration of services towards the clouds has left a niche in the lower-end spectrum of computing requirements, there is still demand for high-end processors for desktops.

To tap into this market, the official roll-out of Intel's new 6-core "Westmere" processors is expected to take place later this month. When released, the 32-nanometer based Core i7-980X on a dual-socket system will make it one of the most powerful desktop systems available for niche applications such as video processing and engineering software.

Barring more powerful server-orientated processors, the i7-980X will clearly be the market leader for a while to come--until even newer processors with more cores makes their way into the market later this year.

With the high-end and the low-end bases covered, declining sales is probably an aspect that Intel isn't so worried about. After all, just about every one of the new data centers being put together en masse does require the use of Intel server processors too.

It used to be about the nifty Intel Inside sticker on your desktop computer. The new paradigm appears to have evolved into "Intel Everywhere." - Paul Mah