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This article focuses on the future plans of Intel Corp. The chip maker outlined plans to phase out processors that feature speed in exchange for those that offer greater efficiency. That push will appear in the architecture of the next generation of processors to maximize the performance they deliver per watt of electricity consumed. Power efficiency, which has been key in notebook design, is becoming a larger priority in desktop and server designs. The architecture, with new circuitry, will begin arriving in the second half of next year with processors code-named Merom, Conroe and Woodcrest, for notebooks, desktops and servers, respectively. It will feature such capabilities as multiple cores, virtualization and greater power management that will enable better efficiency. The chips will lower the power consumption of their respective platforms up to 30 watts. The architecture will be based largely on Intel's Pentium M, which is already designed for energy efficiency.

The article reports on the initiative of several computer companies to refresh all or part of their x86 server offerings based on Nehalem processors or Xeon 550 series from Intel Corp. Hewlett-Packard Co. (HP) launched 11 new sixth-generation ProLiant platforms powered by the Xeon 5500 series. The M710 blade server from Dell Computer Corp. provides Energy Smart technologies to reduce power consumption. International Business Machines Corp. has provided twice the compute performance.

The article presents news briefs regarding the computer industry. March 24, 2007 has been designated as Shutdown Day 2007, which is a worldwide experiment to determine whether people can function without their computers. Former Nortel executives Frank Dunn, Douglas Beatty, Michael Gollogly and MaryAnne Pahapill are facing accounting fraud charges. Intel's Centrino Pro microprocessor might be released by early May 2007.

The article reports on the new product offering of Palo Alto, California-based Hewlett-Packard Co. (HP), which consists of three desktop models for its HP Compaq Business PC product line. The two models offers the Core 2 Duo chip of Intel Corp., while the other one is supported by the new Athlon 64 X2 processors of Advanced Micro Devices Inc. HP has increased its focus on security and manageability and two major concerns for senior-level information technology managers. The HP Openview Configuration Management Agent is preinstalled to track and update software.

The article introduces the Core 2 Duo processor, known as Merom, by Intel Corp. It reports that PC manufacturers are focusing on Merom for their laptops that offer the latest step in the multistaged introduction of Intel's highly touted Core 2 Duo chip family with a performance increase of 20 percent versus its predecessor, the Core Duo, with holding power consumption to nearly the same level. It explains that the switch from Core Duo to Core 2 Duo processors in current notebooks only involves a system software upgrade and PC manufacturers are expected to use the chip to upgrade many systems.

The article reports on Intel Corp.'s planning of promoting its different range of microprocessors. Intel, which has suffered processor inventory and pricing affliction that reduced its profit as well as revenue in the second quarter of fiscal year 2006-2007, is planning to promote its three processor brands. Following the arrival of its Core 2, or "Conroe" processor line on July 27, 2006, Intel will promote with the best approach to PC buyers using its Celeron, Pentium and Core 2 chips.

The article focuses on the initiative of Intel to expand its market to Linux users. The microprocessor-manufacturing company sees its 64-bit Itanium chip as a key growth driver for architecture and are looking at ways to enhance chip and the systems that run on it to make them more attractive to Linux users. Recent enhancements to Linux kernel for Itanium includes memory error recovery, central processing unit hot plugging, and patches from Intel and Hewlett Packard related to Montecito support; upcoming support for Xen, and work with Red Hat and Novell to ensure that their support the latest Itanium features.

This article reports that supporters of the Itanium architecture are looking to crank up backing for the Intel Corp. platform just as competing systems makers launch initiatives in the enterprise space. That RISC space is a key target for Itanium systems makers, and members of the new Itanium Solutions Alliance, which will be launched this week, say they will be able to accelerate adoption of the platform through a number of initiatives scheduled to begin in November. Alliance members include Intel; OEMs such as Unisys Corp., Fujitsu Ltd. and Silicon Graphics Inc.; and software vendors such as Microsoft Corp., SAP AG and Red Hat Inc. The companies also have launched 19 solutions centers globally that will give developers access to Itanium experts, tools and compilers. In addition, by the end of the year, the alliance will launch a catalog listing all the applications, solutions and hardware available for Itanium. The architecture has a checkered past and in recent years has been hamstrung by the rise of Opteron and the strength of Intel's Xeon chips.

The article presents several news related to the computer industry. Paul Otellini replaces Craig Barrett as chief executive officer of Intel Corp. The move was made official during a shareholders meeting. Intel stumbled several times in the previous year. Among the problems were delays in its "Dothan" Pentium M mobile chip and the cancellation of its"Tejas" entium 4 chip. Palmone has announced that Ed Colligan will permanently assume the role of chief executive officer. Colligan joined PalmOne's predecessor, Palm Computing, in 1993 as vice president of marketing and was part of the team that helped launch the original PalmPilot device. PalmOne's new LifeDrive Mobile Manager is a bit like a mobile suitcase. The LifeDrive is the first PDA on the U.S. market with a 4GB hard drive and is also PalmOne's first mobile device with built-in Wi-Fi 802.11b and Bluetooth 1.1 support, so users can transfer and share digital content. The LifeDrive allows wireless e-mail access from IMAP, POP or Exchange electronic-mail accounts.

The article focuses on the competition that will led by 64-bit CPUs. With the arrival of Apple Computer Inc.'s desktop machines and their 64-bit CPUs, the race to the next generation of mass-market processing power suddenly has a severe competition. Intel Corp.'s Itanium, Advanced Micro Devices Inc.'s Opteron and Athlon 64, and now the IBM PowerPC 970 (or G5) processor in forth-coming Apple systems offer distinctly different options to users of memory-intensive applications. All three 64-bit architectures must compete against the frugal enterprise buyer's base case of continuing to buy commodity-priced workstations and servers using variants of Intel's 32-bit Pentium 4. Intel celebrated the graduation season by shipping a 3.2GHz P4 that should enjoy a short but hot summer as leader of the pack. INSETS: 64-bit desktop: Why and why not;Apple's 64-bit systems.

Intel Corp. is hoping to pull more enterprises into the 64-bit computing camp with the release of the Itanium 2 6M processor in the last week of June 2003. This latest extension to the Itanium line, code-named Madison, runs at higher frequencies than earlier Itaniums, up to 1.5 giga-hertz, and offers more cache, 6 megabytes. And the 64-bit addressing space will enable software running on it to handle large data sets. As with all rollouts of central processing units, a cadre of original equipment manufacturers, including IBM Corp., Hewlett-Packard Co. (HP), Dell Computer Corp. and Unisys Corp., are set to offer new systems based on Madison, Wisconsin. Intel, of Santa Clara, California, is also offering a 32-bit emulation layer in Madison. HP plans to announce that it is consolidating its server lines into a single, three-tiered offering called the Integrity line.

Reports on Intel's launch of a mobile Pentium III processor that runs at 1GHz, at the same time the company's usual supporters plan to announce notebooks that feature the CPU. Gigahertz notebooks from Compaq Computer, Dell Computer, Hewlett-Packard and IBM.

Announces that another delay in an Intel Corp. Profusion chip set will push the release of eight-processor servers into the fall of 1999. Mention of the demonstration of the servers by several vendors at PC Expo in New York City in June 1999; Reaction from several industry professionals.

Looks ahead to 1999 in the computer industry. The end of Microsoft Corp.'s antitrust trial and the beginning of Intel Corp.'s antitrust trial; The release of Microsoft Windows 2000 and Microsoft Office 2000; The mobile Intel Pentium II processor; Communications improvements for pocket computers; Speed and performance improvements for microcomputers; Price reductions on many computer products.

Discusses issues of relevance to the United States computer industry as of January 31, 2000. Implications of Microsoft Corp.'s launch of its Microsoft Windows 2000 computer operating system for the US computer industry; Difficulty experienced by Intel Corp. in meeting demand for its Pentium III and Celeron microprocessors; Decline in the stock performance of International Business Machines Corp.