Intel's heft slows its wireless strategy

[Dave Farber <dave () farber net>]

To: Dewayne-Net Technology List <dewayne-net () warpspeed com>

[Note:  This is the Red Herring's take on the Intel processor story that I 
posted earlier today.  DLH]

April 12, 2004

Intel's heft slows its wireless strategy
Category:  Computing
<http://blog.redherring.com/MT/archives/main/000162.html>

Intel is reaching for market share in the mobile device chip market. It 
recently announced availability of its "Bulverde" chipset, which delivers 
wireless video streaming, 3-D rendering, and security that is closely 
identified with, but not clearly labeled as, digital rights management 
(DRM). The release is a shot across the bow of Texas Instruments, the 
largest U.S. manufacturer of chips for mobile handsets. But it's a shot 
that falls short: the Intel chips lock device manufacturers into an 
Intel-flavored design in a market where "Intel inside" branding carries no 
weight.

Bulverde is shipping with the scintillating product name "PXA27x" and 
delivers multi-network support. It is a significant move on Intel's part, 
because this chipset will be able to communicate over 3G, wi-max, and other 
wireless networks. It includes Intel's trusted wireless platform 
technology, which supports a variety of cryptographic algorithms but 
requires developers to write to Intel's specification. The press release 
mentions that, among others, Sony Music Entertainment has developed 
applications based on the Intel security technology; hence our suggestion 
that this is a crypto DRM strategy (no pun intended).

 The Intel chips require a $17 dollar multimedia accelerator to deliver 
high-end video playback in a handheld device. The total cost of the chipset 
with accelerator is $49 in quantities of 10,000.

 By contrast, TI's $33.47 OMAP 2 processors (price based on purchase of 
10,000 chips) deliver digital television, music, and digital camera support 
without any hardware-based security. Handset manufacturers can implement 
DRM in software without proprietary security when doing so, where Intel's 
chip ties security to Intel's wireless trusted computing technology.

 The TI chips are more flexible and inexpensive, allowing handset makers 
to implement a variety of security features from different software 
developers instead of relying on Intel to win support for its security 
features from a large number of independent software vendors.

Where TI does focus on security ­ Intel provides these features, too ­ is 
in the arena of what can load into memory, where hostile code can damage 
the device or break installed security features.

 Intel needs to make silicon for the mobile market that is not tied by 
hardware designs so closely to its desktop and server technologies. 
Software-based links to the rest of the Intel universe are a positive 
contribution, but hardware-based connections will only make competing 
software-only solutions more attractive.

Posted by Red Herring at April 12, 2004 03:48 PM
Archives at: <http://Wireless.Com/Dewayne-Net>
Weblog at: <http://weblog.warpspeed.com>

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