It's been a year of learning: Intel Corporate VP Chris Walker talks about 2020, Tiger Lake and Intel Evo

We spoke with Intel Corporate VP Chris Walker to find out more about Tiger Lake and Intel Evo plans for 2020. 

 

Just last month, Intel launched the 11th General Intel Core for the Tiger Leak - "Laptop of the Future". These 11th-gen Intel Core processors are number one in the industry with hardware-supported Dolby Vision and are expected to deliver 2x more game performance than the previous generation.

 

These processors are expected to power a new range of laptops that will be launched later this year and next year and beyond. Clearly, there is a lot in the pipeline. And that's not all, Intel also introduced the Intel Evo Platform brand for laptop designs, which is certified with the KEIs of the second edition specification and Project Athena Innovation Program. More than 20 certified designs are expected this year based on the 11th General Intel Core processors with Intel Iris Zee graphics.

 

To find out more, we spoke with Chris Walker, Corporate Vice President and General Manager of Mobile Client Platform Group at Intel, to ask them about Tiger Lake, Intel Evo, and of course, What has 2020 been like for Intel?

 

Here are excerpts from our conversation.

 

In the wake of the Tiger Lake launch, what are your plans to ensure that Intel stays on top of its game in the computer chips market?

 

I think with that in mind, with our 10th Jenner chips, both consumer and commercial, we really wanted to start going in many, many directions that you can see us taking full advantage of at Tiger Lake. Are - real world application performances, from which to AI. PC for users in practical ways.

 

So, with Lake Tiger, it combined a lot of factors. Our ability to make more leaps and bounds in the performance of all sectors  production capacity, while not sacrificing battery life or performance during the battery at the same time.

 

For us, from an architectural point of view, Tiger Lake is a huge step towards meeting the needs of end users and we maintain our annual level of leadership products in all segments. Now, we do them at different times. So, we have chips dedicated to high-end gaming laptops, we have desktop chips, we're doing some of our own enrollment products for things like education or people's first PCs. Therefore, we continue to push our portfolio to the limit. We have a wider portfolio there, but we target different segments. Therefore, Lake Tiger, in particular, will be available for consumer, commercial and late autumn / winter sellers.

 

Given the current epidemic, how things have turned out and how things have changed for the laptop and PC market in general, how do you see Tiger Lake helping in such a situation? How do you see yourself improving it?

 

There are many features associated with a great laptop when you are in a coffee shop or on the go that you still need if you are at home and between your desk and your sofa or bedroom. Growing up, or if you're lucky enough to be able to go out and work. So, the biggest attribute is its performance. And also how responsible it is, along with performance when you unplug.

 

I think what we're seeing in the market from others is that sometimes they sacrifice performance when they come out of the wall charger or when they plug in. We've made sure we maintain similar performance whether you're on a plugin or on battery.

 

What we see even in this epidemic and people spend more and more time on their PCs - they have to go through many aspects of their day.

 

They can start their day with a call like this, collaborate on zoom, teams, or something like that. Then you need to enroll, whether you are a student or working, create some content, be productive. And then that laptop takes you to fun. This is how people are watching their movies, this is how they are playing some gaming or e-games.

 

Therefore, Tiger Lake is better at production capacity, great for content creation, great for entertainment and gaming. There are some big things on top of that. As communication is very important. So, Wi-Fi 6 helps with faster and better reliability. And then there are some features that we actually thought of for things like voice services. Think about your Alexa services.

 

But actually, the features on the EVO platform, we make sure we're working closely with the PC manufacturers to make sure it's great for things like making a lot of calls. , Great stereo, or great sound.

 

We actually put special AI hardware to help remove background noise so you don't hear traffic noise on calls or family members in the background and help to do so in extremely low power conditions. So, there are some things you know that when we first designed Lake Tiger, obviously we didn't have an epidemic, but to find different uses or find our own place because people basically own Lives most of the day with and through laptop.

 

How have your plans changed since March this year? Did you have to fully re-recognize everything by 2020, given the new circumstances?

 

I think, in some cases, just from the point of view of Intel operations, we had to learn with both our teams in India and our teams around the world, we had to find new ways, technically. Develop each other, work more remotely with your partners.

 

And there's a lot of software work, and system design that's done in newer and newer ways than ever before. From the product line itself, I think there is a lot of emphasis on trying to meet the need for education as well. Therefore, we have our own product line specifically for our entry devices - both Windows and Chrome - which is growing and we look forward to meeting this demand.

 

But we have new products on the market, new products on the drawing board. It hasn't changed much at the moment because many of the ways people use their PCs are caused by epidemics alone. That's why we haven't changed our product lineup.

 

And now the focus is on Tiger Lake and the 11th General, it is getting into the hands of more and more people. Because we want people to see a good PC who wants a new PC and needs it because maybe they are three or four or five years old but it is not meeting their needs today.

 

In general, much has changed since the epidemic and how the world generally uses its laptops and PCs. Has there been any significant change in your usage in the Indian market since the whole lockdown and our reliance on laptops and PCs has increased?

 

I think globally, and the same is true for the Indian market, we are seeing great growth in how we are playing gaming and esports. What was already hot in terms of PC usage and notebooks has really increased dramatically. These are both for new titles and for some old good favorite titles. So, I think it's just gaming that we've seen a lot of growth.

 

And then, everyone in the Indian market, in particular, gets a lot of conference calls, a lot of zoom type calls, whether it's for work or just studying or staying with family. So, in my opinion, these are the types of uses that keep growing, and I think what we put in the product is particularly appropriate.

 

Tell me about the positioning of Intel Evo? And how do you see its formation?

 

Evo has come out of what we call our Project Athena innovation program and it really starts with in-depth user studies. We have social scientists, ethnographers, thousands and thousands of hours working not only in surveys but in depth with people. Sometimes in the past, you know the pre-epidemic, go to people's homes, really understand how people use their PCs.

 

They could be students, maybe a lot of people traveling, or a lot of people, or people running a business on a PC. And they wanted three big things. He wanted the PC to help him, always stay focused, or he wanted it to work like his phone, always be ready, and help him adapt - the way they do. So, we took these three perspectives and pillars and we focused almost all of our partners around the world, PCs, component makers, OS, etc. - to really focus on such a laptop. Worked with 150 partners.

 

So, people go through many tubs, they want to lift the lid and stay at work. Therefore, this response was very important. Our best connection - Wi-Fi 6, Thunderbolt - so it's just simple and easy and you're getting faster and faster. And then great battery life. And when we talk about nine plus hours of battery life, that's how people usually use their system. Deep apps, lots of background cloud services are going, and normal screen brightness.

 

Therefore, it is really based on taking a set of tests, running them, ensuring that the whole system fulfills this promise. And we felt it was important enough, and with Evo, over the course of a decade, we've been able to perform our first brand well with our partners. , We worked hard to reach milestones with the system working with our partners.

 

We don't really know how things are getting back to normal or what the new routine is. Do you have any other plans as far as your offers are concerned?

 

Well, I think all we can do is share new products, yes, but one thing we do for companies is we have the same capabilities on laptops or commercial laptops provided by companies. Are bringing this is important because people are moving their operations to people's homes. The level of competence is probably more important than when people were just mobile in the office.

 

Therefore, better capabilities for better security, better management of the system through the lens of corporate or IT is essential and we will also bring our VPR technology to these platforms.

 

This is probably what I would say is coming soon, you know, the ability to bring all these capabilities but also the way to manage people and work remotely and keep the PC healthy even in the corporate environment. IT is needed. We will continue to advance these technologies.

 

Is there a plan for India that you can tell us about?

 

Eva and the many innovations and things seen in the platform of the future that really stands out from our India team. So, we have a very close team. We work on our many shapes element innovation and co-design.

 

And so, one of the things we've seen in the EVO platform is that we have the ability to work as much as possible to minimize the components of the motherboard inside the system, giving people a slim, sleek system Or longer battery life. There are many such innovations that come from our work with our Indian team.

 

This works with our PCOM for some really interesting form factors that you see coming to market. You have small body sizes as well as thin and light screens - they are the very center of this innovation.

 

If you only compare the requirements of a laptop that has more computing power and more energy, better battery life versus a laptop that is probably thinner than a large screen. In which direction did you look in the most direction?

 

I think what we've tried to achieve with the 11th General is that we give you the best of both worlds. We have seen that the demand for screen sizes ranging from 13 inches to 15 inches is stable. In many cases, the use of laptops with docking or external monitors may increase the popularity of dual monitors as people sit at home and work more.

 

And that's where technologies like Thunderbolt - where you can only have one cable that does your power, your networking, multiple monitors, back-up storage, you know, a cable's A lot of things through simplicity.

 

The trend we keep seeing is that people work with their laptops, sometimes in a certain type of workstation editing space but then they can move that space at home as well. But depending on a screen or a form element, the demand is evenly spaced across multiple form factors.

 

Well, if I talk specifically about the Indian market, is there a priority?

 

I think a lot of the things we see are that 15-inch systems are performing fairly well because some people may not have room for other monitors, especially gaming and entertainment or more extensive. For the screen. Especially as many of our PC partners now tend to be very thin bezels, so this is a very immersive experience. This is a trend that we also see growth in the Indian market.