As a tech enthusiast I am always interested to learn more about Intel and their strategies for the present and future. I hope that there are other people in my community and age group that are checking out this website and this article with as much interest as myself.
Wow! This interview really gave me great insight into how Intel fits into the compute-connect ecosystem. Great work guys! It also shows how well AnandTech's staff are connected!
Anyone else find this post eerily familiar if you replaced them with AMD? It literally sounds like the same talking points AMD must use to drum up business...
AE: It’s all to do with incumbents. I was talking to someone the other day and I started the meeting with something along the lines of ‘I understand you, you have two great incumbents – why would you want to deal with me?’. But I also ask people and operators to look at chipset diversity and a vibrant ecosystem as well as trusting what we will be able to do. Once the wireless portfolio is inside Intel manufacturing we will be able to do things that others cannot easily do, and I trust the team behind it. The most difficult part is that there are very very good entrenched incumbents – our solutions are good, but they not also delivery anything extraordinary or disruptive, so therefore how do you get a chance in that ecosystem? I’ll give the example in terms of 3G – why would someone take SoFIA 3G? For the ecosystem there is cost but also companies can start to think about their future LTE partners – do you want to wait until LTE to learn how to deal with us, because you know engineers need to talk to each other, build tools, debug, optimize and all that stuff. I think Intel can be trusted to be in this space long term and frankly it is now something that is now core to what we do.
Except the free prices, not clear how Intel can compete with Qualcomm when Connect > Compute for certain use cases.
The intro 2-3 paragraphs on how connect is super important was ridiculous. Could replace connect with case housing. Everything needs a case! Servers/tablets/laptops all needs a case! Plastic/aluminum/carbon fiber, we gonna own it all!
I thought Intel gave up on mobile and sold off their mobile division? What happened to their strategy of competing in vertically integrated markets by selling their own branded consumer products? Seems they have retracted to just being an SoC vendor again, but that won't get them any traction with the Samsung/Apple bigwigs.
Everything marketing people say is worthless, might as well just copy and paste a marketing textbook. Marketing is all about making whatever you sell look as good as possible without being caught in a straight out lie. Also, because of the nature of the business, they could be marketing processors in one job and shoes in the next they never really know anything about the product. Most of them know less about their company's product than their customers do.
There really isn't any reason for Anandtech to publish interviews with business people, all you're going to get is that marketing tag line, the one that's reused 100,000 times.
Couldn't agree more. Instead of giving solid worthwhile technical details, all she gives is a vague, cloudy road map. It becomes hilarious where she is asked about whether Atom x3's of future will use Mali or Intel's own GPU. I hope at least the marketing and tech guys of Intel are on the same page, my GTX 970 is still hurting me pretty bad psychologically, every time I look at it.
Mind boggling. Yet, I want to focus on the last paragraph which is power. Their Compute and Connect is effectively halved if its not convenient to provide power to a device.
If they want more success, give the users freedom from power inconvenience too as they will use and depend on the device more if it had virtually unlimited charge as they will create more content, share more, consume more content, and more mobile, eventually leading to the industry getting bigger.
Simply, devices should be able to breathe in power from air regardless how weak. Current wireless charging standards can't. There's one start up with the idea yet it appears that someone big such as Intel can make that happen.
On the flip side, maybe engineers should think like users first and offer good-enough performance with crazy long battery life. I think that's the gist of the last paragraphs. If a Pebble watch with a measly micro controller can last for 10 days on a charge (as with mine) then chip makers need to stop making cut down Snapdragons for wearables and start making ultra-low-power chips instead.
"Battery life trumps everything..." AE is right, Intel could be successful in mobile if it could offer low prices, good enough performance and long battery life compared to ARM designs. They're a long way from that goal but it's good to know they're taking the right steps.
I like how this interview (especially the responses) seems much more personable than what I would have expected from someone representing such a large technical corporation. It keeps me interested and makes reading it more enjoyable.
Good interviewing by AT and a cheerful, likeable interviewee... Most tech industry management either come across as totally full of themselves or are dull drones repeating PR points. She actually comes across as a tech enthusiast who happens to be an Intel VP.
She should be doing some minority and women outreach events, she is inspirational and very intelligent and should be held up as a role model of success in tech.
From an Intel investor perspective, Aicha is executing well and hitting the correct milestones. I look forward to the next three annual installments of this series. If Aicha delivers volume adequate to ensure the profitability of Intel's MCG, this real time historic video series of interviews will communicate more effectively than any community outreach effort. Stay the course.
She also comes across as a very interesting person to talk to, someone who's able to synthesize the engineering and business sides of the industry. I know she can't reveal roadmaps because of NDAs but I still appreciated her views on everything mobile. To survive, Intel has to take unconventional actions and partnering with Rockchip to fend off really cheap MediaTek SOCs is an interesting move. My money's still on ARM but a nimble and honest Chipzilla is a good thing.
There are lots of women in tech, and lots of black people. Why would you assume that because she's black and a woman she should be doing "minority" and "women" outreach events? That's racist as hell bro. Besides, blacks aren't the only minority in America or on Earth. There are Asians and Arabs who outnumber whites. Shouldn't you be giving motivational speeches?
Good heavens, really? I wish you didn't have to remove any such comments, so everyone could know who these bigoted idiots were. It is just unbelievable that race is still an issue for someone in the 21st century.
<tall order> I'd really like to see some in-depth coverage of what it costs for an ODM to create an Intel-based mobile device vs. Snapdragon vs. Exynos vs. proprietary stuff like Apple's... in other words, the cost of the SoC, the cost of the OS, the economies of scale, and other similar elements. </tall order>
Of course she wants markets everywhere. Global enterprise is about using capitalism to enslave a tiny bit of everyone so that you can end up filthy rich! Just look at Apple, sweatshops for OTHER PEOPLE's CHILDREN. It's the American dream!
I found nothing in this Interview why customers or OEMs should choose X86 over ARM. As a mobile customer X86 compatibility gives me no advantage, and as a OEM why should I choose a solution which is only available from one manufacturer?
At this point Intel processors are OK although they could be faster. I'm starting to max out my 10Gb intel nic. Once Intel comes out with those 10TB and 32TB solid state drives, I imagine in RAID they'll definitely exceed my 10Gb nic. For me at the moment my most anticipated products from intel would be a 100Gb (copper ideally) nic and 10TB or 32TB SSD.
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Rictorhell - Friday, April 3, 2015 - link
As a tech enthusiast I am always interested to learn more about Intel and their strategies for the present and future. I hope that there are other people in my community and age group that are checking out this website and this article with as much interest as myself.Dr.Neale - Friday, April 3, 2015 - link
Wow! This interview really gave me great insight into how Intel fits into the compute-connect ecosystem. Great work guys! It also shows how well AnandTech's staff are connected!vFunct - Sunday, April 5, 2015 - link
I feel sorry for whoever had to transcribe this... the most painful, tedious, un-fun thing in publishing.JonnyDough - Tuesday, April 7, 2015 - link
You mean Best of Media's staff. They're buying up all the tech site companies and pretending to compete while sharing advertisements. I mean, stories.Ian Cutress - Tuesday, April 7, 2015 - link
Swing and a miss. I requested this interview and determined the questions based on Intel's recent strategy and important market focal points.webdoctors - Friday, April 3, 2015 - link
Anyone else find this post eerily familiar if you replaced them with AMD? It literally sounds like the same talking points AMD must use to drum up business...AE: It’s all to do with incumbents. I was talking to someone the other day and I started the meeting with something along the lines of ‘I understand you, you have two great incumbents – why would you want to deal with me?’. But I also ask people and operators to look at chipset diversity and a vibrant ecosystem as well as trusting what we will be able to do. Once the wireless portfolio is inside Intel manufacturing we will be able to do things that others cannot easily do, and I trust the team behind it. The most difficult part is that there are very very good entrenched incumbents – our solutions are good, but they not also delivery anything extraordinary or disruptive, so therefore how do you get a chance in that ecosystem? I’ll give the example in terms of 3G – why would someone take SoFIA 3G? For the ecosystem there is cost but also companies can start to think about their future LTE partners – do you want to wait until LTE to learn how to deal with us, because you know engineers need to talk to each other, build tools, debug, optimize and all that stuff. I think Intel can be trusted to be in this space long term and frankly it is now something that is now core to what we do.
Except the free prices, not clear how Intel can compete with Qualcomm when Connect > Compute for certain use cases.
The intro 2-3 paragraphs on how connect is super important was ridiculous. Could replace connect with case housing. Everything needs a case! Servers/tablets/laptops all needs a case! Plastic/aluminum/carbon fiber, we gonna own it all!
I thought Intel gave up on mobile and sold off their mobile division? What happened to their strategy of competing in vertically integrated markets by selling their own branded consumer products? Seems they have retracted to just being an SoC vendor again, but that won't get them any traction with the Samsung/Apple bigwigs.
Flunk - Friday, April 3, 2015 - link
Everything marketing people say is worthless, might as well just copy and paste a marketing textbook. Marketing is all about making whatever you sell look as good as possible without being caught in a straight out lie. Also, because of the nature of the business, they could be marketing processors in one job and shoes in the next they never really know anything about the product. Most of them know less about their company's product than their customers do.There really isn't any reason for Anandtech to publish interviews with business people, all you're going to get is that marketing tag line, the one that's reused 100,000 times.
alin - Saturday, April 4, 2015 - link
You just described exactly what i was thinking all this years. Brilliant sir.Atakelane - Saturday, April 4, 2015 - link
Couldn't agree more. Instead of giving solid worthwhile technical details, all she gives is a vague, cloudy road map. It becomes hilarious where she is asked about whether Atom x3's of future will use Mali or Intel's own GPU.I hope at least the marketing and tech guys of Intel are on the same page, my GTX 970 is still hurting me pretty bad psychologically, every time I look at it.
witeken - Saturday, April 4, 2015 - link
She isn't a marketing person. The reason you don't hear product updates is because she isn't allowed to disclose that stuff, the roadmap.JonnyDough - Tuesday, April 7, 2015 - link
So she can't say anything worthwhile...why are we reading this again?JonnyDough - Tuesday, April 7, 2015 - link
Yep.Samus - Friday, April 3, 2015 - link
What the hell is a SoFIA? I spent 20 minutes going through AT articles and Google, still can't find it.Ryan Smith - Saturday, April 4, 2015 - link
Low cost Atom + Cellular SoC designs fabbed by 3rd parties (i.e. TSMC).http://www.anandtech.com/show/8061/this-is-huge-in...
dealcorn - Saturday, April 4, 2015 - link
Atom X3 is a re brand of SoFIA -- short for "Smart or Feature phone with Intel Architecture".zodiacfml - Saturday, April 4, 2015 - link
Mind boggling. Yet, I want to focus on the last paragraph which is power. Their Compute and Connect is effectively halved if its not convenient to provide power to a device.If they want more success, give the users freedom from power inconvenience too as they will use and depend on the device more if it had virtually unlimited charge as they will create more content, share more, consume more content, and more mobile, eventually leading to the industry getting bigger.
Simply, devices should be able to breathe in power from air regardless how weak. Current wireless charging standards can't. There's one start up with the idea yet it appears that someone big such as Intel can make that happen.
serendip - Sunday, April 5, 2015 - link
On the flip side, maybe engineers should think like users first and offer good-enough performance with crazy long battery life. I think that's the gist of the last paragraphs. If a Pebble watch with a measly micro controller can last for 10 days on a charge (as with mine) then chip makers need to stop making cut down Snapdragons for wearables and start making ultra-low-power chips instead."Battery life trumps everything..." AE is right, Intel could be successful in mobile if it could offer low prices, good enough performance and long battery life compared to ARM designs. They're a long way from that goal but it's good to know they're taking the right steps.
praeses - Saturday, April 4, 2015 - link
I like how this interview (especially the responses) seems much more personable than what I would have expected from someone representing such a large technical corporation. It keeps me interested and makes reading it more enjoyable.serendip - Sunday, April 5, 2015 - link
Good interviewing by AT and a cheerful, likeable interviewee... Most tech industry management either come across as totally full of themselves or are dull drones repeating PR points. She actually comes across as a tech enthusiast who happens to be an Intel VP.Refuge - Monday, April 6, 2015 - link
It is hard to do any significant stint at Intel if you aren't enthusiastic about your work.They will run you into the dirt before you realize it if you don't.
JonnyDough - Tuesday, April 7, 2015 - link
VP = Very Politician.toyotabedzrock - Saturday, April 4, 2015 - link
She should be doing some minority and women outreach events, she is inspirational and very intelligent and should be held up as a role model of success in tech.dealcorn - Sunday, April 5, 2015 - link
From an Intel investor perspective, Aicha is executing well and hitting the correct milestones. I look forward to the next three annual installments of this series. If Aicha delivers volume adequate to ensure the profitability of Intel's MCG, this real time historic video series of interviews will communicate more effectively than any community outreach effort. Stay the course.serendip - Sunday, April 5, 2015 - link
She also comes across as a very interesting person to talk to, someone who's able to synthesize the engineering and business sides of the industry. I know she can't reveal roadmaps because of NDAs but I still appreciated her views on everything mobile. To survive, Intel has to take unconventional actions and partnering with Rockchip to fend off really cheap MediaTek SOCs is an interesting move. My money's still on ARM but a nimble and honest Chipzilla is a good thing.JonnyDough - Tuesday, April 7, 2015 - link
There are lots of women in tech, and lots of black people. Why would you assume that because she's black and a woman she should be doing "minority" and "women" outreach events? That's racist as hell bro. Besides, blacks aren't the only minority in America or on Earth. There are Asians and Arabs who outnumber whites. Shouldn't you be giving motivational speeches?Ryan Smith - Monday, April 6, 2015 - link
I have removed roughly half a dozen comments regarding race. Guys, we give you quite a bit of leeway, but please be better than that.D. Lister - Monday, April 6, 2015 - link
Good heavens, really? I wish you didn't have to remove any such comments, so everyone could know who these bigoted idiots were. It is just unbelievable that race is still an issue for someone in the 21st century.OrphanageExplosion - Monday, April 6, 2015 - link
My god - the ad at the top of Anandtech is absolutely hideous :/ Do I really need to install AdBlock?JonnyDough - Tuesday, April 7, 2015 - link
Yes.LemmingOverlord - Monday, April 6, 2015 - link
<tall order>I'd really like to see some in-depth coverage of what it costs for an ODM to create an Intel-based mobile device vs. Snapdragon vs. Exynos vs. proprietary stuff like Apple's... in other words, the cost of the SoC, the cost of the OS, the economies of scale, and other similar elements.
</tall order>
JonnyDough - Tuesday, April 7, 2015 - link
Of course she wants markets everywhere. Global enterprise is about using capitalism to enslave a tiny bit of everyone so that you can end up filthy rich! Just look at Apple, sweatshops for OTHER PEOPLE's CHILDREN. It's the American dream!elabdump - Wednesday, April 8, 2015 - link
I found nothing in this Interview why customers or OEMs should choose X86 over ARM. As a mobile customer X86 compatibility gives me no advantage, and as a OEM why should I choose a solution which is only available from one manufacturer?boe_d - Saturday, April 11, 2015 - link
At this point Intel processors are OK although they could be faster. I'm starting to max out my 10Gb intel nic. Once Intel comes out with those 10TB and 32TB solid state drives, I imagine in RAID they'll definitely exceed my 10Gb nic. For me at the moment my most anticipated products from intel would be a 100Gb (copper ideally) nic and 10TB or 32TB SSD.