Returning to printed

In our blog we write a lot about Intel products and solutions. Both those and others do not stand still - in them shortcomings are corrected, new functionality is added. It turns out that after some time the information on the blog becomes outdated, but the new one does not appear - there is no reason. This situation seems wrong to us; in order to rectify the situation, we decided to periodically publish update digests - what has happened in this or that area since the last post about it was published. In Soviet newspapers, this format was called "returning to the printed." In the same digest we will add short articles on various news topics.
In this issue: "work on bugs" in the Mint device, a new processor for microservers, an update to VTune Amplifier and WiDi technology, Intel's departure from the PC motherboard market.

MegaFon Mint: working on bugs

The Intel blog widely covered the launch in August of the first Russian communicator with an Intel Atom processor - MegaFon SP-A20i Mint. The community reaction to this event was mixed, which is not surprising: as is usually the case with pioneers, the model was not without flaws. The main ones did not relate directly to the device, but still negatively affected its rating: high cost (at the time of launch - 18 thousand rubles) and the outdated version of Android (initially - 2.3).
With a feeling of deep satisfaction, we inform you that both shortcomings have been eliminated in a fairly short period of time, and as of now, the communicator is available to upgrade to Android 4.0, and its cost is 9900 rubles. Eh, that’s how it would be from the very beginning - it would be a bestseller. By the way, since the advent of Mint , several more communicators have been announced on the updated Intel platform , though, again, this is again not for the Russian market. Well, let us rejoice at the fact that Intel keeps its word and is actively advancing in the development of mobile processors.

Microservers got a new processor

In December, Intel made an official presentation of the processor family, or rather, SoC, for Intel Atom S1200 micro servers (S1220, S1240, and S1260). As you can see, Diane Bryant, the head of the group on data centers and connected systems, does not hide his joy about what happened. We are also pleased that the concept of micro servers, in general, beautiful and promising, is gradually gaining flesh and blood.



In the new systems on the chip, in addition to the dual-core central processor with a frequency of 1.6 or 2.0 GHz, a single-channel DDR3 memory controller, USB 2.0 and PCIe controllers (8 lines) found their place. Supports 64-bit instruction set, Hyper-Threading and Intel Virtualization (VT-x) technologies. A distinctive feature of the S1200 line is its extremely low power consumption, from 6 to 8.5 watts. As we recall, it is economics in terms of computing power and space that is the main trump card of micro servers, and in this sense, new products are of fundamental importance.
In addition to micro servers, the new SoCs will find their application in network devices and storage systems.

Enhanced WiDi Features

WiDi is an example of technology ahead of its time. Or carts, which appeared in front of the horse - as you like. Be that as it may, WiDi for some time hung in an airless space: there was technology, but its support was absent as a class. Now this time, fortunately, is over - now there are plenty of compatible equipment. Recently, when I went to a small electronics store in a small town - a district center, I was surprised to find a prefix on top of a WiDi window, it turns out, the solution is in demand even in the outback.
Since WiDi has moved from the category of theoretical technologies to the very practical category, it will probably be useful to indicate that it has recently acquired a new version and new functionality. Now the list of its main features is as follows:

• Support Full HD video (1080p);
• DVD and Blu-ray playback;
• Support for Intel Insider (high-definition video streaming);
• 5.1 sound transmission;
• Support Wi-Fi CERTIFIED Miracast;
• USB device support.

At the last IDF forum, the gaming capabilities of the new WiDi were also demonstrated - it's better to see it once .

Intel leaves the motherboard market

Even the harsh bearded admins will probably find it difficult to remember when the first Intel motherboard was released - this was a long time ago. I can tell anyone who is very interested - it happened in 1993. However, sooner or later everything comes to an end, and at the end of February Intel announced the gradual withdrawal from the market for desktop motherboards. The reasons for this decision are obvious: the market for traditional PCs continues to shrink, over the past year it decreased by another 3%. There is less space left on it, and there are still plenty of players.


Intel's first motherboard

Another well-marked trend is the growing popularity of various kinds of mobile devices, which also require motherboards. The employees of closed divisions will direct their efforts there, so that large-scale cuts are not expected. Not expected disasters in the field of chipsets . Thus, Intel registered inside the PC for a long time, but a change of priorities promises us the appearance of interesting mobile products with Intel Inside. So let's not lose heart: the end of one era means only the beginning of another.
Here here you can read about the most interesting motherboards in Intel's history.

New Intel VTune Amplifier XE

A useful tool for developers has been updated - a tool for in-depth performance analysis of Intel VTune Amplifier software. Here is a short list of nice changes:
• Support for the new 4th generation Intel Core processor, codenamed Haswell (including analysis of processor events and memory subsystem bandwidth).
• Collecting a General Exploration profile for the Intel Xeon Phi coprocessor on Linux.
• Analysis of processor events for OpenCL applications on the Intel Xeon Phi coprocessor on Linux.
• Frame analysis for parallel regions of OpenMP applications.
• Support for joining Java processes for analyzing processor events.
• Support for Ubuntu 12.10.
Unpleasant changes, as you probably already guessed, are simply not there.