The last twelve months have been packed full of exciting innovations, with the Asia Pacific region proving once again why it’s a technology hot spot. 2013 saw the tablet market explode with smaller form factor devices, capturing the minds of consumers, while the connected world has given birth to a new focus for governments and industry with Big Data. Forward-thinking governments are already capitalizing on the amazing benefits associated with the trend.
This year,Intel launched a range of exciting products focusing on innovation and delivering next generation processors that became the backbone for a new era of thinner, faster, and more portable devices. Intel also worked closely with industry experts and government heads to help connect people across the Asia Pacific region, and provide cost-effective solutions to address key issues such as education and training.
1. Changing the PC landscape
One of the anticipated announcements of the year was the release of Intel’s 4th Generation Core Processor,enabling a range of 2 in 1 convertible devices that can act as both a tablet and a PC. Intel Labs conducted research that found PCs are nearly twice as fast as they were 4 years ago at 1.8x the speed.
Where you really notice the difference is multimedia – converting videos now happens at a pace that’s 23x faster.
Convertible devices may also provide a smoother and more intuitive process for people with touch screens, voice assistance, and high resolutions displays, with some even boasting facial recognition.
There’s also been an increase in the number of NFC compatible devices that enable users to pay by waving a compatible credit card across the NFC sensor that sits below the keyboard on select devices.
It wasn’t just tablets and desktops that surprised and delighted in 2013, the launch of Intel’s Silvermont microarchitecture in May introduced an innovative 22nm Tri-Gate System-on-a-Chip (SoC) process, promising to deliver significant increases in performance and energy efficiency. Silvermont delivers ~3x more peak performance or the same performance at ~5x lower power over current-generation Intel® Atom™ processor core .
Another massive release for the device market was the Intel Atom Processor Z3000 series which has been designed for tablets and smart phones. Known as Bay Trail, the chip has been designed to increase battery life on high usage devices and allows manufacturers to provide thinner, lighter, and more powerful devices at a range of different price points.
Bay Trail is available in three types, Bay Trail-T (Intel’s Atom Processor Z3000 series) is for tablets while Bay Trail-M and Bay Trail-D are for entry level devices in the laptop and desktop space. The family of SoCs allows one hardware configuration for both the Windows8 and Android platform to drive a wider choice of devices for both consumers and business users.
We observed that prices have dropped in a number of tablet markets this year.We’ve seen ASUS and Dell bring out devices that capitalize on the impressive battery life and standby power available with Bay Trail. The Asus Transformer Book T100 comes with a 10.1 inch display and an 11 hour battery life.Other new products are expected to be released by AAVA*, Acer*, Lenovo* and Toshiba*.
In the Philippines, Intel scored a landmark design winin the tablet space with a local stakeholder like RedDot, who has enabled us to come into agreements with brands they distribute, such as Polaroid, and scale other MNC brands. Earlier this year, Intel Philippines secured the first IA tablet design win for Polaroid in the world.
2. Big Data
Industry analyst firm International Data Corp (IDC) projects the global big data technology and services market to grow at more than 31 per cent each year. Revenues are forecast at US$23.8 billion by 2016.
2013 saw Intel launch the Big Data Innovation Center in Singapore with Dell and Revolution Analytics. It provides a platform for companies to test-run big data initiatives and proof-of-concepts for deployment. The center offers comprehensive training programs, proof-of-concept capabilities, and solution development support for big data and predictive analytics, specifically tailored to the Asia Pacific region.
Intel also announced its first venture into Big Data software with the Intel Distribution for Apache Hadoop software. Intel believes the conceptual technology can help governments prepare for smart cities and assist telecommunications companies to improve their network and revenue streams.
China’s Zhejiang Province has deployed an Intelligent Transportation System for traffic management, and can now track commercial vehicles for security surveillance. More than 3,000 cameras are being deployed across the city with GPS terminals – and the Intel Distribution for Apache Hadoop softwareallows the government to store, monitor, search, and analyze 2.5 petabytes of data in real time every month.
Changing the way we view data center-based graphics – the new Intel® Xeon® processor E3-1200 v3 product family is a huge leap forward in the design of processors. Built on the 22-nanometer manufacturing process and featuring ‘Haswell’ architecture, the new Intel® processor microarchitecture transforms server capabilities and creates new possibilities for the data center.
From 2012 to 2020 the amount of stored data will double every two years , reaching 40ZB. Fast, on-demand access to this amount of data for tasks such as big data analytics require more intelligent compute and storage intensive solutions, as well as a dramatic decrease in the cost-per-stored terabyte.
Keeping up with the huge increase in data is vital and the new Intel® Xeon® processor E5-2600 and E5-1600 v2 processors, based on Intel’s leading 22-nanometer process technology, have been designed to offer more security to private clouds. Also designed to help bring down costs for enterprises, the processors are designed to power cost efficient scale-out, distributed, and software defined storage.
For more details on these new Intel Xeon processors, visit www.intel.com/xeon. For more details on world records and other claims, visit www.intel.com/performance.
3. Enabling tomorrow’s innovators
Intel believes that education is a fundamental right for everyone, and that educating and providing girls and women with the opportunities to succeed will break the cycle of generational poverty. As a founding strategic partner of 10×10, Intel is extremely proud of our collaboration on the creation of an important documentary film called “Girl Rising” and accompanying global social action campaign. Girl Rising, 10×10’s full-length feature film, reveals the extraordinary stories of girls who are tackling the reality of socio-economic roadblocks and sometimes impossible odds on the road to education.
The innovative approach of 10×10, Intel, and local partners like Asian Development Bank, Plan International, ZONTA Mandaluyong San Juan, and Children International to create a movement to get girls educated reflects a unique partnership that goes far beyond writing a check. Through “Girl Rising”, Intel works on a shared objective with partners on-the-ground to increase awareness on the impact and importance of education for girls and women. As a testament to the campaign’s commitment to reaching grassroots communities nationwide, kick-off public screenings were held for youth leaders, women, and girls in Batasan Hills, and female students at the Jose Rizal University and nearby schools.
The Intel International Science and Engineering Fair is one of the world’s largest high school science research competitions that encourages millions of students to use their imagination to come up with innovative solutions across a range of areas. Young scientists and next-generation entrepreneurs are encouraged to tackle topics ranging from environmental disasters to cancer treatments.
This year, more than 1,500 students from around the globe were given the opportunity to travel to Phoenix, Arizona to present their ideas.
IonutBudisteanu, 19, of Romania was awarded first place for using artificial intelligence to create a viable model for a low-cost, self-driving car. Ionut said his research addresses a major global issue. In 2004, car accidents caused 2.5 million deaths worldwide , and 87 percent of crashes resulted from driver error . With 3-D radar and mounted cameras, Ionut created a feasible design for an autonomously controlled car that could detect traffic lanes and curbs, along with the real-time position of the car – and this solution may only cost $4,000.
The Philippines’ own JudelTabsing from Davao del Norte received the fourth place award in plant sciences: agriculture and agronomy category for developing an environmentally-friendly, effective and inexpensive treatment to a banana disease. Six other students represented the country with brilliant research projects on sericulture – an agro-based industry that processes silk yarn, a computer anti-virus, alternative energy from used batteries, and treatment for coagulation disorders.
Accelerating ICT in Education and Digital Literacy scale
Intel has a strong focus on education and believes in working closely with government and educators to enable people to develop employable skills all over the world. Every year, Intel invests more than $100 million globally to support such efforts. In the Philippines, Intel works with government and various private sector groups to improve education by adopting a holistic approach in effecting changes which include strategic planning, professional development, providing consultancy in the development of curriculum standards and content development, evaluation and monitoring.
Intel recently partnered with leading education technology solutions provider FELTA Multi-Media Inc. to enable an education transformation initiative in local public schools through Intel Education Solutions. Earlier this year, Intel helped transform local classrooms in Davao City into interactive learning environments by training teachers and donating 25 Intel Education Tablets and solar power equipment to the Marilog Central Elementary School, providing open content mapped to the K12 curriculum. Intel engaged more schools in tablet-assisted education with the recent acquisition of 750 tablets by the Department of Education in Makati.
Intel collaborated with Polaroid and Blended Learning Services, Inc. to launch a reading enrichment program dubbed Knowledge on Tap to students of the Lupang Pangako Elementary School in Payatas, Quezon City. Intel-powered Polaroid Elixir 10” tablets were installed in the school’s library as part of the Department of Education’s Library Hub Project.
Intel also collaborated with the Technical Vocational Schools and Associations of the Philippines Inc. (TEVSAPhil) to implement the Intel Easy Steps digital literacy course materials in the programs offered byTEVSAPhil member schools and institutions. Intel Easy Steps teaches adult learners basic computer skills like word processing, spreadsheets, multimedia, internet, and email, and trains them how to use these skills for entrepreneurship and employment. The partnership aims to accelerate digital literacy training within tech-voc schools, thereby, enabling a digital tech-voc workforce which can be an edge of the Philippines over its neighbors.
With the continued support of the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA), the Intel Easy Steps program has seen great success in the Philippines and continues to grow in numbers. To date, Intel Easy Steps has reached a total of 54,034 grassroots learners and 1,182 trainers.
Boosting economic development through investment
Intel Capital has been investing in APAC since 1998, totaling over US$2 billion to date in the region. Intel Capital’s areas of focus are mobile computing, consumer Internet, cloud computing, Ultrabook, software and services, smartphones and semiconductor design and manufacturing. In 2013 year-to-day, Intel Capital announced six new investments in Asia Pacific and saw two portfolio company exits through IPO including: Aspeed Technology (Taiwan) and Montage Technology (China).
In 2013 Intel continued to reinforce its investment in partners across the globe. During the last year, the Gold and Platinum membership of the Intel Technology Partner (ITP) program experienced a 50 per cent increase in the Asia Pacific. The program now has a total of 9,399 Gold and Platinum partners across Asia Pacific and 31,700 globally. The ITP program is designed to help train, support, and position channel partners for sustained growth by both supporting their current business models andhelping them identify and capture new opportunities in the market.
Communities are built on the people within them, and Intel’s employees are the conduit by which the company interacts and immerses itself within its communities. The Intel employee volunteer program – ‘Intel Involved’ – is designed to empower, support and recognize employees who volunteer in their communities. Through this approach we ensure that our involvement with communities provides long-term solutions rather than reactive and ad-hoc support.
Response to Typhoon Yolanda Relief and Rehabilitation Efforts
Recognizing the widespread damage caused by the recent typhoon that swept across Central Philippines, Intel Foundation offered an employee matching grant to Intel Corporation’s 100,000 global workforce. The matching grant is intended to be used for rehabilitation efforts for communities and schools affected by Typhoon Yolanda. Simultaneously, Intel Philippines’ employee volunteer hours can be matched and given to partner organizations.
In response to the InfoComm Technology Association of the Philippines’ device donation campaign called ‘Donate a Device, Reboot a Life’, Intel donated 42 tablets to be used in ICT Connectivity Centers established by the ICT office. Intel is also running an ongoing prepaid load sharing initiative through Intel Experience Zones in local malls.