Coming out with a dual-core Smithfield that consists of two separate pieces of silicon would be a publicity headache, Krewell added.
"Even though functionally it would be identical, in terms of silicon manliness it would be cheating," he said. "It would also sort of weaken their case with Oracle on licensing."
Intel and other hardware makers are worried that traditional by-the-processor models for software licences will restrict sales of their multicore offerings. Oracle, for instance, considers dual-core chips as two processors. That means customers wind up paying more for software that runs on dual-core systems. In contrast, Microsoft said its licensing terms will count dual-core chips as a single processor.
An Intel representative declined to specifically discuss Smithfield but said the company plans to use an array of design techniques to bring dual-core chips to different markets.
Unclogging data traffic
Another highlight of the conference will be the first discussion of the Intel I/O Acceleration Technology designed to unclog data traffic that's transmitted over TCP/IP. Ideally, the technology will speed up the interactions between PCs and servers by up to 30 percent. The software and specially tweaked networking chips to enable the technology will arrive in 2006.
The conference officially begins 1 March with a keynote speech from Intel chief Craig Barrett, who will step down as CEO to become chairman in May. Incoming CEO Paul Otellini is not speaking but will attend the conference.
Other keynote speeches will come from the general managers of the new platforms groups. Rather than make individual products, such as chipsets or flash memories, the platform groups seek to develop an array of chips, boards and reference designs to sell to business customers, the communications industry or consumers. The idea is that selling bundles of integrated chips can bring more revenue than selling single chips. Texas Instruments, Samsung and others are taking a similar approach.
Speakers include Pat Gelsinger, co-general manager of the Digital Enterprise Group; Don MacDonald from the Digital Home Group; Sean Maloney, co-general manager of the Mobility Group and an oft-mentioned candidate for the HP CEO slot; and Justin Ratter, an Intel senior research fellow.
