Intel"s vision of the future of mobile computing is a hard drive with built in wireless. That, at least, is the concept the company chose to present to journalists at its Developer Forum, this week. The idea is simple: what makes any computer unique is the data held upon it, so all people should need to carry with them is that information. And while storage densities continue to grow exponentially, soon folk will have a lot of information to carry around.
That, plus uncertain network bandwidth at any given location, means that the network isn"t going to play host to all that data, said Intel R&D"s Roy Want, speaking it the company"s Developer Forum today. "Computer scientist Andy Tanenbaum said: "Never underestimate the bandwidth of a station wagon full of tapes hurtling down the highway"," Want said. In other words, when you"re on the move, you can access data faster if you have it with you.
But Intel has more in mind than a highly capacious USB Flash drive. Want outlined a device capable of holding terabytes of data and with enough computing power to run an operating and the software it needs to communicate with other devices. And wireless connectivity too. Users will be able to get away without taking a keyboard, mouse and display with them because the unit - Want calls it a Personal Server - can use and screen and input device in the immediate vicinity.