SANTA CLARA, Calif., Dec. 16, 2003 – The growth and impact of solutions in an upturned technology industry will be amplified during the Intel Developer Forum (IDF) "Spring 2004" circuit that kicks off Feb. 17-19 in San Francisco.

IDF is Intel Corporation’s showcase for implementers and developers, business executives and industry technology decision makers and influencers. With a worldwide focus, IDFs bring together developers, technology influencers, and the newest technologies and vision from Intel and other industry leaders.

The six-conference IDF Spring 2004 schedule: San Francisco, Feb. 17-19; Tokyo, April 7-8; Taipei, Taiwan, April 12-13; Beijing, April 15-16; Barcelona, Spain, April 20-22; and Bangalore, India, April 27-28. (The U.S. IDF in the "fall" circuit is Sept. 7-9 in San Francisco.)

The spring cycle starts with IDF at San Francisco’s new Moscone Center West, and will feature the traditional three-day systems conference. Concurrently, Intel will launch a new, two-day solutions conference (Feb. 17-18) delivering a program tailored to the mobility solutions needs of the corporate enterprise, a second gated attraction in amusement park terms.

Since its inception in 1997, the systems conference has targeted original equipment manufacturer (OEM) hardware suppliers, architecture leaders and hardware technology decision makers who focus on designing hardware and creating the building blocks required for developing new end user solutions.

The solutions conference targets IT decision makers as well as developers, influencers and decision makers of software applications and tools. Focus of this segmented portion will be on integrating the hardware building blocks developed in the systems conference into complete end user solutions.

"The systems and solutions conferences will be highly synergistic," said IDF General Manager David Ryan. "The hardware developers who attend the traditional IDF systems conference collaborate to develop network, client, and server hardware and system platforms. Engineers and technology influencers at the solutions conference will work to combine the hardware pieces with software applications to create complete solutions that solve the business needs of enterprise customers."

Evident of IDF serving as a collaboration point for the industry to bring new usage models and solutions to market, nearly half of the content at the solutions conference will be led by non-Intel companies. IBM, Microsoft, Oracle are among the industry leaders currently developing technical sessions for February. The solutions approach will be carried internationally, continuing at the IDF conferences in Beijing, Barcelona and Bangalore.

Intel Chief Executive Officer Craig Barrett will deliver the Feb. 17 opening keynote in San Francisco, discussing corporate strategy related to the convergence of computing and communications, as well as silicon integration and solutions. Depending on how they registered, either for the systems or solutions conference, or both, attendees will hear other Intel executives discussing such converged segments as wireless and clients, the digital home, desktop technologies, mobility solutions, enterprise, communications and R&D.

The San Francisco event also will feature nearly 200 hours of sessions and labs, an executive panel hosted by IT@Intel and a series of networking events. Covered will be such hot topics as WiMAX and other wireless technologies, notebook platform concepts for 2005, the digital home, high-performance computing, LaGrande Technology, Extensible Firmware Interface (EFI) and such initiative-type technologies as Ultra Wideband (UWB), PCI Express* and Serial ATA.

Registration for the San Francisco event is now available at http://www.intel.com/idf. Early bird conference prices are available through Jan. 23, starting at $795 for the two-day solutions conference and $995 for the traditional three-day systems portion.

IDF Fall 2003: A Record Success

A record 13,200 developers, engineers, press and other technical audiences attended the five conferences of IDF Fall 2003. The conference in San Jose last September drew 4,600 attendees, up 16 percent from the spring event, and featured a sold-out exhibit area. The four international conferences in October – in Taiwan, mainland China, Russia and India – also experienced sold out technology showcases and record or near-record attendance.

"If you’re looking for a positive leading indicator of industry health," Ryan said, "look no further than the recently concluded worldwide IDF circuit."

Gold sponsors to-date are (systems conference) Analog Devices, ATI Technologies, Digital Home Community, Intel Communications Alliance, nVIDIA, PCI Express, Rambus and Seagate Technology Sponsors; (solutions conference) Mobilized Software Initiative. Silver sponsors are (systems) Infineon Technologies, Samsung and Trusted Computing Group; (solutions) BEA Systems. Sponsors of the international conferences will be announced in February.