Tech team up
Intel has just announced it is teaming up with German software company, SAP, pooling resources between SAP's research labs in Belfast and Intel's European Labs.
The collaboration, unsurprisingly deemed "strategic" by Intel, will apparently make up yet another "important milestone" for both firms' research into "Cloud Computing and sustainable IT," whatever that may be.
An Intel press release reckons the move will allow the two companies to "collectively build upon the research efforts currently already underway," and "aims to develop a critical mass of European knowledge and R&D capability in Belfast, Northern Ireland." Critical mass, eh? Well we'll be darned.
Intel says it plans to use PhD students from both Queens University and the University of Ulster, doubtless as a cheap source of R&D labour in exchange for some swanky new research facilities and equipment.
But what exactly is the point of the new setup? It's not immediately clear. Intel's press release talks about developing technologies "that will support efficient implementation of Software as a Service (SaaS) using cloud technologies," but fails to get much more specific.
When we asked an Intel spokesperson to clarify, HEXUS was told "We are in the progress of working out more specifics with respect to the project details but we are not in a position to share anything at this point." Hmmm.