Geekfest 2009
As 5,000 people converge on the Moscone centre in San Francisco for the Intel Developer Forum today, analysts and media alike have been asking themselves whether the tech giant will have anything significant to show the gathered masses at what is being called ""the world's biggest geekfest."
This year's event will be the 12th in Intel's history, but the first without the show's founding father, Pat Gelsinger, who recently announced he was leaving to work at data storage company EMC as its President and Chief Operating Officer.
Spanning through from Tuesday 22 until Thursday 24, the show promises pilgrims no less than seven Intel executive keynotes, 125 classes, panels and sessions and a plethora of "tech insights" on Intel's 300 plus products, including Core, Xeon, vPro and Atom.
Intel says this year's IDF will stay true to the company's three basic Intel mantras; "Relentlessly pursuing Moore's Law; delivering world-class manufacturing and capacity - at molecular levels; and constantly innovating and integrating from sand to silicon."
There will also apparently be much ado about Intel's omnipresent Core-branded family of laptop and desktop processors - including the firm's next-generation, 32-nanometer process technology. This includes "Westmere" or "Dales" chips, followed by "Sandy Bridge" after that.
The Dales will be something of a first for Intel, as they will integrate graphics onto the processor for the first time, something Intel hopes will provide users a performance boost in areas like video, whilst also lowering costs.