Communications Industry Must Reinvent Itself

Intel CEO Barrett: Communications Industry Must Reinvent Itself For Growth

Intel Corporation Chief Executive Officer Craig Barrett today stated that the communications industry, to restore growth, must reinvent itself through innovations that provide new capabilities for customers while lowering the cost of network
infrastructure.

"The focus during these difficult times should be the return the industry generates on its capital investments," Barrett said during his opening keynote at the communications industry's Supercomm 2002 conference. "To improve on this return, innovation must pervade all aspects of the industry from value-added services and software to the underlying communications infrastructure."

In the coming years, the world will rely on technologies and services created by both the communications and computing industries, according to Barrett. The Internet is rapidly becoming the choice for individuals and businesses to conduct commerce, communicate, find information and access digital media, forcing the communications and computing industries to come together in both products and infrastructure. This merging of computing and communications is creating a world where all computing devices communicate and all communications devices compute.

Barrett explained that while the future of the communications industry is bright, it faces a difficult investment dilemma. The capital investments of the past several years have not yet delivered returns, and the industry cannot afford additional investments unless they lead to new revenues. But without innovation, growth of the communications industry will be severely limited.

"Consumers must have the right to fairly use content they purchase without restrictions, and governments must support the rights of content creators by pursuing and prosecuting violators of those rights," Barrett said.

The Intel CEO outlined the importance of silicon innovation and standards-based architectures for the reinvention of the communications industry. Barrett discussed breakthroughs in silicon technology that will enable the integration of communications functions into silicon through
more sophisticated design and manufacturing technologies. Among these are Intel's plans for a 90-nanometer silicon manufacturing process optimised for smaller, lower-cost communications components that consume significantly less power than existing components.

Intel is also working with the communications industry to promote the adoption of an industry standards-based modular architecture for communications equipment in which widely used standards exist for hardware form factors, software interfaces and communications protocols. This approach enables hardware and software providers to innovate on different components of the architecture, freeing solution providers to add value through software, packaging and services that deliver more flexible and cost-effective communications solutions.

Intel, the world's largest chip maker, is also a leading manufacturer of computer, networking and communications products. Additional information about Intel is available at www.intel.com/pressroom.

*Other names and brands may be claimed as the property of others. Intel is a trademark or registered trademark of Intel Corporation or its subsidiaries in the United States and in other countries.

ENDS

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