There has been news-a-plenty pouring out of the Intel Developer Forum held in San Fransisco last week, including:

• details about the soon to be released CE4100 media processor capable of bringing dual 1080p video streams to cable boxes and Blu-ray players
• the announcement of much anticipated mobile versions of Intel’s Core i7 “Nehalem” processors, which will bring computing power traditionally reserved for desktop platforms to laptops
• the introduction of Intel’s new “Light Peak” technology, which promises to become a new standard used to connect devices via an optical link which can sustain data transfer rates in excess of 10Gbps
• a demonstration of 22nm chip manufacturing technology

Mobile Core i7 processors promise to significantly increase the performance of notebook computers, giving computer aided designers and high definition video editors, amongst others traditionally bound to the desktop computing setting because of processor intensive computing requirements, the freedom and flexibility to take their work on the road.

Light Peak technology, developed at the request of Apple to create “smaller connectors and longer, thinner, and more flexible cables” from fiber than possible with traditional copper, should clean up the mess of cables associated with most PC’s and their peripherals.  And because of fiber’s inherent bandwidth, multiple peripheral devices across multiple protocols, such as USB and Ethernet, could be simultaneously supported.

In keeping up with Moore’s Law, a demonstration of 22nm process technology could usher in the next generation of CPU’s offering increased processing power with greater efficiency and decreased power consumption over today’s fastest processors.  While no microprocessor architecture has been designed utilizing the technology, it’s amazing Intel’s engineers are still squeezing more transistors onto silicon chips.

Obviously, Intel’s researchers and developers have been busy and are validating the company’s emergence as the dominent player in the CPU market.  Having recently announced full production of 32nm microprocessors, Intel is ushering in technology that will significantly change the computer performance and capability landscape.  Nevertheless, it will be exciting to watch these technologies change the computing landscape.