Intel talks ultrabooks, mobile

Summary: If you assume that there’s a post-PC era about to get started, Intel’s data center business will become moreover important because it’s the only sure bet the chip giant has.

Intel can talk ultrabooks, energy efficient screens and smartphones and tablets forever, nevertheless the company’s growth rate however rides with the data center.

The Intel Developer Forum this week

At the Intel Developer Forum this week, the focus was evidently on the evolution of the PC. Intel touted a partnership with Google so Android and Intel chips will work well at the same time and plans to be a tablet player.

Simply put, there are wild cards about nearly everything Intel executives spoke about this week. Can Intel crack tablets and smartphones? Can Intel’s architecture compete with ARM? Will ultrabooks actually juice PC sales? The list goes on.

Bright spot for the story

Data Center momentum remains a bright spot for the story, and the company strove to dispel speculation that the Romley upgrade cycle is being delayed in stating that the company is already shipping straightway-gen server ICs for revenue, that HPC deployments will happen this year, and that enterprise solutions will be ready in 1Q12. The combined demand effect is expected to exceed the last major refresh by 20x, though it is not in every way clear how this is measured or phased in.

It’s nearly comical how much of the focus on Intel revolved around smartphones and tablets given how little revenue is involved. Sure, you need future products to wind up developers, nevertheless let’s get real about what’s paying the bills. For Intel, PCs—form factor in accordance with construction—and servers pay the bills.

Post-PC era about to get started

If you assume that there’s a post-PC era about to get started, Intel’s data center business will become furthermore important. Today, Intel’s data center group accounts for approximately 19 percent of the company’s total revenue for the six months ended June 30. That tally was second behind the PC unit. If ultrabooks don’t save the day that ratio will shift toward the data center side of the business.

Kirk Skaugen, head of Intel’s data center group, said that the chip giant plans to double volume by 2016, grow its storage and networking business at a 30 percent compound annual growth rate and grow its HPC.

Those targets sure beat scrapping for margin and market share with the likes of Qualcomm and Nvidia on smartphones and tablets.

Larry Dignan is Editor in Chief of ZDNet and SmartPlanet as so then as Editorial Director of ZDNet's sister site TechRepublic. He was most recently Executive Editor of News and Blogs at ZDNet. Prior to that he was executive news editor at eWeek and news editor at Baseline. He as well served as the East Coast news editor and finance editor at CNET News.com. Larry has covered the innovation and financial services industry since 1995, publishing articles in WallStreetWeek.com, Inter@ctive Week, The New York Times, and Financial Planning magazine. He's a graduate of the Columbia School of Journalism and the University of Delaware.