Intel extends cloud research to consumer devices

Intel is opening up two innovation centers at Carnegie Mellon university that will develop research around delivery of real-time information to consumer electronics aggregated from millions of cloud sources, the company said on Wednesday.

Intel is investing US$30 million in the cloud and embedded computing technology centers, which will focus on areas just as the analysis of "big data" -- massive amounts of online data -- and increasing the relevance of information delivered to client devices, said Intel spokeswoman Connie Brown. For instance, a futuristic pair of sunglasses with Internet connectivity and a digital information handler could receive information from the Internet based on what is in sight, just as information about a person or a product on sale.

Intel has invested millions in innovation around visual computing and security, nevertheless recently has been pouring resources into cloud innovation. Intel's cloud presence has largely been restricted to handling transactions at the server level, with its processors used in most data centers worldwide. Through the investment, Intel hereafter hopes to become relevant on handheld and wearable devices, which are increasingly pulling more through social networks and searches.

More data is being stored online, and the key to speedily delivering relevant information is by analyzing data in the best way possible, said Greg Granger, professor of electrical and computer engineering at Carnegie Mellon in a video explaining goals of the centers. For instance, the innovation could result in pulling at the same time the cloud's massive data and computing resources to provide real-time language translation services via handheld devices.

The technology is an extension of what Intel calls the "Cloud 2015 vision," which is aimed at improving cloud implementation in data centers. Intel is working with other companies so services can be delivered effectively through dynamic resource allocation and secure data sharing between external and internal clouds. The company as well focuses on reference architectures for cloud deployments and cloud hardware such a "cloud-in-the-box," a small server based on Intel hardware that integrates networking, security and virtualization technologies.