Intel shares road ahead for Atom processor platforms

Processor stalwart Intel took the wraps off two additional application platforms this week – Oak Trail and Cedar Trail.

The project originally known as Oak Trail is a next-generation Intel Atom processor platform (formally the Intel Atom Processor Z670 and the companion Intel SM35 Express Chipset) intended for media tablet and so-called “hybrid” device designs. The platform is the company’s first official foray into the Tablet PC market, which has been losing mindshare to consumer-driven Media Tablets dominated by competing ARM processor platforms. Intel claims 35 design wins for Oak Trail.
Intel also provided a glimpse into the company’s next-generation netbook platform code-named Cedar Trail. Several of the features found in the higher-end Core i-series processor families, including Wireless Display and improved graphics and power consumption, will be included in the upcoming release. A relatively new capability, called Intel Wireless Music, reuses the Wireless Display functionality to stream audio to specially-designed 3rd party speaker systems without any cables.
Intel Atom architecture currently supports a trio of commercially available operating systems: Microsoft Windows, MeeGo, and Google Android along with the forthcoming Google Chrome OS.