Intel has formally launched its new Centrino line of products. Unlike many other brand launches, Centrino isn't one specific product, but a grouping of new technologies designed to work together to improve the mobile computing experience.

The first, and most notable, of these technologies is a new mobile processor, known as the Pentium M. This is teamed with the Intel 855 mobile chipset and the new "Calexico" 802.11b wireless component. These three components are Intel-designed and Intel-manufactured, and work together to conserve power--which is key in the world of mobile computing.

As processors get faster they generate more heat, especially when they're running at full performance. With a notebook computer that's a real problem, because the processor is installed in a confined space. In order to facilitate proper heat dissipation, the outer notebook casing has to increase in size. Over the last year, this has led to a gradual increase of the size and weight of the highest-performance notebook computers; users who wanted a slim and light notebook often had to settle for slower or older technology.

The power spec of the Pentium M processor is lower than the mobile Pentium 4 processor, though, and that has more than one immediate result: First, the processor generates much less heat, which allows for a much slimmer case design. Second, the lower power requirement means much longer battery life--up to eight hours with certain configurations (those with smaller screen sizes, notably).

The lower power requirement is also good news for those interested in wireless networking, because wireless cards tend to use a lot of power as well. By conserving power in other parts of the machine, you can still use wireless without having to worry as much about the battery life. Currently, the Calexico wireless module supports 802.11b wireless networking, but a dual-mode 802.11a/b option is expected later in 2003.

As with the other parts of the Centrino package, Calexico is also designed for power efficiency. One method it uses for conserving power is in the polling. Even when you're not connected to a wireless network, your wireless component polls regularly for available networks; Calexico saves battery power by polling less and less frequently whenever it discovers that there are no wireless networks available.

(It's actually a fairly logical assumption: if you leave an office building where wireless is prevalent there's a pretty good probability that you're heading off into the world at large, where wireless networks aren't as common. In the end, less polling means less radio transmission, which means less power expended.)

Though it doesn't have much effect on the battery life, another interesting feature of the Calexico component is that it uses signal-to-noise instead of raw signal strength as the criteria for switching between access points as you move around in an area with multiple wireless nodes; a lower-strength signal may actually provide more clarity than one that is coming in strong, and the wireless component here is smart enough to select the wireless node that is providing the best connectivity.

While getting ready to launch Centrino, Intel has worked with a number of ISPs and businesses to ensure that there will be a number of Centrino-ready "hot spots" where users can go for wireless connectivity.

Intel has worked with ISPs to ensure that the hotspots not only support 802.11b but VPN (Virtual Private Networking) and other things a business user needs. Intel has also been working with both Verisign and Checkpoint to ensure VPN security for users of Centrino.

We had the opportunity to get a sneak peek of one Centrino-based notebook from Acer, but keep your eyes on this space over the upcoming months: notebook computers with Centrino technology onboard are expected from many other vendors, including Dell, Fujitsu, IBM, MDG, and Toshiba.

Acer TravelMate 800
From: Acer America Corp., http://www.acer.ca/
Estimated price: $4,259