Intel presents vision of proactive computing

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By Paul Krill

(IDG) -- Intel researchers and various universities are working on technology to enable deployment of ad hoc networks in such areas as public safety, health care, and even outer space, speakers said during a presentation the Intel Developer Forum in San Jose, Calif., on Monday.

Touting the potential of embedded devices, software agent technology, and wireless networking, Intel's David Tennenhouse, vice president and director of research, noted the company is investing $4 billion in research and development this year. "This group of people is about making the future happen," he said.

Intel's vision entails having tens and then hundreds of computing devices per person. "We need to put humans on top" to enable a hierarchy of devices, Tennenhouse stressed.

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Noninvasive devices with sensor capabilities will be able to detect the needs of human beings, ranging from at-home health care monitoring systems to searching capabilities for lost and found efforts to even a network in outer space, Tennenhouse and other speakers said.

"We're talking about moving to the point where computers act in advance, anticipating our needs," Tennenhouse said.

By using the technologies described during Intel's presentation, a health care monitoring system, for example, could keep health care providers informed of patients' conditions at home, monitoring conditions such as sore throats or skin cancers. Or, sensors could be dropped into a forest to locate a lost person.

Intel's vision pleased one show attendee, who found the company's efforts impressive.

"I think the most impressive thing was the ability to use ad hoc networks for public safety," using sensors to locate a lost child, for example, said attendee Drew Force, principal and creative director of Portland, Ore.-based graphics design company Blackfish Creative.

The medical potential of this technology will be more of a challenge, since it requires lay persons to, in effect, manage their own server, Force said. "I think it's a little further away, building your own medical profile," Force said.

The Internet, in Intel's blueprint, will serve as mobile database, maintaining sensor information, Tennenhouse said.

In addition to earthly endeavors, a four-node network is being planned for Mars, Tennenhouse said.

"To really get to the digital universe, we have to go beyond the Earth Internet and [think about] the interplanetary network," said Tennenhouse.

Tennenhouse and researchers from the University of California at Berkeley conducted a demonstration in which approximately 800 members of the audience, instructed to locate small devices under their seats, became part of an ad hoc network in which the devices would light up at different times.

Paul Krill is an InfoWorld editor at large.