One significant advantage of the Intel® Architecture family of microprocessors is the many ways that embedded design teams can deploy modular systems based on those processors. The breadth of IA offerings in terms of performance, power consumption, and integrated functions such as graphics mean that manufacturers of board-level products typically support IA processors first on any new modular standard. I've written several times recently on modular standards for small form factors such as ...Read More

Embedded system engineers that contemplate a system design based on Intel® Architecture (IA) processors have a broad choice of both form factors and processor feature sets. The ever-increasing integration of more features on chip means that design teams can get the latest in processor technology in very small packages. Compact designs based on the latest Intel® QM57 Express Chipset can deliver advanced features such as video support for industrial-control applications or media-centric...Read More

Look back over the last decade, and you will find two distinct paths toward performance in the Intel® Architecture (IA) processor world. The Intel® NetBurst® microarchitecture used in Pentium 4 and early Intel® Xeon™ series processors stressed clock rate. Beginning with the Intel® Core™ microarchitecture and continuing with Nehalem, the focus has been on multi-core designs with the cores running at a lower clock rates than processors from the end of the NetB...Read More