Intel announced last month that it would review and cut some products as part of its restructuring plan, under which it will also be laying off 12,000 employees as well. According to PC World, there could be five such products that could be affected: Itanium chips, Atom chips for servers, education tablets and PCs, maker boards, and Wi-Di.
Intel chips that may get a reboot?
The user base of the once-powerful Itanium server chip is dwindling, and Intel is trying to woo customers to use its x86 Xeon chips instead. This indicates that its end may be near. It is expected that the company will release another Itanium chip in the future code-named Kittson, and Hewlett Packard Enterprise has confirmed plans to use Itanium servers until 2025.
Intel’s Atom chip for servers have not been updated since 2013. Atoms for smartphones and tablets are now not getting updated, so the company may discontinue them for servers as well, although it has not officially announced plans to do this. Intel introduced the chips for micro-servers, but now the low-end Xeon E3 and Xeon-D series are taking over as more powerful alternatives.
A possibility exists for Atom to be reintroduced in data centers if ARM poses a serious server threat in the coming years, the report says.
Products that are no more relevant?
Next on the list are tablets and PCs meant for educational purposes. In the 2000s, Intel formed an education group to compete with upstart “One Laptop Per Child,” which took over the world with its low-cost XO laptop. There are many cheap and sophisticated tablets and PCs available now that can replace these specialized PCs, with Chromebooks dominating the segment.
Intel CEO Brian Krzanich portrays himself as a maker and enthusiast, but he has not been successful at translating his vision to the maker community that uses Intel boards to make cool products. For this reason, Intel might reboot some of its boards ultimately. This could help the chip maker become a popular tool for the fast-growing Internet of Things.
Lastly, Intel might do away with its own wireless display technology called Wi-Di, which is used for connecting laptops directly to large screens. The technology is a failure in the living room, so Intel is aiming at making it a hit with meeting rooms. Similar technologies such as Miracast are becoming standard in PC, video-streaming and display products because of their ability to work across devices.
