Intel Developer Forum Fall 2002 - Day 1: May the show begin

Banias Notebooks Galore

Quite possibly the most interesting mobile CPU is the forthcoming Banias processor from Intel. Designed by Intel’s microprocessor architecture group out of Israel, the Banias project was picked up immediately following the cancellation of Timna – Intel’s first system on a chip design.

Banias is specifically tailored for mobile operation with low power consumption and long battery life two of its major selling points; very little is known about the CPU itself other than it will boast a very P3-like architecture with a much higher bandwidth FSB (NetBurst derived?). We’re going to be getting some more information on Banias over the next few days so hopefully we’ll be able to shed a little more light on the architecture side of things.

The CPU is still scheduled for an introduction in the first quarter of next year and Intel had a number of OEM systems during their keynote including Dell and Gateway:

Dell's Banias Notebook

The Intel reps demonstrating the Banias platforms also alluded to both 802.11a and 802.11b support enabled through Banias. The Banias chipset, Odem, will support 802.11 through its Memory Controller Hub (MCH – aka North Bridge) and judging by what we saw today you can probably expect support for both 802.11a and 802.11b depending on what the OEMs build on the board itself. Remember that only the 802.11 MAC is integrated into the chipset thus leaving the physical layer outside of the MCH.