The development of technology has brought a good many changes to people's lives and few realise this more than Accharas Ouysinprasert, country manager of Intel Microelectronics (Thailand).

In the three decades that Accharas has been working in the IT field, he has seen a lot of changes in society. At first, the former engineer and Asean product manager of the AS/400 at IBM never imagined that a personal computer, which cost more than Bt100,000 at that time, would become a commodity and part of people's everyday life. Then, a decade later, he saw fast-moving technology development that has made the impossible mission possible.

"Three decades ago, we talked about a fight between a proprietary system and an open system, used only in large corporations," he recalls. "But now, we have no doubt that all computer technology is based on open standards for the general user, thus its performance is higher and price lower."

For Accharas, the evolution of computer technology started at the same time as he joined Intel in 1996, when the giant chip-maker first established its presence in Thailand. Eleven years have passed and Accharas says that rapid development of computer technology has already become something people cannot live without.

He notes that the launch of a microprocessor platform known as Pentium was the first step that brought a revolution to computer circles, changing how people came to use computers. They now enjoy much higher speeds and lower prices.

"Before, computers had never been something for personal use - Pentium was the first beginning of the real personal computer era," he says.

Speed was a very important factor for consumers when making the decision to buy a computer. Accharas says that what Intel did was to increase speed more and more until, in three years, the Pentium-based chip reached a speed of one gigahertz.

Chip development still continues, while the concept of mobility has also come to take an important role in Intel's chip development plan. With the goal of offering people the chance to literally work anywhere, Accharas said the coming of Centrino, Intel's mobile processor with Wi-Fi technology, has brought another big stage of evolution to the computer industry.

Centrino, he adds, is a turning point allowing computer users to experience real mobile computing. As the chip was bundled with Wi-Fi technology, it allows customers to immediately connect with the network wirelessly, facilitating the concept of always-on connection.

Centrino is a dream come true for all mobile workers who want technology that enables them

to connect to the high-speed Internet with no need for cables. Centrino has made the use of the wireless Internet a standard feature for every notebook computer.

Accharas says the launch of the latest Intel dual-core technology will be a springboard for the next big change: turning from concerns about chip speed to performance per watt.

He says performance per watt is Intel's new mission for developing a new generation of microprocessors, not only capable of improved performance but also using less power than its predecessors.

Intel launched its Core 2 Duo processor last year and it is expected that this generation of chips will a mainstream product by the second quarter of this year.

The higher performance offered by the dual technology will help computer users to get better graphic user interface, and so it promises easier-to-use features.

"I believe that the dual-core technology will make a big change to the computer industry in the same way as its predecessor Pentium did a decade ago," Accharas says.

Next, Accharas speculates that the advent of WiMax technology will offer another breakthrough, so computers can connect with the Internet anywhere wirelessly.

Standing for Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access, WiMax is a technology that enables the delivery of wireless broadband access as an alternative to cable and DSL (digital subscriber line), which brings high-speed broadband to homes and businesses over ordinary copper lines. It is expected to enable multimedia applications over wireless connections, and has a range of up to 50 kilometres.

As a wireless broadband infrastructure, Accharas says WiMax can be used to solve the "last-mile problem" in areas where land-line infrastructure cannot not be laid down. The last-mile problem is the inability of homes or businesses to access super-fast fibre-optic cables due to the cost of building such a network.

Since the use of WiMax can support different applications - for example VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol), video conferencing, streaming media and media-content downloads (both audio and video in real time), Web browsing and instant messaging - it is a technology that can solve the so-called digital divide, he adds.

With the hope of making the use of WiMax technology as widespread as the Wi-Fi that comes with every notebook computer, Intel has a plan to bundle WiMax capabilities into its processor as well.

"We will see a new mobile processor, which comes with both Wi-Fi and WiMax capabilities in one chip by 2009," Accharas says. "And we believe that the launch of this all-in-one chip will be another big jump-start for people to access wireless broadband connections everywhere."

Pongpen Sutharoj

The Nation