Intel will release in 2006 "micro-architecture" hardware that trims size and electricity consumption while providing hefty computing muscle, Paul Otellini announced as he opened a three-day Intel Developer Forum in San Francisco.

He predicted that the power-miser processors will breed "ultra energy-efficient" handheld devices that use less than a watt of processing power and weigh less than a pound (.45 kilogram).

Slashing computer power consumption could save billions of dollars in electricity costs in coming years, according to Otellini, who estimated that 200 million computers would be sold worldwide this year.

The "next-generation" processors will combine Intel's current Netburst and Pentium M designs and add new features, according to the company president.

"We will deliver 'factor of 10' breakthroughs to a variety of platforms that can reduce energy consumption tenfold or bring 10 times the performance of today's products," Otellini promised.

Intel intends its new creations to be designed into computers that are "increasingly smaller, sleeker and more energy-efficient," Otellini said.

"The multicore foundation will help enable unique computer designs that will power the industry's most sophisticated and user-friendly digital home and office PCs," the company said in a written release.

Otellini demonstrated Merom, Conroe, and Woodcrest processors at the conference, an annual forum for hardware and software developers to confer with the world's largest computer chip maker.

Otellini showed off, via video feed from India, an Intel "community computer" that can operate for hours powered by a car battery and withstand temperatures of more than 100 degrees Fahrenheit (38 degrees Celsius).

The community computer is designed with filters and screens to protect against wind storms, dust, and insects, according to Intel. It is also designed to connect wirelessly to the Internet through networks such as WiMAX.

WiMAX delivers high-speed connections to computers in rural areas, according to Otellini.

Intel is also focusing development resources to business computing needs and those of the digital entertainment industry, the president said.

This is the ninth year Silicon Valley-based Intel held the forum.

All rights reserved. � 2005 Agence France-Presse. Sections of the information displayed on this page (dispatches, photographs, logos) are protected by intellectual property rights owned by Agence France-Presse. As a consequence, you may not copy, reproduce, modify, transmit, publish, display or in any way commercially exploit any of the content of this section without the prior written consent of Agence France-Presse.

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