COMPUTEX TAIPEI: Where East & West & Hard & Soft all shape the future! 2010/06/21
Having mirrored the epic progress of ICT for three decades, COMPUTEX TAIPEI 2010 unfolded its 30th anniversary event last June 1 to 5 with the largest event ever where hard & soft tech merged with East and West to shape the future.
Every year, each of its 30 huge shows had a distinct direction, and this year carried on that function of further shaping the future. Here came a vast line-up of hardware devices and functions. A brisk afternoon stroll across the four venues would let one discover the hottest state-of-the-art in processors, tablets, e-book readers, 3D displays, and touch controls.
Software in the service areas was just as “hard” featuring operating systems, cloud computing, and open source. Google used COMPUTEX TAIPEI to launch the latest Chrome operating system in 4Q 2010. Meanwhile, Acer, Asus, DeviceVM, and Novell jumped on the bandwagon of the MeeGo platform that's supported by Intel and Nokia.
Taiwan has obviously emerged on upper levels of the food chain into a strong player in soft power, original design, and systems from being a simple manufacturer. And with Taiwan's new global role in IT, COMPUTEX TAIPEI has taken on increased prominence as a prime marketing platform.
Taiwan's 30th show mirrors hardware success
This was a year of double success! The celebrations for the 30th anniversary of COMPUTEX TAIPEI mirrored the fruitful results of Taiwan's brand-name PC makers that seemed to peak with this event.
That was evident with Asus which started two years ago to initiate Netbook and never looked back. Taiwan's flagship company Acer, after overtaking Dell in 4Q 2009, has since become the world's second largest PC maker. (and Asus also ranked top 5th for the first time in 1Q 2010). Meanwhile MSI has aggressively branded itself to win acclaim for becoming the worldwide top 10 vendor of NB and AIO PC.
At this year's COMPUTEX TAIPEI, these companies were at the forefront of parading the hottest products with a passion to achieve further progress. Just look at those 3D displays (3D-anabled devices) that seemed to line every exhibition hall. This venue was also the showcase for Apple's iPad, tablet PC. Brand-name makers, such as Acer, MSI, and Asus displayed related products with full features with such goodies as built-in 3G/Wi-Fi/GPS, browser, and Flash players.
Both Gigabyte and Asus promoted the concept of dual-usage which lets a tablet PC (through use of a plug-and-play keyboard dock) to be turned into a NB with keyboard. And everybody seems to be into e-book readers with a star-studded line-up of makers that include Asus, Acer, BenQ, and Delta Electronics, each with their own e-reader products that captivated many across the industry.
But COMPUTEX TAIPEI also fielded huge prospects for OEM/ODM makers such as Netronix and Qisda who signed big contracts in digital reading products. This event not only markets the world but merges the talent and results and products from every facet of industry
Processors battle IT out at COMPUTEX-TPE-10
COMPUTEX TAIPEI hosted giants like Intel and AMD who threw their best tech in pitch battles for more turf. Intel used this coliseum to launch its ambitious Atom processor plans and products. They kicked off their dual-core notebook processor codenamed “Pine Trail” and the “Oak Trail” processor that's optimized for tablet PC and the netbook. It was here where Intel also tried to leverage its “port of choice” software strategy to expand Atom to other devices running Windows, MeeGo, and Android, such as in-car infotainment, smartphone, and smart TV.
Meanwhile AMD used COMPUTEX TAIPEI unveiled its Fusion APU (Accelerate Process Unit) with its first-ever public demonstration. AMD believes that it has opened a new era in computing by integrating CPU and GPU into a single chip that will maximize PC performance. At the same time, AMD announced the establishment of its Fusion Fund that hastens the construction speed of a comprehensive ecosystem for Fusion APU.
Software titans locked into very hard warfare
This is the venue where the giants conducted IT protracted war. It pits x86 camp (backed by Intel, AMD and Microsoft etc!) against the RISC group. Once upon a time x86 basically controlled the show, but the emergence of consumer electronics including mobile devices; such as digital TVs, and set-up boxes, iPad and iPhone continues to empower the RISC group with its Android platform.
Since the two systems are mutually incompatible, it's shaping up to be a battle to the finish winner-take-all kind of struggle. And the finish line is clearly spelt out in consumer electronics.
Currently two major vendors of RISC CPUs are aggressively expanding their market through supporting Android platform with ARM (the leading IP core player in mobile market) moving into digital TV and set-up box fields. Needless to say MIPS, which dominates in the digital home market, has achieved substantial progress of driving Android beyond consumer applications to penetrate the mobile market.
News from the front
Meanwhile Microsoft used COMPUTEX TAIPEI to announce the availability of CTP (community technology preview) version for Windows Embedded Compact 7. Sundar Pichai, Vice President of Product Management at Google, announced that MS's Chrome operating system will be launched in 4Q this year. Being specially designed for PC, Chrome will target at a different market from Android.
As for cloud computing, Google announced that it will focus on building business and profitable models instead of betting on any specific terminal device.
At the show, Tudor Brown, President of ARM, pointed out the explosive growth of servers and connected devices and the massive influences of HTML 5, information security, and energy consumption on the development of cloud industry.
Taiwan shows way to a global village
Taiwan is firmly at the crossroads of the technologies that are bringing civilization to a new era of a permanently connected global village. And Taiwan makers are way out front with their pioneering devices such as netbooks, tablet PCs, e-books and the dynamics of cloud computing. Year after year they have used COMPUTEX TAIPEI to shape strategic partnerships with tier one firms like Google and ARM and to consolidate Taiwan's key position and progress.
COMPUTEX TAIPEI has grown up with the industry to witness unimaginable progress. And it's COMPUTEX TAIPEI where soft and hard will unite for undreamt of progress over the next 30 years!
Taiwan External Trade Development Council,TAITRA
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