Intel shows off enterprise-ready tablets with Windows 8

SAN FRANCISCO — Intel showed off some new enterprise-ready Windows 8 tablets today for doctors and other professionals.

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At the Intel Developer Forum today, Intel executive vice president Dadi Perlmutter showed off a tablet computer that could run an app that showed a (simulated) video of a live ultrasound of a baby. The enterprise-ready tablet has built-in security and other features that enterprises need to equip a work force. The tablets run Windows 8 and feature Intel’s Clover Trail microprocessors (branded Atom).

Perlmutter said 20 Atom-based tablets are under design and should launch after Microsoft debuts Windows 8 on Oct. 26. That’s a small number of designs, considering hundreds of Ultrabooks and other laptops are in the works. But it’s a start for Intel, which wants to break into the strategic market of chips for tablets.

The device has seamless integration and easy manageability for enterprise systems administrators. Intel also showed a Dell XPS Duo machine that could be converted from a laptop to a tablet with very little effort, just by flipping the keyboard under the screen.

Next year, Intel will launch its next-generation low-power chip, code-named Haswell, which will have twice the performance at the same power consumption of today’s Intel Atom chips.

Perlmutter said that Intel has deals to supply smartphone chips to five phone makers. But he had no new deals to announce. That will likely disappoint some Intel followers, who are hoping for Intel to make faster process against arch rival ARM and its chip partners.

Martin Reynolds, vice president at Gartner, said in an interview, “The Intel-based phones are competitive but not outstanding. If you go forward a year, at 22 nanometers, the battery life gets better. Or after that, at 14 nanometers two years from now, then Intel could deliver the same product at 75 percent less cost or two times to three times more performance at the same cost. Then it becomes hard to ignore what the Intel platform can bring.”