TORONTO – There are currently 170 million desktop and laptop PCs that are four years old or worse in the North American marketplace.
That was one of Graham Palmer’s, the country manager of Intel Canada, main messages to the channel at Intel’s Technology Conference.
Palmer later on told CDN the channel has great opportunity to drive another hardware refresh that goes beyond Windows XP.
Just in the server space alone, Palmer found that 32 per cent of the current install base around the world is four years or older. Collectively this group of servers consume approximately 65 per cent energy. “With a refresh these customers can see huge energy saves and massive performance improvements,” he said.
Also the return on investment on new servers could be as short as six months just on the energy savings alone, he added.
There is even innovation happening in the desktop area. Palmer said that contrary to the market perception of the desktop; “the desktop PC is not dying.” There are four areas of growth within desktops and all based on new types of form factors such as the MiniDT, All-in-Ones, portable All-in-Ones and the gaming enthusiast segment.
“The channel needs to integrate with desktops to bring in this new opportunity to change the conversation especially in the MiniDT segment,” Palmer said.
Some uses cases for portable All-in-One desktops include: the home market for large table content sharing environments, in education where the teacher can visually show students lessons by walking around the classroom, digital signage that is mobile for demonstrations and in retail for POS promotions.
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The tablet area is still booming, according to Palmer, but Intel has decided to invest in both the Windows platform and Android to give channel partners more choices for their customer.
Intel has also come out with Apps for Business, which is intended to be part of the new PC refresh. These apps can be hosted as a service from the channel partner or be part of the device’s overall solution.
“Two-in-one devices are another growth segment where the notebook is for creation and the tablet is for consumption. This changes the conversation. It can be a great refresh conversation especially around security. People today want it cheaper, faster but they also want it secure. People due hang on to their notebooks for three to five years, but these new devices are more secure and deliver that workplace transformation customers are looking for along with extended battery life. And, they provide no compromises on mobility,” he said.
Intel’s strategic direction going forward is based on Two-in-ones, tablets, desktops, servers and data centres along with the trillion dollar opportunity in the Internet of Things.