Planned Technology Collaboration Would Enable Consumers to Quickly and Easily Search, Manage and Consume Video in the Digital Home
Intel Corp. said that it is working with search engine company Google Inc. to make Google Video, a form of a video-on-demand accessible on Viiv computers.
The agreement, announced by the companies at the annual Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, will give users of Intel’s Viiv-branded products a way to search, organize and view Internet video on their televisions and portable devices.
Viiv is something Intel calls a technology platform. In essence Viiv is a reference design for a computer with an emphasis on playing audio and video files sourced from over the internet.
PCs based on Viiv are expected to support high-definition video and surround sound and many other exciting features for the consumer that demands more from their entertainment experience, but the Intel-Google cooperation would allow Google Video users to consume video on their television and on portable devices as well, Intel said.
With the explosion of digital entertainment choices, consumers will need simple, easy ways to locate the content they want and easily play it when they want, Kevin Corbett, vice president of Intel’s digital home group, said in a statement.
Both companies believe open standards are critical to provide rapid growth in digital entertainment. Our goal is to work closely with Intel to make Google Video content available on new digital devices in the home, said Susan Wojcicki, vice president for product management at Google, in a statement issued by Intel.
This planned collaboration is intended to give consumers an easy way to search, manage and consume the huge amount of video information available on the Internet from the comfort of their couch. The link with Google is part of a broader strategy by Intel to expand from a chip maker to a leading provider of digital home entertainment.
Intel Chief Executive Paul Otellini announced a slew of new products and partnerships, including agreements with DirecTV Group Inc. and Time Warner Inc.’s AOL unit, to give consumers a broad choice of music, video, photos, games and movies.
Viiv is Intel’s attempt to turn PCs into the center of home entertainment and make it easier for consumers to play video, music and other content on a variety of devices. Viiv-based PCs will feature Intel’s dual-core technology, which combines two processors on a single chip to increase power and efficiency.
Viiv will completely change what you expect from home entertainment, Otellini said in a speech at the annual Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. We have to integrate the big screen capability, the PC capability and the Internet experience.
The technology involved makes it possible to combine the power of Google Video with Intel’s expertise in digital home interoperability specifications, allowing Google Video users to consume video on their television and on portable devices wherever and whenever they choose.
Otellini, during a presentation that lasted almost 1-½ hours, did not mention the Google partnership, which was announced separately in a press release during his speech.
Financial terms were not disclosed.
Google co-founder Larry Page is scheduled to give a keynote address at the Las Vegas conference.
The show is the consumer electronics industry’s biggest convention in the U.S., drawing an estimated 130,000 retailers and technology enthusiasts and showcasing the latest gadgets.
DirecTV CEO Chase Carey, who joined Otellini at the presentation, said his company will use Viiv technology to transmit entertainment content among various devices in the home. The DirecTV PC will also allow consumers to transmit PC content to television screens, he said.
Intel is among the companies that helped make California’s Silicon Valley into a technological powerhouse and its processors power an estimated 90 percent of the world’s personal computers.
Google’s expansion from its core Internet search feature into a range of Internet and software services has pushed its stock price up to more than $450, and given it a market capitalization of $133 billion, bigger than all but a handful of blue-chip companies.