The patents in question, which were issued in 2001 and 2002, relate to techniques of using noise signals to more accurately record data sequences. (You can see the two patents here and here).

The jury verdict, one of the largest such patent rulings in history, is obviously a setback for Bermuda-based Marvell, which is using ARM-based chips to challenge Intel for a share of the enterprise data market. Its share price fell about 10 percent on Wednesday.

The jury also ruled that Marvell violated the patents intentionally, which means Carnegie Mellon can ask the judge to triple the initial $1.17 billion verdict. Marvell, however, will almost certainly appeal the ruling. Court records show that earlier this month the company demanded a mistrial, though the reason for that is unclear. Whatever the outcome, the current $1.17 billion is unlikely to stand as is.

The judge has already asked the parties to set out a schedule that will see them filing follow-up motions into the spring. In the meantime, it is also possible the sides will discuss a licensing deal to end the court proceedings, which could go on for years.

You can see the jury verdict for yourself here:

Carnegie Mellon v Marvell

(Image by Denis Belyaevskiy via Shutterstock)

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Intel insists that it is now ready to compete in mobile with its Medfield chip, which includes a system on a chip design that is designed to boost performance but more importantly, greatly reduce power consumption. That’s been the big knock against Intel’s x86-based chips, which have historically gulped power compared to ARM’s efficient processor designs. Intel says Medfield provides faster browsing and graphics performance and lower power consumption than three of the top phones on the market. It hopes to have partners announcing new devices in the first half of next year with some announcements potentially coming out at CES next month.

Specifically, Intel showed off a phone design that resembles the iPhone but can provide Blu-ray quality video playback, with speedy browsing and apps. The phone, running Android Gingerbread, can also capture bursts of 10 eight-megapixel images at a rate of 15 per second. A tablet reference device running Ice Cream Sandwich is also being shown off.

Can Intel out-innovate multiple companies?

Intel still faces a big uphill battle as it tries to reassert itself in mobile. It’s not facing just one over-matched competitor but a number of robust chip makers, who are all able to tweak the ARM design and create their own innovations on top of it. Intel has a lot of manufacturing resources but it’s still largely reliant on its own innovations to make its chips better. It has to try to match the wizardry of companies like Qualcomm, TI, Nvidia, Samsung and Apple and get device manufacturers to make firm commitments to its chips.

That will depend a lot on whether it can back up its power efficiency claims. Intel has been talking about breakthroughs in power efficiency for a while including last year’s announcement about the Atom Z6xx series. But in order to really compete, Intel needs to show that it can match or exceed the battery sipping ways of ARM chips. Unfortunately for Intel, once everyone began porting their software to ARM it lost its biggest advantage — the fact that some software didn’t run on ARM chips. That will be a big challenge, then, for Intel to get existing Android apps recompiled to run on its x86 chips.

How far can Intel push x86?

And now the competition is all about architecture and the silicon, so a key question is how far Intel can push the x86 architecture. It’s moving to a system-on-a-chip design, which is what other ARM-based chip makers have been already doing, but it still has to show that its technology can make the leaps necessary to compete. Qualcomm has been pushing ahead by incorporating wireless chips into its processor, something Intel will be working on as well with its purchase of Infineon.

Despite coming up empty in the past, it looks like Intel is intent on sticking with its mobile plans. It has plenty of cash and it understands that the PC market is being surpassed by smartphones.  It just recently formed a new business unit, the mobile and communications group, that will roll up four existing divisions: mobile communications, netbook and tablet, mobile wireless and ultra mobility. Intel earlier this year announced a partnership with Google to optimize Intel mobile chips on Android mobile devices. And it has to keep up the pressure on mobile because ARM-based chips are poised to enter its PC turf with Windows 8, which will be able to support both ARM and X86 processors.

At this rate, Intel has to come up with the goods to justify any optimism. It can keep plugging away but at some point, it has to show that it’s got a credible alternative to ARM-based processors. 2012 may be a turning point for Intel to show that it can adapt to the post-PC world. But I also wouldn’t be surprised if we hear a similar refrain in 2013 and beyond.

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The original Cray supercomputer

In the past decade supercomputers were dressed-up versions of Intel’s x86 machines, but increasingly supercomputers are borrowing innovations (and silicon in the form of ARM-based chips or DSPs) from the mobile and big data realms to add speed without guzzling too much power.

Prior to this century many supercomputers really were a different animal entirely, sporting specialty chips and software. But the industry turned to commodity chips in the early 2000s. Now, to meet the demands of exascale computing at low power, chip makers are taking inspiration from the cloud computing and mobile industries.

ARM tries supercomputing on for size

As the Supercomputing 2011 show gets under way in Seattle, Nvidia, Texas Instruments, ARM and others are announcing new silicon to power the machines we rely on for science, climate prediction and high-end simulations in industries that range from oil production to car design.

Nvidia is a fairly recent newcomer to the supercomputing market, but it has made huge strides since 2008, when it first starting pushing its graphics processors (GPUs) as a way to boost speed while keeping energy usage in check. It said it would use its high-end GPUs and its new GPU-plus-ARM chip to build a new supercomputer in Spain. This is the first time an ARM-based processor has made its way into a supercomputer. ARM thus far has been the chip of choice inside cell phones and tablets.

Accelerator chips advance in supercomputers

Japan's K supercomputer is the fastest in the world.

Nvidia is doing well with its GPUs, given that in the top 500 ranking of the world’s fastest supercomputers, 39 systems use GPUs as accelerators and 35 of these use Nvidia chips. The graphics processors are used in supercomputers because they can handle massively parallel tasks that high-end computing requires while using less energy than the typical CPUs made by Intel and AMD. Nvidia and its GPUs made their first appearance on the list in 2008, and the last time the top 500 list was published, six months ago, Nvidia chips were in 17 machines. To go to 35 today is a pretty big uptake.

Perhaps inspired by Nvidia’s success in getting its GPUs onto supercomputers, Texas Instruments is bringing its digital signal processors to the mix for high-performance computing. DSP chips are really good at math, and they are used in telecommunications chips and in routers. TI has been thinking about this for a while, but Monday was its first launch into the market formally.

New chips for the cloud

The same power-efficiency issues that plague those trying to advance supercomputing are hitting those who run webscale applications, from Facebook to Amazon Web Services. And while the cloud and web-scale data center operators aren’t looking for specialty gear, like Infiniband for networking, they are running one or a few applications on their hardware, similar in some ways to a supercomputer, where all workloads are optimized for speed.

This is why certain chip and hardware companies, such as Tilera, Calxeda and Applied Micro, see an opportunity to redesign the silicon and gear inside the cloud. Meanwhile, companies such as Adapteva, which makes a massively multicore chip for cell phones and HPC, see an opportunity in pushing into supercomputers and mobile handsets, where the need for more-powerful processors and lower power consumption are always at war. And with ARM piggybacking on this trend thanks to Nvidia, it’s clear that supercomputers want to be super without the influence of PCs.

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Wintel partners adapt to a smartphone and tablet world

It’s interesting to see the fraying relationship between Intel and Microsoft, which has been tested after Microsoft announced support for ARM chips. Intel’s embrace of Android could be seen as the reaction of a spurned partner. But in the larger picture, the announcements underscore how both are forced to work hard to navigate a new post-PC era in which neither of them are guaranteed success. And since the cozy Wintel relationship doesn’t carry the same clout it did when PCs were king, both are having to scramble and figure how to best position themselves in a world where smartphones and tablets dominate.

The fact is that mobile devices, wireless broadband and the cloud are changing what we expect computers to do. And the old paradigm of powerful laptops and desktops leading the way increasingly doesn’t make as much sense with consumers, who are embracing these new computing models. Indeed, in the fourth quarter of last year, smartphone shipments hit 100 million units, outpacing PC shipments for the first time. And iPad sales are booming while a credible rival has yet to emerge.

Microsoft embraces ARM, Intel partners with Android

At its Build conference on Tuesday, Microsoft showed its hand with the Windows 8 operating system that builds off its Metro-style, tile-based interface, which began on Windows Phone 7 and is now moving across Microsoft’s products such as the Xbox. The interface works just as well for fingers as mouses and showcases Metro-style apps at the heart of the experience. The new operating system will work off ARM-based chips from Nvidia, Qualcomm and Texas Instruments as well as existing x86 processors from Intel and AMD. Microsoft is promising ultrathin PCs and tablets that will run Windows 8, turn on instantly and run all day on a single charge. Windows 8 will appear in about a year’s time.

Meanwhile, Intel used its Intel Developer Forum to announce a new partnership with Google to optimize its Intel Atom architecture for Android mobile devices, from the OS kernel to multimedia and graphics. The two will work together to speed the time to market for Intel-based Android devices. Google Senior VP Andy Rubin appeared alongside Intel CEO Paul Otellini, who showed off prototypes of an Android tablet and phone. Intel had previously promised dozens of Android tablets built with Intel processors and had hoped to have a smartphone available through Nokia this year, a plan that was quashed when Nokia partnered with Windows Phone 7. The chipmaker said to expect Intel-based devices by early 2012.

Succeeding outside the Wintel partnership

Intel has partnered with Google before, on Google TV, so it’s not completely surprising that it will be extending its relationship around Android. Otellini is also on Google’s board. But the partnership is a good sign for the world’s largest chipmaker, which has struggled to compete in the market for smartphones and tablets. The company has said that its chips are getting a lot more efficient and will be more popular as these post-PC devices demand more performance. Getting Google on its side could help its chips shine on Android, which is an opportunity Intel desperately needs to make good on as PC sales slow.

Microsoft’s support of ARM is not new, and that support is understandable, because the Windows maker needs a presence on post-PC devices. Right now, Windows Phone 7 is having minimal effect on the smartphone market. But the announcement on Tuesday again underscored how it will need power-sipping chips to compete in the market against the iPad. It’s touting all-day battery life for laptops and tablets, and that’s more likely to come from ARM chips, which are still more power-efficient than Intel’s and are the dominant architecture for mobile devices.

A lot to prove

Both companies are facing struggles ahead as they navigate this new terrain. Microsoft needs to show that one operating system can serve both tablets and PCs and not alienate either audience. It also needs to win over developers and show them how their apps will shine on Windows 8. Intel has to prove that it can actually deliver both power and efficiency in its mobile chips. Android devices already suffer from bad battery life in most comparisons to iOS devices, so Intel has its work cut out for it.

But if Intel can get its mobile act together and Microsoft can nail its execution with Windows 8, who knows? Maybe these two will forge a tight relationship down the line. But right now, they both have to prove to the world and each other that they are each well prepared to compete in this new era.

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