Towards High Richness and Reach Computing

Introduction: Rich v/s Reach is a framework first described by Evans & Wuster in Blown to Bits. The term is used to illustrate a trade-off between providing a Rich experience in terms of Bandwidth, Customization and Interactivity v/s reaching a larger number of people.

A Rich computing experience can be result of superior display or form factor, ease of interactivity, processing speed and a broad applications suite. Reach or mobility is primarily driven by connectivity speed and ability to travel with the device. Devices ranging from the 50” TV to the utilitarian cell phone illustrate the computing rich v/s reach trade-off. We explore each of these factors to propose a device strategy which delivers both richness and reach simultaneously.

Ease of Interactivity: The move away from traditional keyboard contributes to significantly better novice user experience and drives adoption. HP Touch Smart and iPod Multi-Touch technologies dramatically improve how users interact with devices. The Wii Remote and Nunchuck have revolutionized gaming and made it accessible to all ages and abilities. The future interactive model will be supported by a stylish pen which replaces the keyboard in supporting applications based on motion sensors.

Processing speed: Intel with 70% and AMD with 22% market share dominate the CPU market. Intel processors will continue to power high end server performance. Intel Atom processor line competes with ARM in powering mobile devices however lags behind in power consumption. A 200 licensee base, lower power footprint and broad usage in mobile devices gives ARM the edge in powering future mobile devices.

Applications Suite: The over 1700 web-apps provide Apple iPhone and iTouch a very rich user experience. The catalog of 756 games provides Nintendo Wii an incomparable advantage in reaching users of all ages and abilities. The future rich device experience will need to adopt a similar development ecosystem approach and offer a better application base to drive adoption.

Display: Current Form factors constraint the richness of the experience. The 50” Plasma TV has a rich display but limits mobility. The smaller screens on the various mobile devices foster mobility at the expense of display richness. The future display device will be a fashionable video eye wear which provides a large screen monitor display while accommodating prescription lenses and have a low power footprint. The display will scroll with the movement of the eyes or head movement. Accessories will support real and virtual 3D content.

Connectivity: 4G networks which promise to deliver a nominal data rate of 100Mbit/s, 1 Gbit/s which in fixed position and data rate of at least 100 Mbit/s between any two points in the world will be critical to further bolster the reach of the proposed device strategy. 4G networks will support real time audio, high speed data, HDTV video content and mobile TV. Verizon plans to launch with LTE technology in 2010 and Sprint-Nextel as part of Clearwire with WiMAX in 2009.


Typical Scenario

John is on the move wearing a video eye wear and carrying a Bluetooth linked stylish pen. His user session is running on an Intel or AMD powered server farm in a remote data center. Currently the display is redirected to his eye wear. The video connectivity is supported by Verizon’s 4G network. His directory view is organized as a file cabinet. He opens a file and edits it with his pen, picks and drops in rich content and saves a draft as he exits the train. Once in office his session is now displayed on his large screen monitors where he continues his editing. Connectivity is now provided by his high speed LAN circuit.

Summary

A high rich and high reach computing experience can be supported by a 4G network, video eyewear display, a pen for interactivity, Intel or AMD powered server farms and ARM powered eyewear and pen running supporting applications suite.