The chip maker creates a new Web portal that allows smaller businesses to evaluate and purchase software from ISVs.Intel has been the go-to company when it comes to microprocessors for decades and now it wants to do the same for software.
The Santa Clara, Calif., company May 1 launched a new Web portal—Intel Business Exchange—that will target midmarket and small and midsize businesses that are interested in researching and buying new applications.
With the new business portal, Intel is hoping to match businesses with the ISVs that are developing applications for their needs. The site will also host reviews of new software, and users can get quotes for prices and other features.
For Intel, the new Web portal allows companies to match users with the type of software that is approved and can run on a platform powered by Intel Architecture. For example, with the coming of Intel’s Atom processor, the company expects a whole new generation of products—mobile Internet devices or MIDs—to enter the market later this year, and with that will come the need for software that takes advantage of and works with these machines.
To read about Intel's Atom and MIDs, click here.
Peter Elmgren, the managing director of Intel’s Business Exchange, said Intel not only wants to ensure that software written for these devices works, but that companies with smaller IT staff know which applications they need for their MIDs and other devices.
“What we want Exchange to be is an online destination for SMBs that are looking to make decisions or need a quote for the types of solutions that they are trying to create,” said Elmgren. “What we can do is offer them specifics on software and what types of services are out there.”
John Spooner, an analyst with Technology Business Research, said Intel is more interested in reaching out to its end customers—the people who buy PCs and servers—than actually selling software. This new Web portal is a way to gauge what customers are looking for in terms of the hardware they buy and the applications they need for their business.
All this information helps Intel make decision about what technology is needed in the marketplace.
“The big picture here is that Intel is looking at new ways to market itself,” said Spooner. “They have tried a lot of new online marketing and that’s a better way to build grass-roots community awareness of the company.”
For now, Intel will focus on traditional applications written by companies such as Microsoft, Symantec and Tripwire. The portal will also highlight SAAS (software as a service) applications from Salesforce.com.
The site also gives Intel a chance to highlight those applications that work best with the new breed of multicore processors that Intel has already brought to market or will bring out in the future.
One of the drawbacks to the current crop of multicore processors is that many of the applications written for businesses do not take full advantage of a processor with more than one core. As a company, Intel has looked to create new drivers to help developers program more applications that run in parallel to take advantage of the new technology.
In March, Intel and Microsoft pledged $20 million to two universities to help create a whole generation of developers who will create new applications that work in parallel and take advantage of multicore processing.
