The Montgomery Securities Investment Conference – which despite appearances here included presentations from a large number of companies in fields far removed from high technology – banks, garden centres – kept back many big names for the climax, but Reuters sat through it all and kept the goodies coming: Intel Corp sent Avram Miller, vice-president of corporate development, along to pass on the message that the company is confident that the personal computer rather than the television set will become the home device that people will use to travel the electronic highway, but it is hedging its bets by working with cable television and other companies to assure that personal computers really will be able to be used on high bandwidth networks – As we have more speed in our computers, we need more bandwidth, and as we have more bandwidth, we need more computing power, he said, adding that microprocessing power will be pushed, as well, by advances in networks; We at Intel are making sure the personal computer will be it by working not only on the platform but also on the communications end, in experiments with Tele-Communications Inc, Rogers Communications Inc and Viacom Inc; it is also working with General Instrument Co and Microsoft Corp to build the right instrumentation and software for broadband communications with the personal computer – Intel projects that 50% of US households will have a personal computer by the end of the decade, up from 30% of households now – and that at the decade’s end, personal computers will be about 10 times more powerful than they are today.
