back to article Intel's Wind River preps server to deliver VMs into home routers

Intel is starting to deliver on its vision of x86-powered modem/routers in the home , as its Wind River subsidiary releases a server dedicated to delivery of functions to virtual customer premises equipment (CPE). The new offering is aimed at telcos, who for years have struggled to get customers to buy more than carriage. …

  1. Ken Moorhouse Silver badge

    automated pwn'ing capabilities

    No longer any need for an "engineer" to phone you to download TeamViewer to display your Windows event log.

  2. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Intel Inside?

    And think of all the possibilities for government agencies (IME, perhaps UEFI, other support chips). I've talked about using the CPE as a home server since 1997. Now I'm concerned about control of the box by the local telco/cableco, completely ignoring the NFV element.

    I know, it's pretty pointless to think of presenting a challenge to a nation-state but what the TLA's can do this month, the criminals start doing not much later.

  3. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Interesting

    This box could end up owning the whole home. Quite consistent with Google and Microsoft's aims, I think.

    But could us ordinary folk get hold of one and do totally our own thing with it?

    1. Roland6 Silver badge

      Re: Interesting

      Not sure if it is consistent with Microsoft's aims, I note the Xbox One doesn't include a DSL modem/router/firewall module.

      Which sort of says it all, Intel with Microsoft already had the capability to deliver a first generation Titanium Server CPE but didn't...

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Interesting

        Perhaps extending the Xbox wouldn't have been ambitious enough. I guess it all depends what Microsoft really want for the future.

        I've just had this feeling since the Windows 10 preview started that Microsoft were coming up with a number of ideas (including WiFi Sense, Microsoft WiFi, Xbox-PC streaming, and serving windows updates via peer-to-peer from users' machines) which didn't make a lot of sense if they were dependent on the randomness of whether or not individual users allowed them or chose them.

        They all do make sense if Microsoft plan to have a box which encapsulates them all, one that they market as a device which covers all the home's needs. And of course, one which they have full control of.

        If you throw in the feeling (to me anyway) that Microsoft don't really care any more about WIndows running on highly capable home work machines, then a Microsoft box which has all the server capabilities to provide for 'thin client'-type devices would make sense.

        Maybe the Xbox wasn't seen as a good enough starting point for that concept.

        Or maybe I should just stop trying to work out why they do what they do :)

  4. druck Silver badge
    Thumb Down

    ARMed

    No need for an Intel space heater in a modem/router, an ARM based SOC with a decent GPU can take care of all those tasks, and run as cool as a cucumber.

    1. asdf

      Re: ARMed

      I agree but probably more likely to be MIPS in the router space if past form holds.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: ARMed

        The reasons they went with MIPS were because they cost slightly less (due to ARM's licensing) and ARM didn't offer any performance advantages.

        The rise of the smartphone has left us with plenty of choices of very capable ARM SoCs that have left MIPS performance in the dust, but are quite affordable due to volumes. Newer wireless routers are using ARM more and more, and I expect that trend to continue. The MIPS SoCs used now are mainly due to inertia or because they are low end products that don't make it worth spending an extra couple bucks to even get one of the SoCs used in a $60 smartphone.

  5. Alister

    What's the supposed benefit?

    So why would you want a power hungry x86 architecture to run a modem / router?

    1. asdf

      Re: What's the supposed benefit?

      Well in the case of the majority of people because that is what the ISP gave them.

    2. Down not across

      Re: What's the supposed benefit?

      It being x86 architecture doesn't have to mean poiwer hungry.

      Just to pick a random one, Z3735F, which seems to feature in recent tablets/netbooks, consumes 2.2W and is quad-core 1.33GHz (1.83GHz burst) 64-bit device supporting 2GB of DDR3L RAM and VT-x.

      1. Roland6 Silver badge

        Re: What's the supposed benefit?

        It being x86 architecture doesn't have to mean poiwer hungry.

        Depends on what you are comparing it to: compared to an existing fibre broadband modem/router, it will be. Plus it will need some decent support chipsets if it is to perform as well as a router using a custom PLA. All of this before you add in sufficient spare capacity to run OpenStack, KVM hypervisor and a couple of VM's, particularly if the DVR app is to be anywhere as good as the typical Humax...

    3. Roland6 Silver badge

      Re: What's the supposed benefit?

      The pitch to the telco's/ISP's will be about a mature common platform, so basically convert the existing proprietary modem/router into a 'whitebox' solution on to which they can deploy their standard build router etc. as a VM.

      Yes I'm ignoring the likes of DD-WRT, Tomato, Open WRT etc., which can run on existing non-Intel hardware. And I'm ignoring all the non-network usage scenario's (such as the DVR app) as these are just window dressing on the real motive, namely: getting Intel cpu's into a niche that Intel aren't currently in and its competitors are.

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