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Intelligence for growth

Mike Ricciuti CNET News.com

Published: 23 Oct 2003 12:15 BST

Intel does have some marketing approaches in common with Apple, such as the consumer approach with Centrino.
With Centrino, we're trying to make sure the consumer gets the whole brand experience. So we have to make sure it works with what's out there. People are going away from thinking about what particular protocol you have out there to a smart system that will pick out the best connection out there, period, and the brand will migrate to that.

Is that something that you are going to provide as a feature on Intel-based systems?
There is a lot of work going on in tuneable radios and giving the user the best possible experience. We started off with 802.11b, but then it's a, g, x or whatever coming. So you want to come into the room and punch a button and say, "give me the best connection, and the radio is going to tune to that." And hopefully, we will have the billing in place to handle it. That's clearly where the industry is going.

Are you angling for the job of secretary of education? You've talked about education three years in a row here.
It's a complicated problem. There is so much inertia and momentum needed to turn (the educational system) even one degree. The rest of the world is hungry, and the US sees this as a God-given right. We still fortunately have the best university education system, and we need to build off that and rebuild the K-12 system to complement that.

You talked a lot about the US business climate. What needs to be done to make the situation better for companies? Is it stock options, less brain drain?
It's K-12 education, which is this hoary problem. It's more money into the likes of the National Science Foundation for what I call physical science research, IQ research, engineering research, and our research universities. I'd love to see a government that could effectively talk about broadband or infrastructure.

So you are saying that the Bush administration doesn't have a handle on broadband and communications convergence?
I don't want to pick on Bush. I don't think the Clinton administration had a good handle on this either. You've got the FCC that is in the middle of this through regulation. And we just had a decision which needs some clarification on new broadband investment, and if you need to unbundle that and make it available to the competition. That needs to be clarified. The government needs policies that promote investment, not inhibit investment. I'm not here advocating that we revisit the entire telecommunications regulation infrastructure. At least on the 21st century infrastructure, which is broadband, there should be policies that promote investment in that. The rest of the world treats our industry as an investment in the future. The United States treats our industry as, "you have always been here, you'll always be here, so let’s raise taxes".

What's the response from politicians when you deliver this message?
We (in high tech) may have two advantages here. People in our business have a longer thought process than politicians looking to get re-elected. And we tend to travel more than most politicians. I visit about 30 countries a year. So you get to see what is going on around the rest of the world so you can bring that to bear. The message from Intel has been consistent. Fix the education system, R&D, infrastructure, and do no harm (with legislation). Whether they chose to listen and how they put it in their priorities is something we can't control. We give the message.

I thought you might ask me, "Hey, Craig, you are a US citizen. Don't you have a patriotic duty to support the US economy?" Increasingly our business, like other businesses, is international in nature. We will maintain a position as a US flagship company. But we will do business around the globe and use resources around the world. Intel and Microsoft and Hewlett-Packard and Dell are increasingly in this mould. The world is the marketplace. We have a patriotic allegiance to the United States and we will speak as loudly as we can. But if people won't listen, that won't keep us from doing the right thing for our company.