After The Brouhaha Over Gates, A Quiet Visit By Intel Boss

When Craig R Barrett visits India later this week it is likely to be a relatively quiet affair, bereft of the media hype that surrounded the visit of Microsoft chief Bill Gates earlier this year and yet, it is no less important.

It comes at a juncture when India is endeavouring to make its mark in the world IT scenario and the Department of Electronics aiming to increase the PC penetration ratio from 1 per 1000 to 10 per thousand by 2002.

More significantly, it reflects Intel's growing need to `touch' emerging South Asia and India as it faces weak demand for microprocessors in Europe and competition from the new low-priced chips from Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) and Cyrix.

 

Barrett, who took over charge as president and chief operating officer from the more high profile Andy Grove on May 21 this year, will be visiting India in the last leg of his South Asia tour during which he has touched Shanghai, Hong Kong and Taipei.

On Thursday, June 19, Barrett will reach Chennai where he will visit the city's Sri Ramachandra Medical College & Research Institute. There he will unveil sophisticated computing technology for the healthcare industry, showing how visually-enhanced connected computing can significantly impact society and improve efficiency. For the demonstration, hospitals in Chennai will be connected , sharing important visual supporting materials, such as X-rays and medical charts.

The same afternoon Barrett will be flying to Bangalore, where Intel India, Intel's 100 per cent subsidiary in India is based. There he will be meeting the staff and employees and discuss Intel's strategy for India.

The next day, on June 20, the Intel president and chief operating officer will be flying to New Delhi where he will visit the Intel Cyberskool, a state-of-the-art multimedia PC laboratory at the National Science Centre.

The `Cyberskool', which Barrett inaugurated during his last visit in May 1996, was set up to help children's education through the use of the latest multimedia computing technology.

Simultaneously, an Intel Computer Fair will be held to give children, teachers and parents an easy hand-on experience with multimedia computers and to highlight the benefits of PCs as a learning tool.

Barrett will also meet leading software developers to discuss the issues faced by the Indian software industry and reinforce the importance of developing indigenous software for broadening the avenues in adopting technology in the country.

Back home, Intel is facing weak demand for its microprocessor chips and is losing market share to AMD and Cyrix Corp with both rivals trying to price chips at least 25 per cent lower than those of Intel. This has forced the US semiconductor giant to make deeper than expected price cuts recently.