Young blood pushing out Intel old blood

Just what are Intel's plans for the future?

What were the most important events of 1929, 1936 and 1939? Some might say the Wall Street Crash, Jesse Owens thumbing his nose at the Nazis at the Berlin Olympics and the premiere of John Ford's western masterpiece, Stagecoach. But for the denizens of Chipzilla's hallowed cubicles, the obvious answer would be the births of top bananas Gordon Moore, Andy Grove and Craig Barrett. Intel's gang of three have an average age of (IA) 64.3 years, an age where regular folks are planning on putting their feet up, wearing cardigans and pretending to be deaf in order to annoy people. But despite Moore taking a bit of a back seat and Grove thinking strategically instead of tactically, they're still holding the corporate reins real tight. Young Craig Barrett took over day to day responsibility for steering the chip behemoth last year, but at 60 years old and counting, surely someone young enough to have heard of the Beatles, or even the Spice Girls, must be being groomed for the top job. But who? Kicking Pat Gelsinger, Paul Otellini and marketing supremo Sean Maloney have variously been tipped as candidates by Intel watchers. A look at who is giving presentations at high profile external events makes interesting reading: of the most recent 20 major presentations given by senior Intel glitterati, Otellini and Gelsinger scored two apiece, Craig Barrett did three, but the clear winner was Sean Maloney with star billing at no fewer than four blue chip events. And he's not even an American. ®