10th March 2009, New York City

EETimes: NEW YORK — To celebrate its 125th anniversary, the IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers) recently assembled a panel of seven technology experts to discuss emerging research technologies that the group believes have the potential to change the world. Among them are multimode biometrics, intelligent computing, and wireless power.

Roy Want, senior principal engineer at Intel Corp., described research on Dynamic Composable Computing (DCC), which promises to move the technology beyond the limitations of current mobile devices and enable wireless sharing of computing resources. For example, if a mobile phone user does not have a camera phone, the use of DCC technology would provide the ability to wirelessly access the camera of another nearby device. Want expects DCC to become a reality in the next five years. "The core technologies necessary for such a vision are already here," said Want. "We need standards that enable all devices to participate in this sharing regime and we need to design user interfaces that are sufficiently simple so that people can understand how the system works."

In the Press

Thus far, the press release has been picked up by 254 media outlets including the Arizona Republic, Forbes.com, Houston Business Journal, Miami Herald, Popular Mechanics, San Francisco Business Journal and Reuters. Please find a sample of the coverage from Reuters here: http://www.reuters.com/article/pressRelease/idUS175404+10-Mar-2009+PRN20090310

The following outlets were also interested specifically in Roy Want's research technology including Control Engineering http://www.controleng.com/article/CA6644013.html?industryid=48514 and EE Times http://www.eetimes.com/news/latest/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=215900559.

Presentations are available on the anniversary Microsite www.ieee125.org. 

Some questions for Roy

IEEE has been home to many Intel Researchers' publications and presentations over the years. Esther Baldwin, Research Proliferation Manager for Intel, met with Roy and wondered how many of us with IEEE in our history know that it turned 125 years old this year. Of course the presention at the New York celebrations were all fabulously technical and Roy and his teams’ Dynamic Composable Computing (DCC) research were at home at this venue.

Q: What is DCC describe it?
A: Dynamic Composable Computing (DCC) overcomes the UI limitations of small mobile computers, providing the capability to wirelessly share components from nearby networked infrastructure or other mobiles: including displays, networks, processing, storage and peripherals. For example, if a smart phone user wanted to set up a video conference and required a larger display to be effective, it could borrow one from a nearby PC, while at the same time borrowing a camera from another cell phone to provide a better view of the room. DCC introduces the notion of “Composition” rather than “Connection” enabling uses to wirelessly build a logical computer out of multiple wireless components and to initiate it with a single atomic action.

Q: Who invited you?
A: A Senior Manager in IEEE Communications
[Note: Roy is also an Editor-in-chief (EIC) in the IEEE Computer Society for IEEE Pervasive Computing journal and his research and interests is well known to the staff]

Q: Where did you go?
A: The IEEE media event was held in New York on March 10th at the New Yorker Hotel. A conference room was set up to support the audience and the seven member invited panelists. Over 50 journalists from the press were invited, filling the room, After the presentations and panel, the IEEE invited the press to locate speakers they wished to talk to and join them for lunch.

Q: Who did you meet? Anybody famous?
A: Of particular note, out of the 7 speakers, was Dr. Katie Hall, IEEE Senior Member, Chief Technology Officer, WiTricity – Dr. Hall is implementing a new technology that can wirelessly transmit power to common consumer electronic devices within several meters of its power source. Also Dr. Dharmendra Modha, IEEE Senior Member, Manager, Cognitive Computing, IBM Almaden Research Center – In a project funded by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) called SyNAPSE, Dr. Modha and his team are engineering computing systems that simulate the brain’s abilities for sensation, perception, action, interaction and cognition.

Q: How can people get involved in the celebrations?
A: The www.ieee125.org web page contains news and information about up-and-coming celebrations and events. Also the local IEEE Chapter in your area will know what is happening nearby.

For more information please visit these sites:

Popular Mechanics http://www.origin.popularmechanics.com/blogs/technology_news/4314175.html

ITWeb http://www.itweb.co.za/sections/computing/2009/0903190906.asp?S=Emerging%20Technologies&A=EMT&O=FPWW

Ode http://www.odemagazine.com/exchange/5429/ieee_s_125th_anniversary_media_event_7_presentations_on_cutting_edge_research

Dharmendra S Modha's Cognitive Computing Blog http://p9.hostingprod.com/@modha.org/blog/2009/03/ieees_125th_anniversary.html

Link to the New York event http://www.ieee125.org/newsroom/news/2009-03-10-ieee-celebrates-125th-anniversary.html