Intel cuts notebook bootup times with Robson cache technology

Intel has unveiled its new Robson cache technology which will dramatically cut bootup times for notebooks, while improving battery life too.

This technology was showcased at the Intel Developer Forum in Taipei and InfoWorld reports the Centrino notebook booted almost immediately during Intel's live demonstration. The notebook with Robson also opened Adobe Reader in only 0.4s, while the other notebooks required 5.4s.

The secret behind the Robson cache technology is the use of NAND flash memory. The notebook boots from NAND flash memory instead of the HDD and this saves time and battery power.

"You get power savings because there's no need to spin the disc when you access applications," said Mooly Eden, vice president and general manager of Intel's mobile platform group.

Although Intel declined to go into specific details on how Robson works, Eden said the technology is mature enough to share it with computer makers. More information will be revealed later, he said.

Robson is meant to be used with industry standard NAND flash memory of 64MB to 4GB capacities, Eden said. The laptop used in the demonstration contained 128MB NAND, he said.

More info at InfoWorld.