This week, many titans of tech, such as Amazon.com's
The product includes software from a variety of Intel's venture-capital investments:
- Socialtext, which has a wiki that helps workers collaborate on projects. In fact, this is the technology Wikipedia uses.
- NewsGator, which aggregates many news sources.
- SimpleFeed, which allows companies to send content to partners using RSS technology.
- Movable Type, which is a blogging platform.
- SpikeSource, which integrates all of these technologies.
Unlike typical Web 2.0 products to date, Intel wants to -- and intends to -- make money with this one. To do that, the company plans to sell SuiteTwo on a subscription basis. The price will be about $175 to $200 per user, per year.
Intel also plans to promote SuiteTwo through its extensive distribution network, which includes Dell
I interviewed Michael Mankowski, an analyst with The 451 Group, who told me, "There are many consumers using wikis, blogs, and other Web 2.0 services from companies like Google
Does this mean Intel wants to be a software company? Not really. Essentially, this is a clever way for the company to promote its core chip business. It also helps it differentiate itself from its arch-competitor, AMD
However, do not expect SuiteTwo to result in a material jump in revenues. Simply put, Intel is too big for that. But it is certainly encouraging to see that Intel is making some innovative moves to make itself more competitive.
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