Intel set to christen biz PC brand

Intel is expected to introduce on Monday a new brand for business-PC technology as the latest plank of its marketing overhaul.

CEO Paul Otellini tipped the company's hand during a conference call earlier this week after Intel announced its latest quarter of disappointing financial results.

Discussing which manufacturing processes the different chips would use, Otellini mentioned Intel's brands: "Centrino and Viiv and the upcoming brand associated with the business desktop we'll talk about on Monday."

An Intel representative declined to comment further on a press conference scheduled for Monday at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel in San Francisco. The spokesman said: "We have nothing to add beyond what Paul said in the earnings call." But sources familiar with the company's plans said Intel plans to unveil that third brand name on Monday along with technology that is supposed to make it easier to manage and secure business PCs. To this point, Intel has talked about these capabilities under the code name Averill.

Since the introduction of its Centrino brand for laptop technology in 2003, Intel has channelled its formidable marketing budget into programs that emphasise the technology which Intel brings to PCs and servers beyond the processor. The company calls this move "platformisation", and it has been Otellini's largest project during his brief tenure as CEO.

Centrino is more than just a processor. It's a combination of chips: a mobile chipset, a Pentium M processor and a wi-fi chip that was branded as a package. Intel chose Viiv as the name for its second platform brand to target home entertainment PCs. To carry a Viiv sticker and receive marketing assistance from Intel, PC vendors must build systems with Intel's dual-core processors as well as several other Intel-specified components.

Something similar is expected for business PCs, although Intel is keeping the actual name under close wraps.

IDC analyst Richard Shim said Intel might run into branding wrinkles when some attributes of the business brand become applicable to other PCs. "What happens to [the business brand] a few years down the road when they integrate the components into consumer PCs and notebooks?" Shim said. "Security, manageability, energy efficiency - those aren't things that are just for the desktop."

The business PC brand is not likely to be as widespread as Centrino and Viiv, Shim said. "They don't have to sell it to anybody. They just have to sell it to IT managers. I imagine that what they spend on marketing will be a lot less than what they spent on Centrino since that appealed to a much wider audience," he added.

Stephen Shankland writes for CNET News.com