[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica][SIZE=-1]Ever feel like you need a map to keep up with all of the products coming from Intel? [/SIZE][/FONT][FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica][SIZE=-1]That's because the company uses one to pick out its codenames. While headquarters is situated firmly in the heart of the Silicon Valley -- Santa Clara, Calif., to be exact -- the primary development is done in Oregon, with some in the Sierra Nevadas area of northern California and some in its Israel facility. As a result, the engineers at Intel have picked codenames from their surroundings. [/SIZE][/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica][SIZE=-1]Since it's my job to keep these code names straight, I inevitably became curious about their origins. It became clear pretty quick that Intel was taking names from local landmarks around its development facilities. But take a closer look at newer titles, and it appears Intel has run out of local landmarks. The cities are now all over the map. [/SIZE][/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica][SIZE=-1]I couldn't even track down a few -- Clovertown, Kentsfield, Yorkfield, Whitefield, Sossaman -- and Intel, for its own reasons, doesn't like to tie its code names to a specific city. It likes to say there's a Penryn in California and England, and won't say whether it picked one city over another in the name. [/SIZE][/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica][SIZE=-1]Wikipedia maintains a
list, but I highlight some of the more interesting entries here. It certainly gives you an interesting tour of Oregon and the Sierra Nevadas. So, let's go for a ride. [/SIZE][/FONT]
