Intel zeroes in on enterprise customers with tablet wave

 Intel Corp has roped in device makers such as Samsung Electronics Co Ltd and Hewlett Packard Co to showcase tablets powered by its new “Atom” processor — a chip it hopes will help it biannually break into that crowded market.

Intel initially brushed off any threat from tablets such as Apple Inc’s iPad, but now hopes the combination of a low power consuming processor with touch friendly Microsoft Corp Windows 8 software will win over enterprise customers looking to deploy tablets, but keep PC-based software and hardware.

The world’s largest chip maker says the “Atom Z2760” — formerly code named “Clover Trail” — is tailored to work with the latest version of Microsoft’s operating system, due in late October.

Tablets that use both the Atom and Widows 8 will be able to run widely used software such as Word and Excel, while connecting to peripherals such as printers. It also lengthens battery life, enabling tablets to run 10-plus hours of streaming high-definition video, said Intel Applications Processor Division Chief Eric Reid.

Targeting corporations and government agencies means the first wave of Intel-powered tablets and tablet-laptop hybrids will avoid the worst of the consumer war now raging between Google Inc and Amazon.com Inc.

Intel’s tablet strategy so far has focused on Windows 8 and its “x86” architecture found in most of the world’s PCs. But executives said this month tablets running their processors and based on Google’s Android software are also in the works.