If you’re a regular internet phone user but hate wasting power, Intel has the answer for you. They’ve developed a way to make PCs switch on from sleep mode when you get a call.

When you receive a call via any participating Voice Over Internet Protocol (VOIP) service, your computer will switch to full-power, turn on the microphone and loudspeaker, alert you to the call and then connect you.

The ‘Remote Wake’ technology requires a specially designed motherboard, which will debut in PCs shipping in September. That means it will initially be limited to smaller manufacturers who use third party motherboards. However, Intel is working on ways to supply the technology to major names such as Dell and HP.

The technology works with both calls to a specific number and to a username. It will only work with services a user has specifically subscribed to, which Intel is touting as a way to avoid prank calls. It’s not clear why anyone would want to do this, unless being able to harass people long-distance or overseas without the costs is particularly appealing.

The one catch is that it will only work on PCs with a hard-wired internet connection: sleep mode activation currently doesn’t work via WiFi.

At the moment the only major participating VOIP firm is Jajah, which runs the phone side of Yahoo’s messenger. However, Jajah says it will offer the technology to the likes of Google and Microsoft.

The success of the technology will likely depend on whether there really is a demand for it. In theory it’s a great way to save power: Intel points out sleep mode uses about 15% of the electricity of a fully switched-on PC. However, this doesn’t take account of the number of computer users who’d have their machine switched on when not ‘in use’ anyway (whether because they are downloading large files or are just too lazy to turn them off). And there are also going to be people who don’t particularly need or want to be accessible via VOIP services every minute of the day anyway.

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Entry was posted on Thursday, August 14th, 2008 at 2:51 pm under Intel, Internet, Technology.

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