The Consumer Electronics Show is usually a good indicator of future trends in technology based entertainment. Advanced Micro Devices has been at the forefront of companies pushing for high definition content accessible by smart phones.
Given the increasing use of smartphones and expectations of consumers for high definition gaming and video, AMD is banking on the development of a central supercomputer, the Fusion Render Node, to house the content. It will then be delivered to all smartphones on demand. This would allow the delivery of Blu-Ray video content and complex, interactive games.
The central computer is envisioned to provide a petaflop of performance making it the fastest graphics supercomputer in the world. But it will consume less than a tenth of the power of most supercomputers and fit snugly within one room. The muscle will be provided by Phenom II processors and ATI 4800 series graphics cards.
AMD thus confirms that the future is in cloud computing. Users with access to a browser and a high speed data connection are in a position to benefit from these services.