Amazon, Intel Partner For New Alexa Products

At Amazon’s Web Services conference re:Invent this week, the retail giant announced it is teaming up with Intel for a smart speaker reference design with Amazon’s Alexa voice assistant to help with tasks. The device is meant to help other companies make their own gadgets using Amazon’s voice tech and Intel’s platform. Developers will be able to get their hands on the device during the first quarter of 2017.

Intel’s Smart Home Hub uses Alexa voice controls, making it easy to ask questions and more. This means Intel is helping developers build connected products that can be controlled with voice commands.

"With voice as the central interface, customers have an even more natural way to manage the hundreds of tasks they experience every day," said Alexa content marketing manager Ted Karczewski in an Amazon developer blog post.

Both Amazon and Intel are looking to expand their network so it integrates into the home. Alexa already has some smart home skills through Echo, like being able to control Logitech’s Harmony Hub.

Earlier this year, Intel formed a partnership with Microsoft, Samsung, Qualcomm, Cisco, GE Digital and others to help connected products in your house talk to each other. Intel also announced a chip for the IoT industry in October.

This smart speaker reference design "is intended to help hardware manufacturers accelerate their development of voice-enabled devices with the Intel platform and Alexa Voice Services,” Intel said in a statement today.

The speaker will “support the standards needed for PAN connectivity in the home, including Wi-Fi, Zigbee, Z-Wave, and Bluetooth, and is extensible enough to add video capabilities and environment sensors for an all-in-one customer experience,’ Karczewski wrote.