Intel rocked the early hours of press day at CES Wednesday, unveiling its second-generation Intel Core processor family of chips, dubbed “Sandy Bridge.” Blazingly fast, they feature integrated HD graphics functionality and provide a more seamless consumer experience with video and images across multiple platforms.

“What you’re seeing us do is start to build ecosystems around new devices – televisions, cars, tablets, netbooks, home energy management systems,” said Intel president and CEO Paul Ottelini. Using Sandy Bridge, Otellini demonstrated how a four-minute 1080p HD clip synched for transfer to an iPad in just 16 seconds.  The new quad-core chipsets integrate Intel’s encrypted WiDi technology for wireless HD streaming from the PC to the TV. Otellini emphasized Intel’s overall commitment “to bring the Internet to the big screen in the living room,” working with companies like Google and Microsoft.

Intel vice president PC Client Group, Mooly Eden demonstrated real-time gaming using Vale’s Portal 2, an April release, revealing  stunning imagery. The new Sandy Bridge chipsets will roll out in more than 500 different PC systems in 2011, representing more than one-third of Intel’s revenue for the year, according to Ottelini. The chipset, part of the 32nm family, is the first to surpass the 1 billion transistor mark.