Intel releases Wimax chip
VK4DU Glenn Dunstan WIA Director reveals all
As telecommunications carriers around the globe experiment with a wireless
replacement for cable and DSL modems, Intel is set to release its first
chip for the technology, known as Wimax.
The world's largest chip maker sees in Wimax a potential profit source
that it hopes will become as popular as its shorter-range cousin, WiFi.
Intel also believes it will stimulate computer sales in emerging markets
where
high-speed internet access is unavailable or prohibitively expensive.
Wimax is not a guaranteed hit, as telecommunication carriers invest in
wireless broadband networks based on cellular technology as well as WiFi
hot-spots.
Intel's chip, formerly given the code name Rosedale, costs around $US45
($59) and is designed to power devices that will receive Wimax signals
in users' homes. Major networking equipment makers, including Siemens
and
China's Huawei Technologies, will also announce products built on Rosedale,
Intel said.
Intel also will highlight as many as 18 current or upcoming trials of
Wimax technology around the world, run by the likes of Britain's BT. Plans
for trials, of various scopes, are also to be announced in India, the
Philippines, Japan, South Africa and Russia.
Scott Richardson, general manager of Intel's broadband wireless business,
said Wimax equipment was probably too expensive now for wide adoption,
but that Intel and networking equipment makers were working to push equipment
costs below $US200 from the $US300 to $US500 level.
"It's our vision and our strategy to really drive that price point
down," Mr Richardson said.
Unlike WiFi, where ad hoc networks can be set up by anyone to connect
a single house or office, Wimax is engineered to cover an entire city
via base stations dispersed around a metropolitan area.
Intel and other Wimax backers are working to ratify a new Wimax standard
designed for use in mobile products. That technology is seen as a potential
threat to cellular networks, although some consider it a long shot.
Intel's support for WiFi in its Centrino brand of notebook computer chips
made the short-range wireless technology into a global standard popular
in cafes, homes, offices and other public spaces.
Source: Wireless
Institute of Australia
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