Monday, April 18, 2005

Intel to Release Wimax Chip

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, Wi-Fi. 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 $45 and is designed to power devices that will receive Wimax signals in users' homes. Major networking equipment makers, including Siemens AG (SIEGn.DE) of Germany and Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd. (HWT.UL) of China, will also announce products built on Rosedale, Intel said.

Unlike Wi-Fi, whose 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.

Via Yahoo

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