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Intel and Sprint team on
WiMAX |
Intel, Sprint connect
on WiMax
Other Topics: WiMAX Mobile,
WiMAX competes with DSL
May 5, 2005
Intel and Sprint plan to work together to develop an emerging wireless
broadband technology called WiMax, which has been promoted as a third
option to cable and digital subscriber line for providing high-speed
Internet access into the home.
The companies announced their agreement Thursday, adding they will test
equipment for performance and interoperability as they seek to determine
whether providing wireless high-speed Internet access over multiple
miles using WiMax is worthwhile.
WiMax chip |
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The technology behind the equipment will be based on 802.16e industry
standards, which could help to drive down prices of equipment. If
products based on those standards are found to be compatible, they will
be marked with the WiMax logo.
Products based on the industry standards 802.11b, 802.11g and
802.11a--Wi-Fi standards--quickly fell in price, leading to fast uptake
by consumers. Shipments of products using Wi-Fi technology have
increased dramatically and quickly.
By using WiMax standards, companies are hoping prices for equipment will
also come down quickly, allowing them to lower service costs and
encourage the proliferation of wireless broadband service. However,
WiMax has been heavily promoted as companies hope it will be the Wi-Fi
of the broadband service industry. Service and equipment based on WiMax
are not yet widely available but are expected to make it to market in
2006.
Intel benefited from that rapid growth with its Centrino mobile
technology, which is made up of one of its mobile Pentium processors, a
chipset and a Wi-Fi module. The chipmaker has been among the lead
supporters of WiMax, and last month unveiled chipsets that support the
technology.
Big dollars in little devices
Intel would sell the chips to equipment makers, which would then sell
service-enabling equipment to service operators, such as Sprint.
Operators would then make high-speed Internet service available to
customers in much the same way they do it now with cable or DSL (digital
subscriber line).
Intel and Sprint will work with a mobile specification of the WiMax
technology, 802.16e, to enable wireless broadband access on portable
devices. 802.16e is still awaiting standards approval by a key industry
group, the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, or IEEE.
Chips based on that standard aren't expected to be available until late
2006. The standard being used for fixed broadband access is 802.16-2004 |
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