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Intel plans wireless push onto desktops
San Francisco, Nov 29: Intel Corp. is building into a forthcoming microchip an ability to let desktop computers act as a hub in home and office wireless networks, taking aim at the market for stand-alone wireless access points.
San Francisco, Nov 29: Intel Corp. is building into a forthcoming microchip an ability to let desktop computers act as a hub in home and office wireless networks, taking aim at the market for stand-alone wireless access points.
While the move could simplify the process of setting up the networks, which use a popular networking technology known as Wi-Fi, it could be bad news for companies such as Cisco and Netgear Inc., which sell wireless routers used in such networks for between USD 75 and USD 150 each, analysts said.
At an analyst meeting last week, Intel President and Chief Operating Officer, Paul Otellini disclosed plans to include the capability of a wireless access point in a forthcoming chipset. The chipset is the lesser-known, but critically important, assistant to the microprocessor, the brain of a computer.
Today, consumers and businesses create Internet hot spots or areas where the Web can be accessed wirelessly and at high speeds, by connecting a wireless access point to a high speed Internet connection from a cable or DSL line. Wireless access points broadcast signals as far as 150 feet away.
When Intel chipset, which is code-named Grantsdale, is released in the first half of next year, buyers of high-end computers using Intel's Pentium 4 chips will no longer need to fuss with installing a separate wireless access point.
The chipset, however, will not include an actual Wi-Fi radio, so users will still need a wireless add-on card. Intel has said it eventually intends build a Wi-Fi radio into its microprocessors.
Intel's Grantsdale project broadens the company's efforts to promote Wi-Fi, the leading wireless standard for computers. Intel's Centrino chips for mobile computers, which include a low-power microprocessor and a Wi-Fi chip, have generated USD two 2 billion in revenue in their first year and made the company the new, dominant supplier of Wi-Fi chips, Otellini said.
Intel's foray into promoting Wi-Fi is credited with boosting sales of wireless networking products offered by a range of wireless equipment makers.
Sales of low-end access points could dip if PC owners rely on the capabilities of their Intel-powered desktop computers, said Ken Furer, a semiconductor analyst for IDC who researches the Wi-Fi market.
But Intel's plan, he added, might break with a trend in wireless Internet access towards more advanced stand-alone wireless access points known as gateways, which bundle a cable or DSL modem with a wireless router.
"I think it certainly poses a threat to lower-end access points," Furer said. "We're seeing more momentum in terms of wireless going toward the gateway device than that functionality going into the PC," Furer said.
A desktop computer that could share Internet access without the need for a stand-alone device could simplify the networking process and save computer owners some cash, said Nathan Brookwood, a principal analyst at research firm and consultancy Insight 64.
According to him, desktop computers would probably have to be kept on 24-hours a day for the network to always stay on, which could rack up the electricity bill, he said.
"It may appeal to some folks," Brookwood said. "But by and large I think that the external apliance-type access point that people like Linksys and Netgear are selling by the bushel might be a much more effective way to solve that problem."
Bureau Report
While the move could simplify the process of setting up the networks, which use a popular networking technology known as Wi-Fi, it could be bad news for companies such as Cisco and Netgear Inc., which sell wireless routers used in such networks for between USD 75 and USD 150 each, analysts said.
At an analyst meeting last week, Intel President and Chief Operating Officer, Paul Otellini disclosed plans to include the capability of a wireless access point in a forthcoming chipset. The chipset is the lesser-known, but critically important, assistant to the microprocessor, the brain of a computer.
Today, consumers and businesses create Internet hot spots or areas where the Web can be accessed wirelessly and at high speeds, by connecting a wireless access point to a high speed Internet connection from a cable or DSL line. Wireless access points broadcast signals as far as 150 feet away.
When Intel chipset, which is code-named Grantsdale, is released in the first half of next year, buyers of high-end computers using Intel's Pentium 4 chips will no longer need to fuss with installing a separate wireless access point.
The chipset, however, will not include an actual Wi-Fi radio, so users will still need a wireless add-on card. Intel has said it eventually intends build a Wi-Fi radio into its microprocessors.
Intel's Grantsdale project broadens the company's efforts to promote Wi-Fi, the leading wireless standard for computers. Intel's Centrino chips for mobile computers, which include a low-power microprocessor and a Wi-Fi chip, have generated USD two 2 billion in revenue in their first year and made the company the new, dominant supplier of Wi-Fi chips, Otellini said.
Intel's foray into promoting Wi-Fi is credited with boosting sales of wireless networking products offered by a range of wireless equipment makers.
Sales of low-end access points could dip if PC owners rely on the capabilities of their Intel-powered desktop computers, said Ken Furer, a semiconductor analyst for IDC who researches the Wi-Fi market.
But Intel's plan, he added, might break with a trend in wireless Internet access towards more advanced stand-alone wireless access points known as gateways, which bundle a cable or DSL modem with a wireless router.
"I think it certainly poses a threat to lower-end access points," Furer said. "We're seeing more momentum in terms of wireless going toward the gateway device than that functionality going into the PC," Furer said.
A desktop computer that could share Internet access without the need for a stand-alone device could simplify the networking process and save computer owners some cash, said Nathan Brookwood, a principal analyst at research firm and consultancy Insight 64.
According to him, desktop computers would probably have to be kept on 24-hours a day for the network to always stay on, which could rack up the electricity bill, he said.
"It may appeal to some folks," Brookwood said. "But by and large I think that the external apliance-type access point that people like Linksys and Netgear are selling by the bushel might be a much more effective way to solve that problem."
Bureau Report