14 DAY TRIAL // The WiMAX high-speed wireless technology is coming towards users this September, though on a limited basis, announced Barry West, Xohm (Sprint's WiMax unit) president. It will be offered by Sprint and the companies that saved the Xohm's WiMAX network back in May.
Lots of hardware manufacturers and software developers have put their hopes in WiMAX, seeing it as an evolutionary step for the wireless connectivity. The new technology promises limitless, always-on connectivity for affordable prices. The time frame for deployment has been finally set clear, after a few months of confusion and uncertainties. Baltimore will be the first area to benefit from WIMAX, announced Xohm's president at the launch of Intel's Centrino 2 platform.
No exact date has been announced, as the Xohm executive said that it would be between September 1 and September 30, and no other cities to benefit from the technology were named. West did state that he could provide a specific date, but he didn't. A sure thing is indeed the fact that WiMAX will come this September and that Intel will also launch its Centrino 2 chipsets with integrated WiMAX. Hopefully, the two launches will coincide.
Things seemed rather bad for WiMAX earlier this year, as Sprint faced some financial problems. Yet, a massive investment coming from a group of companies including Clearwire, Google, Intel, Comcast, Time Warner Cable and Brighthouse, saved Sprint. The new venture is called Clearwire, and Sprint holds 51 percent of it, meaning a $7.4 billion stake. Clearwire came with about $3.9 billion and a 28 percent stake. The remaining 22 percent will go to Comcast, which invested $1.05 billion, Intel ($1.0 billion), Time Warner Cable ($550 million), Google ($500 million) and Brighthouse ($100 million). The company was evaluated at about $14.5 billion when it was founded.
Intel is the third stakeholder due to its 20 percent share of Clearwire, as the chip manufacturer made some previous investments in the communications company. Intel is both the dominant WiMax hardware company worldwide, and a substantial shareholder of the new firm, so its position is a unique one. Intel announced its partnership with manufacturers to "embed WiMax chips into Intel Centrino 2 processor technology-based laptops and other Intel-based mobile Internet devices, and will market the new company's service in association with Intel's performance notebook PC brand".
Sriram Viswanathan, Intel's vice president, the one who runs Intel's WiMax business, said that, according to Intel, the availability and success of WiMax is one of the "critical" components of company's product and business strategy. "Broadband wireless is an integral part of mobile devices today. (?) There will be no alternative to WiMax within the next three years."