14 DAY TRIAL // Intel and its partners in this venture, the carriers Sprint Nextel and Clearwire, plan to push ahead the WiMax technology as an alternative broadband solution to traditional 3G cell phone networks, hoping that one day, it will be as popular as Wi-Fi is today. 2008 is the year chosen for the adoption of WiMax as the new Intel processors supporting the technology at a hardware level will be available only then, along side with "notebooks and devices from manufacturers, and broadband networks from two wireless carriers" according to the news site InformationWeek.
WiMax is the shorthand for World Interoperability For Microwave Access and it is a wireless broadband standard that should extend "Wi-Fi networks across greater distances, such as a campus or sections of metropolitan areas. The 802.16 standard is theoretically capable of transmitting data up to 70Mbits per second as far as 37 miles." Intel's carrier partners plan to offer this technology through a nationwide network that will cover most of the U.S. by the end of 2008, offering data transfer speeds between 2 and 4Mbps to 100 million people, most of them in metropolitan areas. The next generation of mobile processors from Intel, named Montevina, will natively support the WiMax standard and Wi-Fi, while several hardware manufacturers are expected to launch products compatible to this technology soon after Intel.
"Intel and partners are banking that consumers and businesses will be willing to pay more for WiMax than current DSL or cable broadband because it will give them an always-on connection within the coverage area. In addition, download speeds are expected to be multiples faster than 3G networks offered by wireless carriers, and consumers can connect to the network on any WiMax-supported device. U.S. cellular networks are closed systems in which carriers control the types of devices that can be used to access the service," according to the site InformationWeek.
Intel sees WiMax as a new market opener and as an opportunity to widen already existing markets as it is expecting to sell the WiMax technology to a number of hardware makers for use in notebooks and handheld computers.