Intel Corp has taken a 2.9% stake in Mountain View, California-based wireless data networking Proxim Inc, and says it will work with the company on wireless home networking products. Intel has bought 320,000 shares of the company, worth just over $10m, and has a warrant to buy an additional 96,000 shares.
Intel which set up a Home Networks division in February 1998, already has a stake in digital wireless home networking company ShareWave Inc, and has incorporated Tut Systems Inc’s HomeRun home networking software within its Intel 21145 Phoneline/Ethernet LAN controller. Intel’s AnyPoint home networking technology, launched earlier this month, runs over standard telephone lines, but Intel said it was working on a wireless system, based on the Home RF (radio frequency) standard, called SWAP, that it plans to launch in early 2000.
Proxim is currently developing its RangeLAN5 technology, set to run at 24 Mbps data rates and offering Quality of Service features for voice and video. It operates in the 5 GHz band rather than the usual 11 Mbps 2.4 GHz systems and is based on the ETSA Hiperlan Type 1 wireless LAN standard, compatible with existing 2 Mbps 2.4 GHz wireless LANs. The technology is due to ship early next year. Proxim launched its first wireless LAN products, aimed at the corporate market, back in 1994.
