Intel, the primary advocate of WiMax technology, launched yesterday its first WiMax product ever, the Intel PRO/Wireless 5116 chipset, previously codenamed Rosedale.
The chipset will be used to run modems and other equipment to allow a wireless broadband connection for up to several miles, further than WiFi’s current range of a few hundred feet. WiMax may transmit data at a speed of up to 70Mbps for a distance of 37 miles or more.
However, it likely will take at least a year before WiMax hot zones, which would allow laptop and wireless computer users to surf the web, are in place. Intel’s WiMax chip allows for a fixed Internet connection between a base station and specific building. Once fixed connections are established, the Internet signal may be distributed over a wider area, creating a hot zone.
Still, a slew of Internet service providers have committed to testing equipment with the WiMax chipset, including US-based AT&T, Qwest, Speakeasy and TowerStream. Others who plan to try the chip are BT Group London, Brasil Telecom of Brazil, ETB of Columbia, Iberbanda of Spain, Millicom of Argentina and Sify of India.
More than a dozen equipment makers also plan to build the chip into their products, notably Alvarion of Israel, Proxim in Sunnyvale, California and Siemens of Germany.
The companies expect to test and certify interoperability among their WiMax products during trials to be held later this year by the industry group WiMax Forum. Intel said its chip is based on the 802.16 wireless standard, which allows equipment from different manufacturers to work together.
