BusinessWeek on the high stakes battle between Intel and Qualcomm, and the roles of Samsung, Clearwire, Sprint and Nokia in our next generation networks.
"But once these
networks are finished, WiMAX will be poised to deliver video
entertainment and voice telephone services that will compete with
traditional telecom and cable-television services. It also will extend
the range of wireless e-mail and Web-surfing services in mobile
computers. Beginning next year, stores will stock new laptop computers
equipped with Intel's WiMAX-capable chips, code-named Echo Peak.
WiMAX provides
superfast connections for up to 30 miles. You could stroll from your
house conducting a conference call, pause to exchange hefty data files,
and later dial in to your TiVo to download an episode of CSI. WiMAX avoids digital traffic jams by using licensed radio waves that guarantee each customer a certain level of service.
Intel's role as head
WiMAX cheerleader makes sense. WiMAX is similar to Wi-Fi, which was
embedded in Intel's Centrino line of chips, but it offers dramatic
improvements. Wi-Fi extends traditional wire-based broadband networks
for just a few hundred feet, and Internet access speeds slow to a crawl
when lots of people are online in the same area. Meanwhile,
high-profile schemes for blanketing whole cities with cheap or free
Wi-Fi networks aren't working out. "
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