Nokia and Intel push to get WiMAX out this year
Nokia and Intel said on Friday they would step up their efforts and collaboration to make WiMAX a new standard in mobile broadband Internet access.
Intel has been the driving force behind WiMAX, touting it as the long-distance
broadband Internet sibling of Wi-Fi which it turned into a success with its
Centrino chipsets for laptops.
Interestingly, Nokia sees WiMAX demand from mobile telecoms operators, for which the Finnish firm is already building third generation mobile phone networks with, also, fast Web access.
"The key thing is to get the WiMAX standard ready," said Tero Ojanpera, Nokia's chief strategy officer, adding that despite the additional research efforts from Nokia, it will be toward the end of the year before there is an open standard that can be used by all chip and mobile device makers.
Instead of an overlap, Nokia now believes WiMAX may be complementary to its third generation mobile phone networks, and Nokia will make sure the WiMAX base stations can sit peacefully alongside the cell phone base stations in radio masts.
By coming together, the biggest chip maker and the biggest cell phone maker, want to accelerate the development of the right, energy efficient chips for both mobile devices as well as laptop computers, in addition to the base station chips.
Intel, which makes more than four out of every five personal computer processors, has been struggling to break into the cell phone market. Nokia, like all of the other major handset vendors, is no customer of its key baseband chips. The WiMAX agreement may contribute to Nokia warming up to Intel.
Nokia and Intel are members of the WiMAX forum, which is an industry-led non-profit corporation formed to promote and certify compatibility and interoperability of WiMAX.
Nokia was a founding member, but left the forum temporarily when it appeared that WiMAX would only be a long-distance replacement for broadband Internet cables to fixed locations, such as rural villages which could not otherwise get broadband.
It rejoined the forum last year when it emerged that a new variant of WiMAX, dubbed 802.16e, would give consumers the opportunity to move around. The specifications for this standard still need to be approved by the forum, expected late this year.
The mobile version of WiMAX can be built into mobile devices such as those made by Nokia, alongside the cellphone chipsets.
Intel, in any case, plans to build WiMAX chips into laptop chipsets, just like it started selling Wi-Fi chips as an integrated part of its Centrino chipsets two years ago.
Interestingly, Nokia sees WiMAX demand from mobile telecoms operators, for which the Finnish firm is already building third generation mobile phone networks with, also, fast Web access.
"The key thing is to get the WiMAX standard ready," said Tero Ojanpera, Nokia's chief strategy officer, adding that despite the additional research efforts from Nokia, it will be toward the end of the year before there is an open standard that can be used by all chip and mobile device makers.
Instead of an overlap, Nokia now believes WiMAX may be complementary to its third generation mobile phone networks, and Nokia will make sure the WiMAX base stations can sit peacefully alongside the cell phone base stations in radio masts.
By coming together, the biggest chip maker and the biggest cell phone maker, want to accelerate the development of the right, energy efficient chips for both mobile devices as well as laptop computers, in addition to the base station chips.
Intel, which makes more than four out of every five personal computer processors, has been struggling to break into the cell phone market. Nokia, like all of the other major handset vendors, is no customer of its key baseband chips. The WiMAX agreement may contribute to Nokia warming up to Intel.
Nokia and Intel are members of the WiMAX forum, which is an industry-led non-profit corporation formed to promote and certify compatibility and interoperability of WiMAX.
Nokia was a founding member, but left the forum temporarily when it appeared that WiMAX would only be a long-distance replacement for broadband Internet cables to fixed locations, such as rural villages which could not otherwise get broadband.
It rejoined the forum last year when it emerged that a new variant of WiMAX, dubbed 802.16e, would give consumers the opportunity to move around. The specifications for this standard still need to be approved by the forum, expected late this year.
The mobile version of WiMAX can be built into mobile devices such as those made by Nokia, alongside the cellphone chipsets.
Intel, in any case, plans to build WiMAX chips into laptop chipsets, just like it started selling Wi-Fi chips as an integrated part of its Centrino chipsets two years ago.
