Intel completes design of mobile WiMAX chip

Mumbai: Intel Corporation, the world's largest semiconductor manufacturer and the leading manufacturer of the x86 series of microprocessors, has announced the completion of the design for its first mobile WiMAX chip, which is expected to find its way into new laptops, handheld PCs and mobile phones within the next two years.

Together with the company's previously announced single-chip, multi-band WiMAX/Wi-Fi radio, the pair creates a complete chipset called the Intel WiMAX Connection 2300.

Intel demonstrated a Centrino Duo-based laptop with mobile WiMAX (IEEE 802.16e-2005 ), 802.11n Wi-Fi and high-speed downlink packet access (HSDPA) 3G capabilities at the the 3G World Congress and Mobility Marketplace in Hong Kong.

The mobile processor successfully accessed the internet at 'broadband' speeds over a mobile WiMAX network during the demonstration.

Although Intel did not reveal the exact data transfer rates, experts believe WiMAX will offer anything up to 10Mbits of bandwidth depending on network congestions and line-of-sight conditions between the device and the transmission mast.

However, it is not clear what effect the inclusion of three mobile communication chips within one device will have on system cooling and battery life.

Intel also announced building blocks for communication servers that deliver enhanced performance, value and choice for telecommunications equipment manufacturers and computing tasks.

The Intel NetStructure MPCBL0050 single board computer is the first AdvancedTCA blade server. Also unveiled were the Dual-Core Intel Xeon processor LV 5138 and LV 5128. The fourth product announced is the Intel Carrier Grade Server TIGW1U.

The Intel NetStructure MPCBL0050 single board computer will cost $5,169 and the Intel Carrier Grade Server TIGW1U starts at $1,550. Both products will be available in the first quarter of 2007.

The Dual-Core Intel Xeon processor LV 5138 and LV 5128 will cost $617 and $412, respectively, per 1,000 units, and will be available in the fourth quarter.

Intel is all set to start 45-nanometer chip production in mid-2007.