Mobile WiMax chips on the horizon

Intel and Fujitsu to embed Mobile WiMax chips in portable devices, but does anyone need another mobile access technology?

Mobile WiMax devices that provide roaming staff with 1Mbit/s to 4Mbit/s of mobile bandwidth may be commercially available this time next year, after both Intel and Fujitsu announced new chipsets for notebook and handheld PCs last week.

Intel’s Rosedale 2 chipset is compatible with the IEEE 802.16d and 802.16e 2005 specifications. It should let users connect to both fixed and mobile WiMax services from the office, the home and other locations, using a single device.

Recent trials of 802.16e WiMax kit in Japan also maintained data links while travelling on trains, which 3G and Wi-Fi technology struggles to do.

An Intel spokesman said Rosedale 2 samples should be available by the end of this year. “We haven’t announced [hardware] customers yet but we will do within the next three weeks or so,” he added.

Also last week, Fujitsu unveiled a sample mobile 802.16e-compatible WiMax chipset, set to be embedded in Toshiba notebooks by the third quarter of next year.

The delivery of WiMax-based portable devices is the lesser of the challenges for the technology, however. Finding the wireless spectrum to carry services and beating competition from both 3G High-Speed Downlink Packet Access (HSDPA) and Wi-Fi services may prove harder.

HSDPA services providing up to 1.5Mbit/s for email and web browsing on PCs, and later on mobile phones, have begun to emerge. Fixed Wi-Fi coverage is already well established.

‹ Leader, p10 ‹ Thames Wi-Fi, p19 ‹ Super 3G, p29