Yes, I'm re-cycling the old WiMAX controversy again. I think, in the run-up to 3GSM, it's worth doing...

Edited by author 02-04-2005 01:35 PM
Your statement: "Intel will, of course, carry on selling Wi-Fi chips (Centrino is the foundation of this platform) and it will, when it can, move the Wi-Fi radio onto the processor."

it may not be that far away. to be able to move WIMAX, rather thant WI-Fi onto the processor.

see http://www.fujitsu.com/downloads/MICRO/fma/pdf/WCA_RG.pdf

It looks to me like Si-works has sip cores that could slide right onto the processor. Interestingly ROSEDALE, is mainly a MAC layer, not a radio see Richardson's comments :

http://www.extremetech.com/article2/0,1558,1643772,00.asp >>>>>>> Intel's Rosedale chipset includes a 802.16-2004 compliant MAC, an OFDM PHY, an integrated 10/100 Ethernet core, an inline security block and a controller interface. Richardson said the security core would include both AES and DES encryption capabilities that are required by the WiMAX spec. Initially, the security block will not be used for content protection, although it could be in the future, he said.

The Rosedale chipset does not include the radio, which Intel is sourcing from third-party partners—the same strategy it used to enter the WiFi market. Eventually, however, Intel has "definite" plans to develop the radio portion of the chipset, Richardson said. >>>>>>>>>>

So there may well be a path to pc silicon for on chip wimax that is ahead of onchip centrino/wifi.

Food for thought ...

r

From what Intel has told me, it's going to try a different route - eventually! The plan is to have all the wireless in CMOS on the cpu, and have it entirely "soft" - that is, some kind of instant configuration loaded into the radio to change its wavelength and the protocols at the same time.

Inbetween, I guess they can get whatever technology they want onto the core, using designs, like this perhaps.

Most people who are actually planning commercial WiMAX for the next two years or so, however, won't be interested in seeing WiMAX on mobiles. They're looking at 802.16d not .16e - and there really isn't any hope of getting .16e approved and validated and into production for another year after that, or maybe two years. We're looking into 2009 before notebooks with mobile WiMAX appear.

Well, a lot can happen in four years... you're right, it could go that way, but right now, I'm not betting like that. I think WiFi and WiMAX mobile are going to be so similar, in power and range and data rate, that either will be equivalent to the other, at 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz.

So the question that matters is: "What happens at 3GHz?" and that's politics!