WiMAX Coming Soon to a Laptop Near You?
ClearWire have just announced the world's first WiMAX laptop card and Intel have recently promised to offer WiMAX compatibility with their new Centrino upgrade Montevina. Get ready - Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access is about to go mainstream.
Wi-Fi iseverywhere. Executives are now able to surf the net in hotellobbies, and mom and pop entrepreneurs operate small businesses at coffee shops. There is one major issue thoughwith Wi-Fi. A short range of just a few hundred yards. WiMAX(Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access) does not sufferfrom this limitation. Indeed, a transmitting station can saturate 3000square miles of hip city streets or remote rural farmland with 72 Mbps of juicy wireless goodness.
Right nowwith Wi-Fi, if you leave a hotspot you can't stay online.Now imagine leaving Starbucks, driving 3 miles out of the city and not losing your connection once. This is possible thanks to WiMAX.
Will this technology ever take off in a market stuffed like theproverbial Thanksgiving Turkey with 3G and HSDPA technology?Heavyweight Intel seems to think so, and have promised to offer aWiMAX chipset for their new Montevina upgrade. That means all newCentrino laptops will be WiMAX compatible in 2008.
Other companies are also showing their WiMAX love. ClearWire areabout to release the world's first WiMAX access laptop card whichfits neatly into a standard Type II card slot. ClearWire'sproduct will be compatible with Windows Vista and Windows XP, andshould arrive in the summer of 2008.
So will WiMAX towers soon be springing up all over the place?Well some companies are hesitant to sink money into WiMAX asthey've already invested huge sums into the development of 3G andHSDPA networks. But with Intel throwing their gargantuan framebehind Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access, otherswill soon follow suit.
I'm hoping this new wireless technology will be more secure thanWi-Fi was when it first hit the market. Do you recall theepidemic of phishing storiesat hotspots? I wouldn't want hackers accessing my confidentialDaniel O' Donnell Mp3 collection through a dodgy WiMAXconnection.
