Intel to invest $500 million in Taiwan’s tech sector, WiMax main focus
21 Apr 2008
Mumbai: Even as Wi-Fi struggles to emerge from infancy in India, Taiwan is investing heavily in its successor, WiMax. Now, technology giant Intel has announced the signing of an agreement with the government of the island-state to accelerate the development of WiMax in the country and ensuring better WiMax compatibility among gear developers.
The chipmaker plans to invest as much as $500 million in Taiwan over the next five years, with a large amount of the investment targeted at the island's WiMax sector. At a press conference, Lil Mohan, managing director of Intel's WiMax programme, reckoned that WiMax could even be commercially unleashed on the US public as early as this quarter or the next, whilst Asia will just have to wait it out another year or so for their infrastructure to be complete sometime in 2009 or 2010.
WiMax, the Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access, is a telecommunications technology aimed at providing wireless data over long distances in a variety of ways, from point-to-point links to full mobile cellular type access. It is based on the IEEE 802.16 standard, which is also called WirelessMAN. The name WiMax was created by the WiMax Forum, which was formed in June 2001 to promote conformance and interoperability of the standard.
The forum has already set up two certification testing labs in the country. In February, the WiMax Forum selected Telecom Technology Centre (TTC), which is backed by the government, and Compliant Certification Services (CCS) as its first testing lab in Taiwan.
WiMax is a super-high-speed wireless standard, and can be considered as a superior successor to the currently popular Wi-Fi. Wi-Fi is the common name for a popular wireless technology used in home networks, mobile phones, video games and more.
Wi-Fi is supported by nearly every modern personal computer operating system and most advanced game consoles. However, it suffers from the operational limitation that requires such a device to be near a Wi-Fi transmitter or hotspot, within a range of a few hundred metres. In contrast, WiMax allows anyone with a WiMax enabled laptop or media device to download songs, movies and business presentations over distances of up to 50 kilometres.
The agreement will see the creation of a new company in Taiwan that will ensure interoperable WiMax gear so users will be able to roam among WiMax wireless broadband Internet networks anywhere. Interoperability has been a major question for WiMax due to concerns that equipment vendors are creating products that may not work together.
"This cooperation shows the commitment between Intel and Taiwan to develop WiMax," said Shih Yen-shiang, vice minister of economic affairs in Taiwan.
Starting from a small base, WiMax is expected to grow much faster than the broader networking industry, with spending forecast to rise at a compounded annual rate of about 150 percent between 2006 and 2008, according to MIC, a top Taiwan think-tank.
Wireless and WiMax technology product makers in Taiwan include Acer, D-Link, ZyXEL and Gemtek Technology.
They contribute towards making Taiwan one of the world's largest makers of WiMax networking equipment, including base stations and PC cards. Companies on the island shipped US$159 million worth of WiMax gear last year, up from just $22.6 million in 2006.
The government has also been most supportive of this technology and announced an investment of $664 million on it last year. It launched the M-Taiwan program to ensure that people in locations all over Taiwan, including remote mountain villages and island huts, will be able to access the Internet wirelessly. WiMax is part of that program. The government has offered research grants and co-investment to companies on the island to help jump start WiMax services.
Intel will also use its WiMax testing experience to help Taiwanese companies develop products that work with global WiMax networks. WiMax wireless network equipment includes base stations, add-on WiMax-cards for laptop PCs and other products people need to access broadband wireless Internet signals.
