Intel's Israel labs play key role in new wireless communication solution
Company aims to integrate high-speed Internet access with portable computers
haaretzdaily.com
some tasty tidbits:
The new project has been kept secret, and sources at the Israeli development centers also refused to disclose details. "It is not hard to guess that we are trying to find the best way to combine Internet connection technologies with the microprocessor," said Yossi Levi, head of the 400-strong Israeli network development team. "There is no doubt that at the end of the road there are three components - the microprocessor, a chip that will facilitate the wireless communication and the inclusive chip set. The fact that these components are being developed in Israel helps the development effort."
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A technological choice
Communication between the computers and the access points will operate on a new protocol that will facilitate wireless communication between the networks that operate on the old Ethernet protocol, the most common protocol worldwide for data communications networks. Intel's new platform is gambling on the most recent protocol, the 802.11a, which was developed at the company's development center in Haifa.
This protocol facilitates wireless communication between computers and the Internet at speeds up to five times faster than the current protocol, 802.11b. The component that is being developed in Haifa connects to the Internet at a speed of 54 megabits per second, compared to the old protocol's 10 megabits per second.
The choice of Ethernet technology was made in light of the vast experience that Intel has accrued with this protocol. Maloney said that the engineers who defined the protocol for Intel in 1981 are still working at the company's Haifa development center. Furthermore, it was Intel's Israeli development center that developed products and protocols for the Fast Ethernet, which had been controlled by 3Com but now is controlled by Intel.
"Surveys show that about 52 percent of Fast Ethernet products are made by Intel and this is thanks to our developments," said Levi.
"This year we sold our 100 millionth Ethernet controller," said Maloney. "We would not have reached [that achievement] without the Israeli development."
Intel chose Ethernet after deciding to back away from Bluetooth technology as the system for wireless Internet communication. "Bluetooth is retreating from Moscow," said Maloney recently, referring to the flight of Napoleon's troops from Moscow during the fiercely cold Russian winter. "In the area of local wireless networks, Bluetooth technology has failed. Wireless access based on the Ethernet is the one that will win," declared Maloney.
Maloney explained that he has reached the conclusion that Bluetooth technology is suitable for synchronizing cellular telephones with palmtop computers and it will probably replace the currently accepted infra-red technology, but it will not succeed against the new Ethernet protocol, which is many times faster.
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although committing a network technology (combined with cpu) to silicon seems risky, I like Maloney's choices and reasons
dave |
