Barrett: Intel Set To Unleash Wireless Notebook, PC Integration

Intel

In a question-and-answer session here before about 5,000 IT executives, Barrett said Intel notebook OEMs early next year will have "built-in dual band 802.11a and [802.11b capability as a standard feature in laptop PCs in anticipation of all the [wireless hotspots that are being built up at conferences like this and airports, restaurants [and hotels."

"You don't have to think very hard to figure out that you can better download in a hotel at 10- or 50-Mbit [wireless throughput than a dial-up modem at somewhere between 25 and 50K," he said.

Barrett said he recently was on a European trip where he was getting up in the morning to download e-mail, taking "15 to 45 minutes to do that on a dial-up modem. I could have done that sub-one minute if they had an 802.11 connection in those hotels," he said.

Barrett predicted a significant buildout of public wireless hotspots, with those that offer the capability gaining a competitive advantage in their industries.

The wireless capability on desktops will not only benefit businesses, but also the home market, where it can be used as a "local-area network capability to tie your PC, peripherals and all of your consumer electronics together," Barrett said.

Barrett said handheld devices and PC desktops must "collaborate, cooperate and extend" the user's capability. For example, it is critical that handheld devices be "compatible and interface" with your database on your desktop and laptop PC and be able to get data from the Internet, he said. "The customers will demand they work together," he said.

Eventually, notebook systems will be able to "autoconfigure" to recognize a wireless hotspot as Intel presses forward with wireless integration, Barrett said.

One potential hurdle for the wireless buildout is the 3G wireless vs. 802.11 a or b debate, said Barrett. However, he stressed that the issue was not a question of competition, but really cooperation between the two. "Most networks are a combination of a wide-area network and a local-area network," he said. "3G happens to be the wide-area network. 802.11 happens to be the local-area network."