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Intel's entry into Wi-Fi mobile platform positive for industry
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Wednesday, January 22, 2003
Intel Corp.'s effort to corner the wireless PC market with its Centrino branding campaign has done little to dull the competitive edge of its Wi-Fi rivals.
Though Intel hopes to gain ground with PC OEMs by bundling its mobile processor and wireless LAN card, Wi-Fi chipmakers say the company's all-in-one approach is unlikely to ace them out.
Indeed, most WLAN vendors are adopting the well-worn stance that a competitor of Intel's size will only serve to heighten the market's promise. Most based their reactions on the company's lack of an established track record in the WLAN space and said that questions remain on how far-reaching a product Intel will initially offer.
"Intel is new to the RF game. The new Centrino part is untested. They will have to prove themselves," said Rich Redelfs, president of Atheros Communications Inc., Sunnyvale, Calif. "Intel dominates the microprocessor market, but a lot of people don't want to see Intel dominate other markets. That will create plenty of opportunities to sell our products against Centrino."
WLAN market leader Intersil Corp. has been a supplier of 802.11b chipsets to Intel, but there do not appear to be any Intersil parts residing inside the Centrino platform, observers noted. Still, a spokesman for Intersil, Palm Bay, Fla., said the company expects Intel's entrance will boost Wi-Fi sales for all.
"Right now it's just a lot of talk," said Scott Smyser, an analyst at iSuppli Corp., El Segundo, Calif. "Intel is going to shake things up, but right now I don't think the Intersils fear Intel too much."
If Intel is eventually able to integrate 802.11 functions within its host MPU, however, "then you're looking at the other suppliers being locked out. But that is down the road. For now it's wait and see how complete a solution Intel is able to come up with," Smyser said.
Centrino is the Wi-Fi platform formerly known as Banias that Intel will release in March for low-power mobile PCs. The 802.11b-compliant platform consists primarily of the new Pentium M mobile processor; a member of the 855 chipset family; and a WLAN card, the PRO/Wireless 2100LAN3b. Only by buying all three components are Intel customers entitled to use the Centrino brand name in their promotions.
Interestingly, the first Centrino WLAN chipset is only partially made by Intel. A company spokesman confirmed that the radio chip is built by Royal Philips Electronics and the baseband IC is made for Intel by Texas Instruments Inc. The first WLAN card manufactured entirely by Intel will be a dual-mode 802.11a/b device slated for sometime in the first half of the year.
A TI spokeswoman declined to discuss the impact of the new mobile-PC brand. "We are both a partner and a competitor to Intel," she said, adding that Dallas-based TI will sell its own 802.11b chips to mobile-PC OEMs against the Centrino.
In its rawest competitive form, the Centrino is seen as yet another move by Intel to use its strength in processor design to conquer emerging markets outside the traditional PC arena.
"It looks like an Intel land grab to get [mobile-PC] OEMs and systems firms to use their Wi-Fi chips," said Shane Rau, an analyst at research firm IDC, based in Mountain View, Calif.
By: DocMemory
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