An Investment in WiMAX for North America

7/6 - First it was WiFi. Now it's WiMAX. Intel is looking to do with WiMAX what it did with WiFi. "Wi-Fi has become an essential part of people's lives. WiMAX is next".

Intel Capital recently invested $600 million (USD) in a company called Clearwire, with a view to furthering Intel's WiMAX ambitions.

Clearwire also received a cash infusion from Motorola. Motorola is to provide the infrastructure for Clearwire's wireless broadband networks, while Intel is to provide wireless networking on the client.

What's that, you say? Intel already provides wireless networking on the client. Right you are. WiMAX is supposed to be complementary, and in addition, to the various flavors of 802.11 wireless ethernet.

There are two types of WiMAX: fixed and mobile. This investment is for mobile WiMAX, for a future Centrino platform. Centrino consists of a particular CPU paired with a chipset and specific wireless technology. The wireless technology of the future shall be a combination of traditional WiFi, that's 802.11, and WiMAX, all on a single chip.

Bundling WiMAX with Centrino should give the new wireless technology a boost.

While Intel has been investing in WiMAX, and WiMAX companies, for quite some time, the difference this time is that this investment is for North America, not some other rural part of the world that lacks a wired infrastructure.

The investment by Intel Capital is "the Largest in its History".

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