Total bandwidth of 6.5MBPS at a cost of $500 per POP with a 60 mile range. That beats satellite service without the latency. While targeted at the third would, this level of service could be a real life changer for a large number of rural Americans.

Intel’s Rural Connectivity Platform (RCP) is designed to push traditional 802.11 wireless connections out to much greater distances than would normally be possible, thereby reducing the amount of cable that must be laid between any two points. Using the 802.11 standard means that spectrum availability is not usually an issue, and Intel’s RCP supports frequencies of 900MHz, 2.4GHz, and the 5.2-5.8GHz spectrum.

The idea of focusing and transmitting a wireless signal in order to boost its range is nothing new, but Intel’s RCP uses a modified TDMA (time division multiple access) system. A standard wireless system broadcasts a message and waits for a reply. If the reply is not acknowledged within a certain period of time, the station broadcasts again. Intel’s RCP TDMA system does away with the acknowledgment phase, and gives each radio a set block of time to send data and a set block of time to receive it. According to Jeff Galinovsky, a senior platform manager at Intel, removing the acknowledgment phase substantially increases the amount of bandwidth that’s available at any given point, thus increasing the wireless system’s range. Intel’s specifications for RCP deployment state that towers may be up to 60 miles (100km) apart. (Ars Technica)

We have posted previously that the low end market is about to explode, some 13m units projected. Well Intel evidently wants a piece of that pie and not just leave it to VIA to pick up the spoils. Intel has recoded a pending processor design as Atom. –

Get ready for a new brand in the already cluttered world of tech marketing. Intel has chosen Atom as the name for its super small low-power processor formerly known as Silverthorne, due to be launched during next month’s IDF in Shanghai.

Silverthorne - sorry, we mean Atom - is the child of a ground-up effort to create a new processor for the ultra-mobile market, ranging from UMPCs to mobile Internet devices. There’s even the chance it could pop up in a future generation of the iPhone.

Part of this package will be the development of a new platform design called Menlow which will utilize processors based on the Atom chip set. Running at 2.5w this will be a miserly user of power.

2008/2009 is going to be a very interesting year with many introductions of product not seen before at prices unheard of. Some of the big makers might see their fortunes flag a bit if they don’t adjust to the new paradigm.

Linky.

Back to where we were a year ago, with the possibility of a little bonus financing from Wimax big brother Intel, and it looks like the 2 companies who can’t do it alone are joining forces again.

The deal, which could be announced in the next few days, would create a new company that combines Sprint’s licenses in the 2.5-gigahertz wireless spectrum and Clearwire’s spectrum in the same and adjoining air waves.

Additional financing is also expected from other firms, say these same sources.

Sprint and Clearwire representatives declined to comment. Intel Capital did not respond to a request for comment.

The two companies revived deal talks, according to press reports, after Sprint tore up a prior agreement in November. That earlier plan had called for Sprint to chip in $2.75 billion toward the expansion of WiMax networks to 19 cities by the end of this year, but the company pulled out of that pact in an effort to undo the work of former CEO Gary Forsee. (from TheStreet.com)

This is good news for US broadband users, and for mobile device users. While the intial 2-4 MBPS speeds to be offered are a far cry from the new world standard of 100 MBPS, reality is that is competitive with the current DSL service level that is available to most Americans. Add mobility, and availability to previously unserved and under served areas and this should be a winner if the new company will only get the word out. If they can manage a real speed boost up to the actual capability of Wimax, it could also be a duopoly killer.

Intel has been slapped with a subpoena for possible antitrust violations. Wlll be interesting to see how NY AG proves his point –

Attorney General Andrew M. Cuomo of New York issued a wide-ranging subpoena to the Intel Corporation on Thursday as part of an investigation into whether the company violated federal or state antitrust laws in the way it priced and sold microprocessors.

The investigation follows a preliminary look at Intel by Mr. Cuomo’s office over several months and is the latest in a string of legal challenges the company has faced around the world.

Mr. Cuomo’s investigation is the first governmental challenge to Intel’s sales practices in the United States, and comes less than three months after the head of the Federal Trade Commission rejected requests from members of Congress and some commission members to open a formal investigation of Intel at the federal level.

The investigation will focus on a particular type of chip, known as the x86, that is the industry standard for most desktop computers, laptops, and servers. Intel currently controls 90 percent of the x86 market, estimated at $30 billion in annual sales worldwide.

Good luck. This could be years in the making before we see anything out of this one.

Linky.

Of course Intel is at CES. Most of what is at CES has a 70% chance of having an Intel chip in it somewhere. But not everything that is happening at CES is at a booth with pretty girls. Case in point — Intel has a demo SUV with WiMax built in. –

But we were there to see WiMAX in action. Intel had a few SUVs tricked out with two laptops, an iPod Touch, in-dash Internet radio and a Wi-Fi router. Then we proceeded to drive in large circles around Vegas that pretty much defined the perimeter of the miniature WiMAX network that Intel had hooked up just for this event (you can see our route on the map to the right). I’ve seen WiMAX demos before, and they always work exactly as advertised: consistent high bandwidth over a large area—or at least as large an area as a service provider would be willing to roll it out. But today’s demo was as impressive as they come: The laptops were streaming video from remote locations (Two and a Half Men—WiMAX evidently can’t filter out bad taste), Internet radio was playing through the vehicle’s stereo, and the router was taking the WiMAX signal and throwing a local area network around the car. Along for the ride with us was Intel’s Brent Elliot, one of the company’s WiMAX deep geeks.

Read the whole thing at the PM website.

Well it appears that Intel’s ViiV initiative is starting to crumble. Here and here. It was a bold gamble by Intel. Develop hardware DRM that was strategically compatible with MS Vista and service packs. Problem was it was hardware based. Hence as content drifted away from using DRM the luster of ViiV started to tarnish. In fact AMD was having better success with AMD Live! a software based competitor.

ViiV would still be a decent product if they would rip out the DRM. It’s command and control capabilities made sense in a multimedia household with many display and audio devices. A shame.

Intel announced delays in their next round of quad processors. This came on the heels of AMD’s announcement of problems with the Phenom Quad Proc highend line. Tom’s Hardware asks the most discerning question –

Indianapolis (IN) - There’s an article over at The Inquirer by Charlie Demerjian that I think should be read by many. In that article, Demerjian states hearing little rumblings from off-the-record sources, those confirming problems with either Intel’s 45nm process technology or products. While it is definitely nothing concrete, it’s also not nothing.

Intel recently pushed back the introductory date of three quad-core processors by several weeks (see TGDaily.com’s coverage). While they haven’t officially changed any previously announced timeframes, they were able to wriggle into a few more weeks without having to go on the record as to why there was any kind of delay. In fact, Intel refused to comment when TG Daily explicitly asked them for an explanation for the delay, citing only that there was no delay and that they were still on track for a Q1 08 launch, which was always their announced intention

So, is everything rosy in Silicon City?

Russia. Comstar and Intel will partner in the deploy of a WiMax solution, initially in Moscow. Comstar will provide the necessary network infrastructure support. Intel to provide the necessary integration and CPE expertise on the mobile side. –

In an effort to bring people faster, lower cost and a truly mobile, data broadband technology, Comstar, Russia’s leading telecomm provider, and Intel Corporation today announced a collaboration to develop mobile WiMAX in Russia.

The joint effort will initially focus on building a city-wide mobile WiMAX network in Moscow. Comstar plans to use its 2.5-2.7Ghz spectrum footprint in the city to build the network and is targeting its commercial launch for late 2008. Intel will drive an ecosystem of the client devices with embedded WiMAX solutions.

Press Release.

The day is coming when a single chip can receive digital TV, and access Wifi or Wimax networks. Not only does this have unlimited potential for computing, it could be a real boon to a vast array of consumer electronics devices.

“There is a shift from people wanting their content any time, anywhere to any device, any network, and the problem is there are too many radios,” said Jeff Hoffman, system architect for the wireless communications lab. (from Electronics Weekly)

In what has to be a flash back moment Intel’s VP Sean Maloney has this to say –

The new generation of chips are also designed to enable WiMAX, the evolution of the traditional Wi-Fi technology, but what gets Maloney most excited is the prediction that the internet - and the new generation of chips - will bang the nail in the coffin of traditional television. Despite the publicity over sales of high-definition (HD) TVs, Maloney believes most television channels will be broadcast in the existing standard definition for many years to come. But at the same time, the cost of HD consumer video cameras is falling fast.

“That is a profound change,” he says. “User-generated content is going to become higher quality than professional content. Professional providers may sneer and say it’s not what it looks like, it’s the quality of the content, but that would be to ignore the lessons of the past few years and the emergence of the likes of YouTube.

“Over the next two years you are going to have an explosion in high quality video broadcast on the internet. The same thing that happened to print media in the 1990s with the move to the web will happen with broadcast media.”

Linky.

Sound familiar? It should if you have been a loyal ThirdPipe reader. —

I wonder, do you spot the trend? No? Well, read the graph right to left, see it now? What is indicated is that as the age group gets younger the preference for UGC increases. You get to the point that in what used to be the coveted 18-24 age group they would rather play on FaceBook than watch something gorky on even MTV. They want to have their reality show, but they want it interactive as well.

Linky.

Its nice to know one is not crazy.