New Intel Rosedale Chip Delivers Integrated WiMAX and Greater Functionality

Enterprise Networks & Servers, Oct 2004 by Shacklett, Mary

IT decision-makers beware! The new Rosedale WiMAX chip being delivered by Intel promises - once again - to transform the enterprise.

This time the transformation will be technically transparent to most enterprises because it will occur in the outside communications infrastructure that corporate entities tap into. The upside potential of this new technology advance is huge. Traditional communications lines like TIs can be more efficiently and cost-effectively deployed using wireless technologies like WiMAX. WiMAX will make wireless communications on a robust enterprise scale more feasible.

And in areas that are not well served by traditional wired communications, such as rural locations and developing countries, networks using wireless technology will be able to deliver the same robust functionality as their wired counterparts.

The new Rosedale chip has been recently publicized in eWeek, the New York Times and other publications. "What Rosedale is, is a broadband wireless interface chip," explained Joe English, director of marketing for Intel's Broadband/Wireless Division. "The chip handles all of the traditional communications protocols in a wireless format. It also integrates other elements that directly benefit carrier customer premises equipment (CPE)."

According to English, there are two phases of WiMAX deployment. The first phase is fixed wireless technology utilized by carriers and others who provide wireless subscriber services. The Rosedale chip will allow these service providers to deliver high throughput and high bandwidth in the form of wireless DSE connections. In its second phase, WiMAX will be integrated directly into laptop computers and other devices, giving users a high-speed broadband connection anywhere they go.

WiMAX will be able to deliver enterprises connectivity equivalent to multiple T1 lines between buildings or to a wired Internet point of presence.

The case for Wireless Broadband

The business case for wireless broadband has grown exponentially in enterprises over the past few years.

Flextime, and the 24/7 need to collaborate to different points around the world, have driven new business communications models that are less reliant on physical meetings and traditional work hours.

The ability to get way from these traditional work models has come in the form of broadband communications that can deliver full informational access to employees and to business partners whether that access comes in the form of Webinars, presentations, engineering drawings, databases, text-based documents, voice or images.

"Enterprises are expressing a desire to provide broadband capabilities to their employees," said English. "Whether the information is e-mail, document sharing, centralized calendaring, collaborative software, or Webinars, companies want the ability and the flexibility to share information between anyone, anywhere, at any time."

English noted that Intel itself was making such use of broadband communications, and that recent internal analysis had indicated an increase in employee productivity because employees were able to work at home or on the road with broadband access.

Some businesses are also considering additional income that can be realized from a robust broadband platform utilizing WiMAX capabilities. Starbucks, with its numerous Wi-Fi "hotspots," is just one example of a retailer encouraging mobile computing - and coffee sales - from its stores. "Hypothetically, it is possible for any major corporation to place an antenna on the roof and become a wireless service provider to customers in its area," observed English.

The Promise of Rosedale

What makes Rosedale so promising is the processing speed and the integrated functionality it offers. Rosedale incorporates multiple components onto the same chip, which makes it cheaper for equipment manufacturers to build CPE. "There are really six to eight discrete components embedded in the WiMAX chip," said English. "All of these are tightly integrated."

Intel continues to push the envelope for the design of semiconductors. The company recently announced that the first test memory chips at 65 nanometer geometries had been produced. Smaller circuitry allows for more processing power and great functional integration on the chip, and more chips per silicon wafer.

"The industry is witnessing rapid adoption of broadband wireless in advance of the coming WiMAX standard. Broadband wireless deployments have been growing at a rate of about 130 percent per year," noted English. "Many wired broadband markets are already well-developed, but there are also many areas that do not have effective broadband solutions they can offer because of weak communications infrastructures. For these, WiMAX can deliver the missing ingredient with its wireless broadband access capability."

English foresees that in the first generations of WiMAX technology, products like the Rosedale chip will be used to build fixed wireless broadband networks using outdoor antennas. After that, he sees a shift toward extending WiMAX capability for enterprises into small building access points, and later, into notebook computers and other devices.