Intel Finally Ships 802.11b/g Chips

The linked article says that the market for G products is just starting to take off, suggesting that Intel has great timing with the release of their B/G flavor WiFi Centrino solution. Although we have been large supporters of G since 2002 (preferring it over A because of backwards compatibility with B, and better radio propagation at 2.4GHz), we have noted Intel's absence from the G space for some time. In fact, they were widely criticized for launching Centrino without G, since by that time G was already the heir apparent to B. The truth is that Intel has been playing catch-up in the wireless space ever since they tied their horse to the ill-conceived HomeRF spec, and had to make a late bandwagon hop over to WiFi. The fact that they have finally caught up (assuming the chips work well) is good news for the WiFi industry overall, and neutral news for G stalwarts like Broadcom. An increasing number of laptops and desktops will soon have the bandwidth to handle video and audio streaming with aplomb, which means that all those consumer electronics devices we saw at CES will need G chips to connect.

Filed Under: wifi, wi-fi