jon baer writes:
> http://www.usatoday.com/tech/techinvestor/techcorporatenews/2003-11-28-intel
> -wireless-chipset_x.htm
>
> -snip-
> When Intel chipset, which is code-named Grantsdale, is released in the first
> half of next year, buyers of high-end computers using Intel's Pentium 4
> chips will no longer need to fuss with installing a separate wireless access
> point.
> -snip-
>
> any have opinions about this? i see it as a security nightmare about to
> happen but pretty cool @ the same time ...
Time marches on, and the strategy doesn't change. Intel (and others,
see below) will eventually 'eat' any specialized silicon into the core
CPU chipset(s).
Witness the demise of the graphics, sound, and Ethernet PCI(/AGP) card
industry. Oh sure, there are specialty cards (high-end cards for all
of the above, as well as a continued supply of cards to support older
machines that don't (yet) have the peripherals integrated onto the
CPU/Northbridge/Southbridge/glue chips.
Such is the way of the commoditization of the computer industry.
Expensive technology (anyone remember $1000 APs and $600 PCMCIA cards)
begets increased integration (people develop chipsets to replace a
large number of discrete components), which drives lower prices, which
increases commoditization, which in turn leaves only Taiwan, Inc and
the big-bruiser CPU companies to play in a field where an Ethernet
port is worth exactly $1.00 of value.
And if anyone here complains, I'll laugh.
In direct response to your question, it depends if the architecture is
'open' or not. If its "open" then I see a lot of potential for
interesting applications to be written, such as an office or home
based 'mesh' network, eliminating the requirement for an AP. (Yes,
the pretty P4/Grantsdale powered PC could be an AP as well, I grant
that, but its not an *interesting* application of the technology.)
If its closed, then APs will continue to exist, and the applications
won't be written, and we'll all be poorer. (I hope Intel is
monitoring this list, their linux/*bsd response on Centrino left much
to want.)
AMD also owns some interesting 802.11 silicon, and several of the
embedded players (Motorola, etc) also have plans that include
integrating some portion of the 802.11a/b/g MAC and baseband onto the
silicon that contains the CPU.
I dunno. Maybe there is nothing special and unique about 802.11, and
in 3 years, we'll all be playing the same game with cheap,
commodity-priced 802.16 or USB chipsets.
Jim
(yes, I'm back)
--
"Speed, it seems to me, provides the one genuinely modern pleasure."
-- Aldous Huxley (1894 - 1963)
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