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October 02, 2005
New ideas - watch out for Wi-Max
Have you ever heard of Wi-Max? If not, try to get used to the term as you will most likely be using it shortly. Simply speaking Wi-Max is Wi-Fi on steroids. It has a theoretical range of 30+ miles. If you, like me, have used or are using Wi-Fi you might have noticed that it has range limitations. Wi-Max promises to change that. Intel has taken the lead in developing the Wi-Max standards and the service is expected to roll out during the next two years. The plan is to launch first in rural markets in the U.S., Europe, and Asia, and then in new telco markets elsewhere. To demonstrate Wi-Max to the public, a few months ago Intel streamed a digital movie to a theater at the Sundance Film-Festival over a 50-mile network of Wi-Max transmitters.
Skeptics argue that Wi-Max may be supplanted by competing technologies that are on track to hit the marketplace sooner, but don't underestimate the reach of the companies that plan to support Wi-Max; the list includes power house names such as At&T, Bellsouth, Qwest, and Sprint. Leading research firm ABI forecasts 8 million Wi-max subscribers by 2008 and demand for the new technology is expected to grow to $2 billion by 2010. If the predictions come through it might ring in the end for DSL, cable, and even T-1 connections.
Posted by Ben at October 2, 2005 01:34 AM
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