Intel's 2005 desktop chipsets will feature wireless

Intel's next generation of desktop-use chipsets, to be introduced in the second half of 2005, will support wireless technologies such as 802.11a/b/g, said Sunil Kumar, director of chipset and software marketing at Intel, yesterday in Taipei. Intel is including wireless capabilities in its desktop platform to support digital-home appliance applications, Kumar said. Kumar's statement comes after Intel's September announcement that it was shelving plans to include a built-in Soft AP (access point) in its 915-series desktop-use chipsets.

Sources at Taiwan PC makers pointed out, however, that the new development is in line with Intel's roadmap, which indicates that its Lakeport chipsets, to be launched in the second half of 2005 for the dual-core Smithfield platform, will feature a Caswell 2 module for wireless connectivity. Asked if Intel will bundle its next-generation desktop-use CPUs, core-logic chipsets and wireless chips as a platform, as it had with its Centrino platform for notebooks, Kumar stated that he could not comment on products not yet available, although there exists such a possibility. On sales of the 915 chipsets, Kumar said that current shipments of the 915 chipsets to Intel's OEM clients are on track, but those to the channel had been lower than the company's expectations.

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