WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Intel Corp. has decided to set aside $150 million of a $500 million "communication fund" at the disposal of Intel Capital for investment in IEEE 802.11 wireless LAN related activities. The company said it wants to encourage the provision of wireless LAN infrastructure around the world and thereby improve the take-up of mobile computers based on its Banias chips in 2003.
Intel has already invested about $25 million in about ten companies in this area, according to Mark Christensen, vice president and director of Intel Capital's communications investment group. Christensen said that although no timetable was set for spending the remaining $125 million it was expected to be invested over the next two to two-and-a-half years. Most of the previous activity was in the U.S. and Intel is now seeking to broaden its stimulus investment package to cover the world.
Christensen said he expected the money to be spent typically in sums of $5 million or less as series A or Series B equity investments in start-ups in the area of services, management technologies and prompting deployments of wireless LAN hot-spot networks. The Banias 'platform' is due to combine 802.11a and 802.11b dual-mode wireless LAN connectivity with a processor in a combined processor and chipset that will be available from Intel in the first half of 2003, Christensen said.
Intel Capital's future 802.11 investments will probably follow a similar pattern to past ones, Christensen said, with the emphasis being on services, such as seamless roaming, billing, systems and some component activities in the radio area, such as smart directional antennas.
Christensen said Intel was unlikely to look at trying to acquire or invest in chipset providers. "We are looking at silicon, if innovative. We have an end-to-end view including the infrastructure and there is more innovation on the infrastructure side rather than the client side."
Christensen said that geographically Asia was catching up quickly with the U.S. in terms of deploying wireless LAN networks while Europe was lagging behind partly because huge investments in acquiring 3G licenses there were now starving investment in wireless LAN networks by cellular service providers.
"The momentum is in Asia, no matter where you look," he said.
Les Vadasz, the president of Intel Capital President, was due to speak to transportation industry officials at the Wireless Airport Association Conference and Exposition in Washington, today (October 21, 2002). He was due to discuss Intel Capital's plan to invest in Wi-Fi technology and to urge the acceleration of hot-spot deployment at airports nationwide.
"Wi-Fi use is experiencing explosive growth. Estimates show that it could grow to 30 million laptops equipped with Wi-Fi capability in three years," Vadasz said in a statement.
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