Intel releases laptop WiMAX platform (without the WiMAX)

Intel today took the wraps off of its long-anticipated Centrino 2 processor technology, the new laptop platform based on its Core 2 Duo chipset, which will serve as the foundation for WiMAX embedded computers. The WiMAX part of Centrino 2, however, won’t be available until later this year, timed to meet Sprint and Clearwire’s joint launch of WiMAX services.

Codenamed Montevina, Centrino 2 is intended to be the laptop platform with power management and processing capabilities necessary to support new advanced multimedia functionality and extend connectivity beyond WiFi to the wide area wireless network. Initially the platform is being shipped with WiFi connectivity including new 802.11n chipsets that extend the range and capacity of the WLAN network. To support the Sprint launch, however, Intel will ship a version of Centrino 2 that pairs the Core 2 Duo with its WiFi/WiMAX module (also know as Echo Peak) to PC manufacturers. Intel is targeting the first shipment of WiMAX-embedded laptops for the end of the year.

Though Intel has been slower than specialty chipset vendors such as Beceem Communications and Sequans Communications in getting its WiMAX chipsets to the market, it has definitely been more deliberate. Instead of shipping RF chipsets, Intel has been focused on delivering platforms encompassing both processing and multimedia capabilities as well as radio connectivity. In addition to Montevina, Intel has developed an embedded device platform called Menlow that targets handheld computers and mobile multimedia devices. Powered by its new low-power processor line Atom, the Menlow ultramobile platform cuts the power consumption down to 2.4 watts, compared to 25 watts for the Centrino 2.

Those power levels are still high compared to the mobile platforms designed by Qualcomm and Texas Instruments, but Intel’s strategy has been to start from a robust PC platform and scale downward instead of starting from a more limited smartphone platform and scaling upward. Avner Goren, TI’s wireless strategic marketing director, has described Intel’s mobility target as “a laptop on a diet” as opposed to the rest of the industry’s “smartphone on steroids” focus. (See this week’s Telephony magazine feature Intel’s Wireless Dreams.)

So far Intel hasn’t announced any design wins for the Menlow platform, but there have also been few standalone WiMAX handhelds to announce outside of Korea. The one that has been revealed, Nokia’s N810 Internet Tablet, does contain an Intel chip, but only the Echo Peak WiMAX module. TI supplies the multimedia and processor core. While Intel searches for customers for its Menlow platform, though, it has been making inroads on the radio side. Its Echo Peak chip has wound up in numerous WiMAX home gateways and was one of the few WiMAX modules to receive certification from the WiMAX Forum last month. Its WiMAX activity will likely pick up considerably when the WIMAX-enabled Centrino 2 starts shipping. Unlike in handheld devices, the laptop market has always been Intel’s strength, as its Centrino platform has powered a whole generation of portable PCs.