Wireless networking given boost by Intel investment

Intel has invested $100m (£65m) in wireless networking developer Symbol and entered into a joint technology development agreement to produce wireless networking products.

If further evidence was needed that wireless networking is soon to become a mainstream technology, Intel has invested $100m (£65m) in wireless networking developer Symbol and entered into a joint technology development agreement to produce wireless networking products.

Last week, Intel and Symbol announced they are to produce both wireless hubs - or base stations - and wireless network interface cards, which are due to ship this year.

Intel is not the only heavyweight to throw its weight behind wireless networking. Compaq recently announced it is to produce a range of PCs that will include wireless networking technology from Proxim, and Microsoft and 3Com plan to produce co-branding wireless products for home and small office networking.

As well as producing its own branded products, Intel also intends to develop wireless networking chipsets to sell to other manufacturers.

The jointly developed products will be based on the IEEE 802.11 wireless local area network (LAN) standard in the 2.4Ghz and 5.2Ghz bands.

Tomo Razmilovic, chief operating officer at Symbol, said: "Combining Symbol's leading wireless LAN technology with Intel's recognised silicon expertise will accelerate the mass production of high-speed, low-cost wireless LAN chipsets."

Analysts said that the market adoption of wireless networking is being held back by its high cost and poor performance, relative to wired alternatives.

Symbol also announced its financial results for the year ended 31 December 1999. The company reported turnover up 16 per cent to $1.1bn and profit up 25 per cent to $177m. Symbol made $49.3m profit from $269m turnover in its fourth quarter, an increase of 35 and 16 per cent respectively from the same period a year ago.

"Revenue passed the $1bn mark, bookings momentum has continued to accelerate, and our Spectrum24 wireless LANs and scanner-integrated palmtops are being widely deployed. Right now, the outlook for Symbol's businesses has never looked better," Razmilovic said.