Dan Warne18 April 2007, 3:43 AM
Intel used its Developer Forum in Beijing to name the date it would be introducing WiMax in notebooks: by the end of June 2008. But it was embarrassed during a keynote when it couldn't actually get the technology to work.
 It worked last night: ahh pre-release technology in front of 1000 journalists... it is a beeyatch |
Intel used its Developer Forum in Beijing to name the date it would be introducing WiMax in notebooks: by the end of June 2008. But it was embarrassed during a keynote when it couldn't actually get the technology to work.
Intel's Senior Vice President David Perlmutter (above, right) was left red-faced after a live demo of WiMax technology in front of the world media failed just seconds into a wireless video streaming exercise.
Perlmutter had just spent several minutes describing how WiMAX would deliver "true mobile internet", with MIMO WiMAX delivering two to six megabit per second average throughput rates.
 Superior bandwidth: when it works |
Intel set up a live, high-definition video stream to an employee standing outside the Beijing Stadium to prove the quality of WiMAX's streaming throughput.
"Hi there! That's a real interesting outfit you're wearing there," said Perlmutter's demo assistant.
 Live high-def freeze-frame: the latest in WiMAX technology allows for still photo transmission |
"H... m... k... ... ... gibbit ... blip" said the person at the other end, with his face frozen in a contorted position.
"Well, there you go, that's what happens when you get ultimately embarrassed," said the red-faced presenter.
It might not have really been Intel's fault -- the UMPC Intel was using to demo the video chat was connected via WiFi within the conference hall, and Intel probably ran into the congestion of 1000+ people trying to get on the net at once. (Of course, Intel makes the WiFi technology as well, so perhaps we shouldn't let them off the hook so easily.)
The day prior, Intel's mobility chief, Mooly Eden downplayed the suggestion that WiMax might have missed its window of opportunity with mobile carriers now switching on broad coverage HSDPA networks.
"We believe that going to Wimax is inevitable because the economics dictate that the price for a broadband solution will be cheaper for Wimax than any other solution," he said.
"Eventually even if you have existing infrastructure [such as HSDPA] I believe more and more people will go to WiMax.
"Definitely the biggest problem is not Australia -- the biggest problem is Europe, where they have put an enormous money into infrastructure, but even so, some of the telcos have been motivated to move and talk about the opportunity [of WiMax]."
However, Eden added that he agreed that the investment in existing infrastructure will dictate how quickly WiMax will be taken up in each geographical region.