SEATTLE-National independent broadband company Speakeasy will use a new infusion of investment capital from Intel Corp. to expand its WiMax network capabilities, the company announced Wednesday.
A new 802.16 technology, WiMax reportedly has the potential to expand broadband wireless communications from the current Wi-Fi range of 300 feet to as much as 30 miles, and 7 million consumers will use WiMax technology by 2007, according to a Parks & Associates report. Speakeasy will use the new cash to deploy broadband wireless networks in 2005 that support WiMax.
“We believe that Intel’s leadership in the technology sector makes it a natural fit with Speakeasy’s progressive business model,” said Bruce Chatterley, Speakeasy president and chief executive officer.
In other WiMax news, Fujitsu Microelectronics America Inc. (FMA) is set to introduce a new system-on-a-chip (SoC) to help develop the new WiMax standard. FMA is targeting an early 2005 launch of a single-chip solution for implementation in base-station configurations designed for single standalone units as well as more complex rack-mounted systems and blade servers that work alongside wireline network systems.
