The billion mark for the installed base of handsets has already been breached; PC, the other convergence device, is racing towards that mark too. It is estimated that about 76,000 wireless networking cards are being added per day, adding to the 43 million installed based for the cards.

The installed base for wireless access points is ramping up rapidly to about 12.7 million points in less than three-four years.

By 2010, there will be over 1.5 billion broadband-connected PCs and more than 2.5 billion wireless handheld devices capable of providing communications functions, combined with the processing power of today’s advanced PCs.

These numbers convey messages about an irreversible trend happening—convergence and wireless. And this was the single theme continuously broadcasted across the various presentations at the Intel Development Forum held in San Jose in September 2003. While convergence has been happening for some time, Intel’s enthusiasm for making wireless communication ubiquitous is becoming very infectious. A majority of the consumer-based products are wireless enabled and this is just the beginning. So senior vice-president and chief technology officer at Intel, Pat Gelsinger outlined Intel’s ‘Radio Free Intel’ approach for integrating radios into future processors and for developing adaptive radio platforms, making wireless communication ubiquitous. Eric Mentzer, Intel vice-president and CTO of the Intel Communications Group, discussed Intel’s plans to accelerate the deployment of broadband wireless infrastructure worldwide. "It is expected that networks based on the 802.16a standard will have a range up to 30 miles and the ability to transfer data, voice and video at speeds of up to 70 Mbps," Mentzer said.

Intel has signed agreements with leading OEMs in broadband wireless access equipment to deliver low-cost WiMAX-certified equipment based on Intel 802.16a silicon in the second half of 2004.

CEO Paul Otellini also did not fail to point out Intel’s wireless efforts and mentioned that Intel was working on WLAN for 802.11, WMAN or Wi-Max for 802.16 and WWAN for GSM/GPRS and later extending the same to WCDMA. Otellini mentioned that it was not a battle for standards as these standards will co-exist with the existing ones and the opportunities lay in trying to make devices that can sniff out the spectrum and adapt accordingly.

Devices for the wireless world is the next big thing for IT hardware and consumer electronics companies alike and Intel is moving in fast to ensure that it will continue to have monopoly in this segment as well.

Yograj Varma in San Jose The author was hosted by Intel Corporation