Intel shelves plans for Wi-Fi access point
Intel has snuffed out a plan to provide consumer desktop PCs with built-in Wi-Fi access points--the latest wrinkle for the chipmaker, which has faced a number of product setbacks this year.
Intel had planned to deliver its Intel Wireless Connect product--a bundle consisting of a special memory controller hub chip for its Intel Express 915 chipset, a Wi-Fi card and setup software--to PC makers during the fourth quarter. Intel had hoped that Wireless Connect would help popularize Wi-Fi networks, as the bundle would let a PC serve as a wireless networking hub for the home.
However, after evaluating feedback from PC manufacturers, Intel no longer plans to deliver Wireless Connect in late 2004 and early 2005 with the current generation of technology. The company may insert Wi-Fi functionality into future generations of chipsets, but that functionality won't appear in the current desktop chipsets, as planned. Intel comes out with major revisions to its chipsets about once a year.
