Compaq Computer, the world's largest computer maker, will add a new port to its laptop computers to allow consumers to surf the Internet and connect to other computer devices wirelessly.
Compaq said the MultiPort located in the back of the notebooks would be compatible with 802.11b wireless local area network (LAN) and Bluetooth short-distance wireless technologies.
The company said chipmaker Intel has designed a new wireless LAN product that is compatible with MultiPort. When Intel's product is connected to the MultiPort, consumers would be able to connect wirelessly to a high-speed physical connection through a hub.
As Bluetooth products are introduced, consumers would also be able to take advantage of Bluetooth products that would allow computer devices to communicate with their laptops through the same port.
Compaq said it expects to introduce MultiPort into its commercial notebook line-up starting in the spring of 2001.
Wireless Chips
Intel and Analog Devices have announced a new blueprint for chips to power wireless Internet devices.
The new design would handle heavy data flows as video and other rich media move to the Internet.
Products based on the core design will appear over the next year or so, executives said in an interview. They declined to forecast market size or potential revenues, but said the potential was enormous as communications and computing converge.
"This is really the first processor that was architected for voice and data," Analog Devices President and Chief Executive Jerry Fishman said by telephone.
"It really defies anybody's imagination right now of what size an opportunity this could be."
Analog Devices uses digital signal processor technology to convert analog signals into digital data, while Intel, with its history of making chips for personal computers, is an expert on crunching data and is eager to move into the rapidly growing communications chip market.
Texas Instruments has a majority of the market for digital signal processors, which are used widely used in mobile phones.
Ron Smith, vice president and general manager of Intel's Wireless Communications and Computing Group, told Reuters the chip was designed to allow programmers to work faster; to manage power in the devices, which could extend battery life; and to handle increasingly heavy data flows.
"It can be expanded from its current 300 MHz clock rate up to a gigahertz," he said, "which is going to enable more than sufficient bandwidth for as far out as we can see."
