Intel Pitches Wireless Networkng Products for SOHO and Home Users

While I've got to say that the Intel Developer's Forum provided some interesting sights and sounds, I'm glad to be back home in San Francisco. It's almost as if they picked the place to inspire you to stay indoors. San Jose is just way too hot. Coming back to my foggy SF neighborhood, I wanted to kiss the ground. Most of what we saw down at IDF had to do with plans for the future. Promises of faster processors, internal computer bandwidth (even the HyperTransport folks were showing off their wares, but they were hiding in a hotel room in the Fairmont), smaller pseudo-computers (don't see how you type on the things) and, of course, talk of wireless networking. While I'm obviously quite passionate about technology, I've gotta say that it's disappointing that while we hear so many promises of what's to come, those promises aren't always fulfilled.

WAP phones sounded great but nobody uses them. Broadband is great but not enough folks have it. PC/TV convergence has been talked about for years (`nuff said). Wireless broadband is supposed to come around some day soon but I haven't seen any offers in my neighborhood. You see what I mean. A simple way to link together all of the computers in your house without having to run cables everywhere doesn't sound like too much to ask for, but even that's been elusive. So, I'll try to drop my skeptical mood and get excited about the fact that Intel just announced the AnyPoint Wireless II Network family of products that are supposed to provide high-speed wireless network connectivity and shared Internet access for the home, home office and small office environments. The AnyPoint Wireless II Network product family consists of a USB model, a PC card and the Intel Wireless Gateway. Based on the IEEE 802.11b standard, the products are said to provide data transfer speeds up to 11 million bits per second (Mbps), to give you enough bandwidth for simultaneous Internet access, video streaming, MP3 sharing, photo sharing (err, walk across the room), file sharing and other apps. The AnyPoint Wireless II Network products are Intel's first 802.11b offerings specifically designed for consumers. The included Connectivity Suite supports file and printer sharing and includes Internet security features such as Web site filtering for parental control, integrated firewall protection, and 128-bit 802.11b Wireless Encryption Protocol (WEP) encryption.

The aforementioned Intel Wireless Gateway (also announced at IDF) gives you an access point, Internet router, and firewall in a single device. The gateway features both Ethernet and 802.11b wireless connectivity, and includes 128-bit WEP encryption, and an embedded firewall. The gateway can connect multiple PCs to a single broadband modem or be used as an access point for adding wireless connectivity to an existing Ethernet network. The AnyPoint Wireless II Network products are now available in North America. Suggested retail prices are $129 for the PC card and $149 for the USB model. The Intel Wireless Gateway is now available for business use and will be available for consumers in October with suggested retail pricing to be announced at a later date, so we don't know yet what the whole shabang will cost.