The public access Wi-Fi hot spot market just got a little hotter
with Toshiba launching a project to deploy 10,000 hot spots in the
US by the end of the year and Intel signing an agreement with the
government of Singapore to support Wi-Fi roaming throughout
Asia.
Toshiba aims to become the "dominant supplier of 802.11b hot
spot infrastructure and expects a considerable portion of the
established public Wi-Fi market to be driven by hot spot operators
and location owners capitalising on the hot spot trend."
Toshiba plans to sell what it calls a "hot spot in a box,"
including a Wi-Fi access card, controller and associated
electronics, to resellers who will in turn sell it to partners such
as convenience stores with a modest mark-up. Toshiba has an
agreement with public access Wi-Fi company WorkingWild, which plans
to install Wi-Fi service in 15,000 Circle K convenience stores.
Alan Reiter, an analyst at Wireless Internet & Mobile
Computing, said Toshiba's low price of entry for hot spot hardware
reflects the increasing commoditisation of the Wi-Fi market, with
client PC cards now priced at $50 (£30) or less.
Adding to the growth of Wi-Fi, Intel is about to formally
introduce its Centrino mobile chip family, which has Wi-Fi
built-in. Gartner Group estimates that by 2005 more than 80% of
professional notebook PCs will have Wi-Fi built-in, with a total
worldwide base of 88.3 million Wi-Fi-equipped computers.
Reiter said Intel's desire to develop as wide a market as
possible for Centrino-powered computers is the motivation behind
the deal the company signed today with the Infocomm Development
Authority of Singapore to boost Wi-Fi roaming in Asia.
The IDA-Intel Wireless Hotspots and Network Interworking
Initiative, will carry out an internetworking study to explore ways
to connect fixed-line and wireless networks and conduct
interoperability tests on networking equipment. Under the program,
Intel will also train Singaporean engineers at its facilities in
the United States.
"As Wi-Fi-deployed data services become increasingly important
to the mobile industry, it is critical that end users be able to
easily move between different Wi-Fi networks," said Pat Gelsinger,
Intel's chief technology officer. Total investment in the IDA-Intel
project is pegged at $2.25m, mostly for manpower and equipment
costs.
Intel has also backed Wi-Fi networks in the US. Last December -
along with AT&T . and IBM - it formed Cometa Networks, which
plans to roll out public access Wi-Fi service in the top 50 US
markets.
Reiter said the "jury is still out" on Cometa, and Toshiba could
well have the lead in a public access Wi-Fi market that still
doesn't have a dominant player.