Intel, Nokia, Nokia Siemens cooperate on WiMax

Intel, Nokia and Nokia Siemens Networks on Wednesday said they are working together to ensure interoperability across their WiMax products. Additionally, Nokia said it plans to use Intel's semiconductors, codenamed Baxter Peak, in its Nseries Internet devices scheduled to ship next year.

The three companies said they are testing interoperability across Intel's upcoming processors for notebooks and mobile Internet devices, Nokia WiMax devices and Nokia Siemens' infrastructure equipment, the companies said in a statement released at the WiMax World conference in Chicago.

"Intel, Nokia and Nokia Siemens Networks all recognize our collective responsibility in ensuring that people can take full advantage of WiMax," Raviv Melamed, general manager of Intel's Mobile Wireless Group, said. "Simply put, the infrastructure behind the networks and the devices that access those networks must work together seamlessly."

The three companies are also testing their equipment and devices with other products from dozens of other vendors for interoperability and conformance with industry standards. The work is being done at Sprint Nextel's Herndon, Va., labs. Intel is helping Sprint and its partner Clearwire build a WiMax network in metropolitan areas across the nation.

The Nokia Nseries Internet tablet, which is based on the open source Linux operating system, is expected to ship with a Mozilla-based Web browser, e-mail capabilities, and many popular applications, such as Internet telephony from Skype and streaming music from RealNetworks' Rhapsody service. The device is expected to work on Sprint's upcoming Xohm WiMax network.

Intel's Baxter Peak chipset is based on the same WiMax technology in Intel's MiniCard module, codenamed Echo Peak, for notebooks and ultra-mobile PCs. Echo Peak is scheduled for release in the first half of next year.