HP bets on new WiFi wireless standard

Computer giant HP said that a new wireless fidelity (WiFi) standard will be adopted way ahead of Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (Wimax), a regional executive said.

Wimax provides wider coverage than WiFi. Intel is expected to come out with Wimax chipsets early next year and notebooks with built-in Wimax soon afterwards.

Meanwhile, the WiFi 802.11n provides about five time faster bandwidth than existing a/b/g standards.

The HP ProCurve MSM410, for instance, is a single-radio access point designed for use in areas such as hotels and hospitals.

The standard, however, is not expected to be adopted by home users but instead by service providers and commercial establishments that cater to a far larger set of end-users.

“802.11n address bandwidth issues and will become the driver, if not the standard, for carrying new applications such as RFID in different industries,” said Eric Lee, HP Procurve regional director for Southeast Asia and

Korea.

Notebook makers such as HP and Apple have launched models with built-in 802.11n compatibility.

Lee, however, acknowledged that even in Singapore, 802.11n adoption is not that widespread yet. “But moving to 802.11n will be a much easier path for end-users,” he said.

HP Procurve, the tech firm’s networking division, will start selling the new WiFi-based standard in December, as a result of HP’s acquisition of Colubris Networks earlier this year.

Colubris’ entire product line will be integrated into HP ProCurve, including the latter’s network management solutions, Lee said.

The acquisition of Colubris adds 802.11n capabilities into HP’s networking line, strengthening its position against competitors such as Cisco and 3Com.

Citing market data from IDC, Lee said HP ProCurve is behind both companies in the Philippine market. “But this is a very strategic integration and the addition of 802.11n strengthens our position,” Lee said in an interview with INQUIRER.net.