Manufacturers don't have to dedicate one notebook model to a specific single 802.11 standard. By using multimode chips, they expect to cut down on the number of support calls from consumers who are experiencing problems with compatibility between the various 802.11 standards. Redelfs also said that Atheros has discovered interoperability problems among currently available 802.11g-based products. This has raised concerns that the problems may taint the public's image of the 802.11g specification. The 802.11g specification has not been certified by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) or by the Wi-Fi Alliance, so products that are in the market are based on draft versions of the specification.

Products using an Atheros 802.11g chip are not expected to reach the market until the end of March, Broadcom and Intersil 802.11g chips are used in products already on the market, The companies said Wednesday that they have not heard of any interoperability problems with the products, The company says several big PC makers--think Hewlett-Packard and IBM--are planning to use its multimode 802.11 chips in their laptops, The Sunnyvale, Calif.-based wireless networking company announced Wednesday that Hewlett-Packard, Toshiba, IBM and NEC will use Atheros' dual-mode 802.11a and 802.11b chip in notebooks, IBM, Toshiba and NEC are already shipping lines art iphone case notebooks embedded with the Atheros multimode Wi-Fi chip, and later in the year HP will begin sending out laptops with its 802.11a, 802.11b and 802.11g combination chip..

CNET también está disponible en español. Don't show this again. Schell cautioned that the market for high-speed wireless access remains in its infancy. Cometa's business, he said, would germinate in the enterprise market where corporations could buy Wi-Fi use from their Internet providers as an additional feature. The "enterprise user," as he labeled the market, "would be the primary beneficiary," Schell said during his speech. "If we created a homogeneous infrastructure and we wholesaled it to major communications carriers.. enterprises could acquire this as a broadband feature on their VPN (virtual private network).".

The demand for Wi-Fi access will largely depend on lines art iphone case the gradual building of metropolitan networks and the availability of PCs equipped with that form of wireless technology, Schell said, He estimated there are only 3 million to 3.5 million portable computers in the United States that have Wi-Fi capability, But that number is expected to increase, helped in part, Schell said, by Intel's plans to introduce its Centrino lineup--a bundle including a microprocessor, Wi-Fi chip and chipset, for making wirelessly enabled notebooks, Coupled with innovations for longer battery life, the number of Wi-Fi portable computers could reach 45 million to 50 million by 2007, he said..

Schell added that a number of fundamental challenges lie ahead for the company, specifically in creating a service that's reliable and secure enough for business users. He also said the services will have to be widespread so that business users could expect uninterrupted access points throughout a city. In order for that to happen, Cometa will also have to find way to install its hot spots in "highly visible locations," such as retail chains, he said. The start-up, backed by Intel, IBM and AT&T, plans to create a network of wireless broadband "hot spots" and then sell access to ISPs and others.