Intel announced today the design completion of their first mobile WiMAX baseband chip. When paired with their previously announced multi-band WiMAX/Wi-Fi radio chip, it forms what companies are calling Intel WiMAX Connection 2300 chipset. It is a common assumption that WiMAX and Wi-Fi can not live together, but in reality that is what Intel among other companies are shooting for in the next generation of wireless equipped devices. WiMax is based on the IEEE 802.16 family of standards, while Wi-Fi is based on the 802.11 standards.
With global frequency support for standards-based Wi-Fi and WiMAX, scalable channel bandwidth, and high-performance multiple-antennas, the Intel WiMAX Connection 2300 will help bring about mobile communications and rich content across supported networks anywhere in the world. For the first time, Intel incorporated multiple input/multiple output (MIMO) functionality into the baseband chip to enhance the signal quality and throughput of wireless bandwidth.