IP: 2 on Intel wants to turn PCs into wireless LAN access points

[Dave Farber <dave () farber net>]

------ Forwarded Message
From: Dewayne Hendricks <dewayne () warpspeed com>


[Note:  This item comes from reader Mike Cheponis.  DLH]

Intel wants to turn PCs into wireless LAN access points
By Rick Merritt, EE Times
Apr 10, 2002 (11:57 AM)
URL: <http://www.eetimes.com/story/OEG20020410S0038>

SAN MATEO, Calif. - Intel Corp. is designing a technique for turning
PCs into low-cost access points for 802.11 wireless networks. While
not ready for prime time, early work shows the approach may cut the
cost of an access point by more than half for consumers.

Intel is working on ways to repartition the software for an 802.11
access point so that part of the task runs on a PC host and part on
an 802.11 client PC card in the system. That could reduce the price
of a consumer access point from $250 to about $100, said Duncan
Kitchin, lead architect in Intel's mobile communications division.

Microsoft Corp. is expected to detail its own take on the initiative,
which it dubs Soft Wi-Fi, at its Windows Hardware Engineering
Conference next week, though the company declined to provide
specifics ahead of the event.

A desktop processor is up to the task of handling the work typically
run on a 25-MHz microcontroller in today's access points, Intel's
Kitchin said. However, Intel is still exploring ways to make sure
Windows - which lacks real-time computing capabilities - doesn't bog
down an 802.11 network when a PC is used as a software-based access
point. One method Intel is currently exploring involves partitioning
the application so that real-time tasks are handled on the client
802.11 card where Intel would put a small real-time kernel.

Software-based access points would not replace the hybrid Internet
gateway/access controllers sold today by companies including 2Wire,
Intel and Linksys. They would, however, provide a lower cost
alternative to those products for some consumers, he said.

At this point, the technique does not look suitable for business
users who generally require access points that cost $400 or more and
are manageable from a central console. "This sort of approach would
not provide IT departments with that kind of control," Kitchin said.

Nevertheless, "we think the soft AP is a great idea, though we don't
have anything we plan to release soon," he said.

Intel said a software-based 802.11 client card is still out of the
question, however, mainly because the intensive DSP tasks for such a
device would drain too much performance and power in a host-based
implementation.

Wireless LAN progress report

Separately, Kitchin reported that the work of IEEE 802.11e on
quality-of-service for wireless LANs, a group he leads, could be
finished at the work group level by September, though the spec would
probably not be published in final form until the middle of next
year. "We have enough information now that people have been starting
implementation work on it in firmware," he said.

The companion 802.11i work on security for wireless LANs is not quite
as far along. That spec might be in a stable enough form that
developers could begin firmware work after the group's May meeting,
Kitchin added. The .11i spec, unlike .11e, requires some hardware
work which may not be suitable to start until later this year when
the spec is more mature, he said.

Finally, Intel may launch its first hybrid 802.11a/b products as
early as the Networld+Interop conference in May, according to a
company spokesman.


And

> From: "Steven G. Huter" <sghuter () nsrc org>
> To: Dewayne Hendricks <dewayne () warpspeed com>
> Subject: Re: [Dewayne-Net] Intel wants to turn PCs into wireless LAN
> access points
> Date: Wed, 10 Apr 2002 16:47:11 -0700
> MIME-Version: 1.0
>
> hi dewayne,
>
> doing it on a freebsd box...
>
> article in may 2002 issue of sysadmin magazine.
>
> <http://www.samag.com/documents/s=7121/sam0205a/sam0205a.htm>
>
> steve

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