IP: more on Intel wants to turn PCs into wireless LAN accesspoints

[David Farber <dfarber@earthlink.net>]

-----Original Message-----
From: Robb Cutler <robbc@harker.org>
Date: Fri, 12 Apr 2002 04:12:10 
To: <farber@cis.upenn.edu>
Subject: Re: IP: 2 on  Intel wants to turn PCs into wireless LAN access
	points

Prof. Farber -

In December, 2000, my wife and I had the unfortunate privilege of living for
several weeks in a pediatric intensive care unit with our 4-year-old son
(leukemia and chicken pox are *not* a good combination -- he pulled through
though and is doing great now...).

During that time in the PICU, our communication with the outside world was
primarily through e-mail.  We both had iBooks with Airport cards.  I dialed
in to the internet via modem and set up my iBook as a software access point
("software base station" in Apple terminology), my wife connected to my
computer via Airport, and we both were able to do e-mail, surf the web, etc.

It's interesting that this still hasn't made it into prime time in the
Wintel world...

Best regards,
Robb
-- 
Robb Cutler
Upper School Computer Science Teacher
Dean, Class of 2005
The Harker School
San Jose, California



On 4/12/02 1:15 AM, Dave Farber at dave@farber.net wrote:

> 
> ------ 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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> http://www.interesting-people.org/archives/interesting-people/

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