The Second Wi-Fi Revolution

Guest post by Randy Nickel, Wireless Marketing Director, Mobile Platforms Group

By now you take for granted that any notebook (or Netbook) you purchase has Wi-Fi built-in. The essential need for flexible connectivity that made Wi-Fi ubiquitous on notebooks is becoming a must-have feature in consumer electronic (CE) devices. In the near future printers, smartphones, digital cameras, personal media players, digital photo frames, game consoles, even televisions, DVD players and speakers will include Wi-Fi. By 2012, In-Stat estimates a whopping 1 billion new devices will ship with Wi-Fi with notebooks comprising less than one third of the total.

Sounds great, right! Here’s the catch. Once you purchase these devices, you have to go through the frustrating task of connecting them to your Wi-Fi Access Point (AP) to link up to your notebook and the Internet. Connecting a notebook to the Wi-Fi network is straightforward because utilities like Intel® PROSet/Wireless software and a full size keyboard and display ease the configuration process. However, this simple task is daunting on a CE device that often has no display or keyboard, not to mention configuring security. Even if you are able to connect your digital camera to your home AP, what do you do after that? Map a drive to your notebook from the digital camera so you can copy pictures directly from the camera to the notebook. Wait, there’s no Microsoft Windows Explorer on the camera. And so on.

Intel® My WiFi Technology: making Wi-Fi personal

Simply put, Intel My WiFi turns a notebook into an Wi-Fi AP that seamlessly takes care of all of the Wi-Fi connection details, allowing users to quickly connect to their devices. Imagine being able to take a picture on a camera, and have it instantly get transferred to your notebook, digital photo frame, or personal media player and print wirelessly – all while remaining connected to the Internet.

Intel My WiFi puts the Intel® Centrino 2® at the nexus of personal computing and consumer electronics. CE devices become even more useful as they’re able to interact with one another wirelessly – allowing users to synch, share, show, and print their digital content. Your notebook, already an essential part of your digital life, basks in the glow of being connected to all these new “cool” devices.

Where do we go from here?

Moving the notebook into the essential lynchpin position for personal computing and entertainment activities is compelling. What if you could display everything from your notebook on that beautiful flat screen HDTV – wirelessly? How about providing Internet access for each CE device – via the notebook to get updates? Imagine one-click smartphone, Netbook and notebook synch? The possibilities are limitless.

Ultimately, Intel My WiFi Technology is more than just a cable replacement–it will revolutionize the way that consumers interact with all electronic devices by seamlessly integrating the worlds of consumer electronics and personal computing. The result, our digital lives become richer and greatly simplified.

What uses can you think of? Could you find a place for this in your digital life?

Interested in learning more? Here’s a pocket guide and a demo.