WiMax broadband wireless technology took a major step forward Monday as Intel announced volume shipments of its PRO/Wireless 5116 chip, fromerly known as Rosedale.While Intel has trumpeted WiMax for years as standards development slowly progressed, the chip giant finally is now churning out silicon. Equipment vendors including Proxim, Alverian, Redline Communications and ZiMax Technologies an-nounced agreements to use Intel silicon in products based on the IEEE 802.16-2004 standard that the chip addresses, Intel said. In addition, some equipment vendors announced products the chip. Among them will be Redline, in Markham, Ontario, which will launch its RedMax line of customer premises equipment, IDG News Service reported. The company will introduce a product with an outdoor antenna and an indoor box with connections for phone and broadband data service, said Kevin Suitor, vice president of business development. It will cost consumers less than $500, Suitor said. Redline currently is running 50 trials with service providers using its pre-WiMax product, called the AN-100, he said. Intel is not the first chipmaker to announce WiMax silicon, but it carries a lot of weight as both a high-volume chip leader and the rich uncle of the WiMax family, ready to put marketing dollars behind the technology. The chip hitting the market marks a significant moment for WiMax, Michael Cai, an analyst at Parks Associates, in Dallas, told the news service. “The industry is really looking at Intel, because it’s been positioned as the leader in the WiMax space,” Cai said.WiMAX, short for Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access, is a standards-based wireless technology for providing high-speed, last-mile broadband connectivity to homes and businesses and for mobile wireless networks. Intel said its WiMAX silicon delivers the features needed to provide cost-effective, high-speed wireless modems for homes and businesses. Initial deployments will enable delivery of broadband Internet access to remote areas not currently served by DSL or cable, and will make it possible to wirelessly connect build-ings up to several miles apart. Because it is standards-based, WiMAX technology is expected to make it easier and more cost-effective for new and existing broadband users to enjoy wireless Internet access. “As a standards-based, high-speed Internet access solution, WiMAX can provide the platform for the next generation of Internet expansion, connecting the next billion Internet users,” Scott Richardson, general manager of Intel’s Broadband Wireless Division, said in a statement Monday. “In addition to deliv-ering the first flexible, highly integrated WiMAX system-on-chip, Intel has worked with a number of parties, including carriers and equipment manufacturers, to prepare the industry for the next wave of wireless technology.”Previously codenamed “Rosedale,” the Intel PRO/Wireless 5116 broadband in-terface device is based on the IEEE 802.16-2004 standard, giving carriers and end-users the confidence that equipment from different vendors will work to-gether. WiMAX solutions based on 802.16-2004 enable the creation of high-speed, fixed wireless broadband networks, providing Internet connectivity, Internet Protocol (IP) and TDM Voice capabilities and IP-based real-time video at high speeds. The Intel PRO/Wireless 5116 broadband interface is the first 802.16-2004 system-on-chip optimized for cost-effective WiMAX modems and residential gateways, Intel said. These units may be placed in either homes or businesses to receive and transmit a wireless broadband signal. The product is designed with a high level of integration to streamline the development process and reduce costs for equipment manufacturers, Intel said. It also offers a programmable architecture that makes it easier for equipment manufacturers to add innovative, unique applications on top of the standards-based Intel solution. To bring WiMAX connectivity to a broader audience, the Intel PRO/Wireless 5116 broadband interface enables both outdoor WiMAX products as well as new indoor solutions, such as self-installable WiMAX modems and residential gateways. Technology Industry