FROM: http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/59/26223.html
IBM, Intel, telcos mull US-wide WLAN service
By John Leyden
Posted: 16/07/2002 at 16:16 GMT
IBM and Intel are drawing up plans with telecom companies to set up a
network of wireless data hot spots in the US, according to reports.
Talks about Project Rainbow, which would allow laptop and handheld
users
easy access to the Web from public places like airports, have been
underway
for the last eight months, the New York Times reports.
According to the paper, the talks (which involve AT&T, Verizon and
Cingular) have led to a plan to create a "company to deploy a network
based
on a single standard known as 802.11 (sic)" - by which we're pretty
sure it
means 802.11b wireless LANs.
It's unclear whether the plan can be taken forward to develop a viable
business model and unnamed industry sources tell the NYT that a
decision on
whether to go-ahead with the project, or not, is still some months
off. Neither
IBM nor Intel is discussing the plan publicly.
The idea of the project is significant, though, because it suggests a
possible
game plan for luminaries in the industry to expand into the wireless
LAN hot
spot market, which is expected to grow significantly over the next few
years.
WLAN users are expected to reach 147m worldwide by 2007, according to
a recent survey by analysts ARC Group. �
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