Cisco licenses w/l tech to Intel, TI

SAN FRANCISCO: Networking industry leader Cisco said it will license its wireless technology to Intel Corp, Texas Instruments and other chipmakers so they can develop new products with embedded features that are then used in notebook PCs, personal digital assistants and other mobile devices compatible with Cisco's network equipment.

The partnership to develop the new products, which could do away with wireless access cards used to connect mobile devices to networks, anticipates increased use in the so-called enterprise market -- corporations, government agencies and large institutions such as universities -- of mobile computing devices, said Bill Rossi, general manager of Cisco's Wireless Networking Business Unit.

Cisco dominates the network equipment market, which has fallen on hard times amid the overall technology downturn. Network equipment makers see rising use of wireless devices as a way to spur sales of network gear used to route and manage data traffic.

Cisco said computer makers International Business Machines Corp. and Hewlett-Packard Co. would work with chipmakers in its wireless technology partnership to manufacture devices compatible with Cisco network equipment.

© Reuters