Intel is chosen to power intelligent 4G basestations

CHIP DESIGNER Ubiquisys has announced that it will develop WiFi base stations using Intel's processors.

Ubiquisys announced a deal with Intel to use its Atom and Xeon processors in its 3G and long term evolution (LTE) basestations. Ubiquisys says that basestations featuring Intel chips will be shown at the tail end of this year.

The intelligent base stations that Ubiquisys is developing are small cells for use in public spaces and big businesses. The need for Intel's processor comes from the growing need to have content within the principality of the base station rather than pulling everything off the internet.

Chris Gilbert, CEO of Ubiquisys said that base stations need to be more than just wireless bridges to the network, instead needing to be "powerful computing platforms bringing the IP cloud as close as possible to mobile users and machines".

What Gilbert is referring to is the ability to cache content on the local network, meaning that network operators can cut costs. However serving up content locally places greater demands on base stations that use embedded processors, which generally are geared up to route packets rather than serve data.

For Intel it's an impressive design win that shows its processors can be used in network infrastructure deployment. With various wireless operators getting ready to deploy 4G networks, Intel will be promoting its chips as viable options for wireless hardware firms to use in their base stations. µ