Smartphones are not the only devices slated to benefit from 5G. Intel announced today that it is collaborating with Dell, HP, Lenovo and Microsoft to bring 5G connectivity to Windows PCs with the Intel XMM 8000 series commercial 5G modems.
Intel will be giving a sneak peek at a concept 5G-connected PC during Mobile World Congress next week. The PC will be connected by an early 5G modem and powered by the 8th generation Intel Core i5 processors. Intel will show livestreaming video over a 5G network during the conference.
“We see growing interest in applications for different form factors of solutions and 5G-enabled PCs is one of those and we’ll have something on the demo floor to show that,” said Sandra Rivera, SVP and GM in Intel’s Network Platforms Group, in a media briefing.
Intel expects the first high-performing 5G-connected PCs to hit the market in the second half of 2019.
The company last year announced the XMM 8000 series for operating in both sub-6 GHz and millimeter wave global spectrum bands. The series will enable a range of devices to connect to 5G networks—not just PCs but also phones, fixed wireless consumer premise equipment (CPE) and vehicles.
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In addition to 5G, Intel at MWC18 will showcase 802.11ax in the form of a thin PC that will be on display at its booth. It’s also showing eSIM functionality—as of September 2017, all of Intel’s modem solutions for PCs support eSIM in enterprise and consumer segments.
Of course, Intel has been busy with the PyeongChang Winter Olympics where it has supported a number of experiences like 360-degree video, multiangle image capture and virtual reality. The Intel 5G deployments there featured end-to-end 5G technologies and solutions including mobile edge computing, FlexRan, Intel’s Automotive Trial Platform and its 5G Mobile Trial Platform.
Rivera said from Intel’s perspective, it is making tremendous progress in the area of virtualization. It has been involved in more than 160 commercial deployments of NFV and is focused on creating an easy on-ramp for NFV.