Intel has revealed its 5G roadmap, giving the public a glimpse into how it plans to regain relevance now that PCs no longer reign supreme in consumer tech.
In the roadmap, Intel highlighted its first family of 5G new radio (5G NR) commercial multi-mode modems, its latest LTE gigabit class modem and a recent successful end-to-end 5G call based on its Intel 5G modem.
“Intel is committed to delivering leading 5G multi-mode modem technology and making sure the transition to 5G is smooth,” said Dr. Cormac Conroy, Intel’s corporate vice president and general manager of the company’s communication and devices group, in a press release.
“Our investments in a full portfolio of modem technologies and products are critical to achieving the vision of seamless 5G connectivity.”
“Intel is committed to delivering leading 5G multi-mode modem technology and making sure the transition to 5G is smooth.”
Its first family of 5G NR multi-mode modems, the XMM 8000 series, operate in both sub-6GHz and millimeter wave (mmWave) global spectrum bands. Intel expects to put this tech in PCs, phones and vehicles, among other things.
The first of these 5G modems, the XMM 8060, can support both 5G non-standalone and standalone new radio, as well as certain 2G, 3G (including CDMA) and 4G legacy modes. The company expects it to ship in commercial customer devices (including, potentially, the next iPhone) in mid-2019.
Intel also noted that its XMM 7760 modem, revealed at Mobile World Congress 2017, has achieved gigabit-class speeds. The modem is Cat-19 with Advanced MIMO — multiple antennas that allow for simultaneous transfer and receipt — and carrier aggregation, which pulls together different pieces of spectrum in order to provide more robust speeds and service.
It supports theoretical speeds of up to 1.6Gbps — though in real world situations speeds are often under 1Gbps, while still remaining much faster than typical 4G speeds.
Intel says this modem will also ship in commercial devices in 2019.
As mentioned above, Intel also announced it successfully completed a full end-to-end 5G call over the mmWave 28GHz band with the Intel 5G Modem.
Source: Intel
