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Taipei touts `wireless city' with Intel

Intel Corp, whose processors run more than 80 percent of the world's personal computers, is working with cities including Taipei and Cleveland to build wireless Internet-access networks.

Intel engineers and designers are working on systems that help police and emergency-services workers and allow public access to the Internet in subway stations and other locations, Anand Chandrasekher, Intel's head of sales, said on Thursday.

The Santa Clara, California-based company is using its technical know-how to hasten the rollout of wireless technologies and spur sales of its chips. Chandrasekher expects Intel's "Digital Communities" program to spread to more than 100 locations from 13 in the next 18 months, he said on a conference call.

"The idea is to have a wireless city," Taipei Mayor Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) said on the call. He plans to build 10,000 wireless access points across Taipei's 272km2 to provide coverage for its 2.6 million people.

Taipei aims to complete 90 percent of the project by the end of the year. The city already has high-speed Internet access available in 60 subway stations.

Chandrasekher declined to say how much Intel is spending on the program.

His company is hoping to repeat the success of the "Unwired" initiative that supported the 2003 launch of its best-selling Centrino product.
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