Nokia and Intel now WiMax buddies

WiMax pioneer Intel has got Finnish handset giant Nokia on board with the latest in long distance broadband.

The two announced their broadband love-in today, saying they will put their heads together to get even more organisations leaping onto the WiMax bandwagon and work jointly on mobile clients, network infrastructure and market development.

Intel and Nokia are also keen to see the completion of the WiMax - 802.16e - standard, scheduled for later this year.

Nokia is touting WiMax as a data services technology for mobiles and laptops, rather than a method of carrying voice.

The Finnish vendor also stressed it intends WiMax to sit alongside operators' 3G offerings, rather than replace them entirely, despite some analysts predicting a connectivity landscape where WiMax succeeds in booting 3G out of the mobile gene pool entirely.

The Finnish phone maker maintains that the "core of Nokia's technology portfolio" is 3G, alongside next-generation connectivity HSDPA, HSUPA and internet-HSPA. As well as putting its vendor muscle into assorted flavours of 3G, it also already has its sights on super 3G.