Spurred By "Bluetooth," Intel To Open Wireless Communications Center in Sweden.

Intel Corp. said last week it will open a Wireless Competence Center in Sweden's capital city of Stockholm to develop a new generation of standards-based technologies and products, providing business users and consumers with wireless capabilities for a wide range of applications including Internet access and communications. Staffed by connectivity experts, it will serve as a resource to Intel's product divisions as well as other industry leaders and their customers. Announcement of the center comes a year after the so-called Bluetooth initiative, which Intel formed in 1998 with Ericsson, IBM, Nokia, and Toshiba, to develop a way for users to connect a wide range of mobile devices quickly and easily without cables. "Accessing the Internet and corporate networks through wireless connection requires ubiquitous and seamless technology solutions," says Rob Eckelmann, GM of Europe, Middle East, and Africa for Intel. "Having a dedicated team based in the heart of the world's wireless center will help us deliver the technology required for wireless Internet devices that can complement today's PCs and business networks."