Intel investment aids increasing number of VoIP solutions

Intel, the microchip manufacturer, has led a $10 million investment in BridgeWave Communications, a WiMax developer.

Other companies featured in the investment were Core Capital, Cipio Partners, SDL Ventures and Merifin Capital.

To support new heavy levels of bandwidth in metropolitan areas - created by people using new technologies like voice over internet protocol (VoIP) - more capacity needs to be created, and the investors felt BridgeWave were the best placed company to achieve this.

"BridgeWave is well-positioned to address this need as their technology provides full line-rate gigabit speeds and utilises the wide spectrum available between 60 GHz and 90 GHz," said the director of the mobility sector at Intel, Sriram Viswanathan.

The news will cause movement in the communications industry, as increases in bandwidth will allow more VoIP traffic.

Any VoIP provider will want to move quickly to take advantage, and mobile phone companies could see potential for creating new models of VoIP phones.