An alphabet soup of new standards

As networking branches out from corporations to smaller businesses and homes, this year's show is likely to be an alphabet soup of new standards --802.11b, Bluetooth, HomeRF, HPNA 2.0 (Home Phoneline Networking), and more.

• Expect to see demonstrations of products based on all these technologies from companies such as 3Com and Intel.

• We also expect to see many products from companies poised to jump on the expanding networking market, including personal firewalls, broadband modems for cable and DSL, and inexpensive routers and switches for small- and medium-size businesses.

  Once companies boasted of having Intel inside. Now they seem to be bragging about having anything but Intel.

• At the top of the list is Transmeta's Crusoe processor family, which includes the 3000 series for handhelds and other gadgets and the 5000 series for notebooks. The Crusoe processor is smaller and consumes less power than traditional mobile processors, according to Transmeta.

• IBM, which manufactures the Crusoe chips, will be demonstrating a ThinkPad notebook based on the chip.

• Expect to see similar notebooks and other devices from Compaq, Sony and others who have funded Transmeta.

Other cool stuff

• Hitachi, Panasonic, Toshiba, and 40 other hardware and software companies will hold a press conference to introduce the first DVD-RAM drives at capacities of 4/7 and 9.4GB.

• A company called AG Neovo will have a new line of TFT LCD flat-panel displays, including a 23.1-inch model.

Take me back to Transmeta in, Intel out

Take me back to Net apps and wireless

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