The first trials could be held as early as late this year and will involve manufacturers of mobile phones and handheld computers, although no names of those have yet been mentioned. BT's Exact Technologies research centre is the BT unit to work with Intel. Intel will bring in its new wireless Personal Client Architecture software and semiconductor design. No financial details were disclosed, but any services that will be developed can be sold to outside customers by BT Exact Technologies, which employs 3,500 people. Telecommunications companies are getting involved with semiconductor companies because cellular phones are becoming more complex as they develop into tiny Internet terminals.
Telecommunications companies have to make sure that new services work on future phones.
Intel is hosting a developers' conference in Amsterdam this week, its first outside the US, which will focus exclusively on its aim to become a major provider of communications chips. The world's largest semiconductor company, Intel earlier announced on Thursday it would unveil technology to produce all key components of a mobile phone on a single chip. Over three-quarters of Intel's sales are still generated from its personal computer and computer server business.