Intel said Tuesday that the company has developed a single chip that will let consumers create a computer network in their home or small office using existing telephone lines.
The chip uses technology developed by privately held Tut Systems, which taps into the unused potential of the ordinary copper wire used in telephone lines.
By using a telephone line, consumers and small business owners will be able to form a network with multiple PCs and link it to external devices, such as printers, scanners, and CD-ROM players, without having to rewire their office or home. The telephone could be used at the same time as the PC network because voice will use a different frequency than the data traffic, Intel said.
Intel is shipping samples of the chip to some PC makers and peripheral device (printers and scanners) manufacturers. Volume production is expected in February 1999.
Reuters contributed to this report.
