Mainland technology giant Lenovo Group will release this week an upgraded portfolio of notebook personal computers in the United States designed for the country's first commercial WiMax network.
The world's fourth-largest personal computer supplier will offer six WiMax-ready laptops in Baltimore, Maryland, where US wireless communications carrier Sprint launched last week the nation's first commercial WiMax service.
A mobile internet technology, WiMax is a contraction of worldwide interoperability for microwave access - a standard that provides long-range wireless data transmission in a variety of ways ranging from point-to-point links to full mobile cellular-type access.
Compared with the limited-range and lower-speed Wi-fi internet access used in coffee shops, WiMax is like a broadband internet hotspot that covers an entire city.
David Critchley, a Lenovo product marketing manager in Raleigh, North Carolina, said the initial line of Lenovo products with built-in WiMax capability for Sprint's XOHM-brand service would include the newly released ThinkPad X301 ultra-portable laptop, ThinkPad T400 enterprise notebook, ThinkPad SL400 and SL500 for small businesses, and IdeaPad Y530 for home users.
'Lenovo has been at the forefront of the industry's WiMax efforts, as we started well over a year and a half ago,' Mr Critchley said.