Intel has a problem on its hands with its new chipset for wireless laptops: The Centrino chipset can freeze laptops trying to run software for creating Virtual Private Networks.
Virtual Private Networks, or VPNs, are widely used "tunnels" that allow a user to connect to internal computer networks at businesses, schools and governments through the Internet.
VPNs are especially important when using public wireless hotspots, which are notoriously insecure. Intel's new Centrino chipset is designed to connect laptops to the Internet wirelessly, but without a VPN, a connection can be snooped on by a knowledgeable computer cracker.
According to Intel's website, only five VPN software clients are compatible with the new Centrino chipset, and only after a key software driver for the chipset is disabled.
The company recommends that users shut down a utility for automatically switching between wireless hotspots called the Adapter Switching Feature.
If the utility isn't disabled, users risk the dreaded "blue screen of death," a complete system lockup that requires the computer to be unplugged and rebooted.
The VPN incompatibility, first reported by Wired News, was initially thought to be isolated to VPN software from Nortel Networks.
But Intel now admits that users of other VPN systems also may be affected, although the company refuses to specify which VPNs are not supported by the Centrino chipset. According to market research company Gartner Dataquest, the most popular VPNs are supplied by Cisco Systems, Check Point Software Technologies, Nokia and Nortel.
Intel's website says only that the chipset supports two of Intel's own VPN clients, and VPNs from Cisco, Check Point and Microsoft if the Adapter Switching Feature is disabled when the VPN software is in use.
"We are aware of an issue where in some configurations of the VPN connection with our (Centrino) Proset software and the adaptive switching feature is enabled, it could cause a notebook PC to not work properly," said Intel spokesman Dan Francisco.
Francisco would not say whether the company was recalling any notebook computers or tweaking the Centrino chipset to address the issue. He encouraged workers with problems to consult with their companies' IT departments or the VPN software publishers.
The Intel chipset, which enables users to connect to Wi-Fi networks without a PC card, debuted in March. By the end of 2003, approximately 35 percent of notebooks will be wirelessly equipped, according to market research company IDC.
Uninstalling the problematic switching utility would make it more difficult for people to use public wireless Internet hotspots, which the company touts as a primary feature of the Centrino chipset.
Without the switching utility, users would have to fill out a special profile with a different IP address every time they switched to a new wireless hotspot, experts said.
"You would need to be an absolute expert to configure a wireless system, unless you had this utility," said Sheung Li, product manager at wireless chipmaker Atheros Communications.
Industry analysts said the incompatibility could present a problem for Intel if businesses are discouraged from purchasing Centrino-enabled laptops because they can't easily run VPN software on them.
"Our research indicates that Centrino is ramping very quickly," said Shane Rau, an analyst with IDC. "I think any glitches like this that delay the ramp are not as fundamental a problem now as if they were discovered six months or 12 months from now when Centrino would represent a bigger part of overall notebook PC sales."
Some users are griping about other mobility-related features of Centrino. Derek Kerton, principle consultant at the Kerton Group, is one of a handful who has posted complaints about Centrino on various blogs.
Kerton recently purchased two Centrino-enabled laptops and, to his dismay, he cannot connect to a Wi-Fi network. When he does get a signal, he is kicked off immediately, he said. The problem, which Kerton believes to be a software issue, has forced him to use his old PC card instead.
"Those of us who bought these first-generation chips from Intel should be more careful," he said. "You shouldn't buy a first model year car. I shouldn't have bought a first model year chip."
Intel plans to release a faster, cheaper version of the Centrino chipset next month, according to The Inquirer.
Intel stock (INTC) on Friday afternoon traded for $20.82 a share.
