Intel today launched its first chipset capable of supporting all three "wi-fi" wireless networking.

The company moved into communication chips in the late 1990's however until now, faced strong competition and product delays. As a consequence Intel has lagged behind competitors Broadcom and Texas Instruments.

An operating loss of $345m on revenues of $2.3bn was posted by the Communication Chips division for the first half of this year.

802.11a, 802.11ba and 802.11g will all be supported by the new Centrino chipset. Currently the most common Wi-Fi connection is 802.11b for public areas.

Corporate offices however are moving towards 802.11g. Home networks are towards 802.11a. A laptop user may have to use all three if she is on the move a lot.

The "tri-mode" chip will not produce a huge sales leap. The improvement in technology means the company might win business from mobile phone makers.