Intel increases investment in the digital home

Intel's venture capital arm made new investments in four companies developing technologies for the chip giant's digital home project, Intel said Wednesday.

Through its Intel Digital Home Fund, Intel Capital invested in consumer electronics networking company Digital 5, ultrawideband software developer Staccato Communications, secure services provider Trymedia Systems and ultrawideband chip maker Wisair. Ultrawideband wireless, which allows high-speed communication over short ranges, making video over wireless a possibility, is one of the key technologies identified by Intel for digital homes.

Intel Capital did not announce terms of the investments. The digital home fund, launched in January, is designed to support programs that let people use digital content--music, games, photos and video--on multiple devices in their homes and beyond. Intel's chief technology officer, Pat Gelsinger, said this week that the Digital Home Working Group is creating a set of standards that allow interoperability between PCs, digital video recorders and other consumer products.

"These four companies' technologies help solve key interoperability, bandwidth and distribution issues," Intel Capital President John Miner said in a statement.