Intel has acquired Rivet Networks, the manufacturer of Killer-branded NICs (network interface cards responsible for managing your communications) available from other laptops of well-known brands such as Dell, Alienware, HP, and other manufacturers. Killer’s communication products are notable for offering game features such as reducing latency to prevent you from missing the game, and prioritizing the placement of traffic in gaming and other applications that need it most.
Rivet networks have been competing with Intel in the NIC space for over a decade. With this acquisition, Intel can make money in the gaming market.
These findings are not just the left field as it may seem. A few years back, Intel and Rivet Networks collaborated to develop the Killer Wireless-AC 1550 NIC, which Intel is handling, according to Anandtech. Now, Intel’s press release means that Rivet Networks’ Killer products products, including its software, will be excluded from its portfolio.
Chances are, sometime in the future, we’ll see the new Intel NIC and some obvious Killer DNA used on a gaming laptop or other type of highly-functional machine. That said, Intel doesn’t provide much detail about when we can expect the new to come true. A press release means that Rivet Networks is “a bad figure in our existing Wi-Fi products,” so we’ll have to wait and see what happens.
Intel declined to share the acquisition purchase price.