A few weeks ago I wrote about a proposed feature of Windows 7, which would allow you to create a virtual instance of your WiFi card. It looks like Intel is doing a similar play with the virtualized card, but implementing it with a lot of added functionality that should make this a really cool technology for home users.

Have you wanted to share files, printers, or other devices over your home network? If you tried to, do you remember how much of a pain it was to make that happen? Intel’s new technology proposes to make activities like that much simpler, and open the doors to many other connectivity opportunities.

As defined by Intel:

Intel MWT is an integrated silicon, firmware, and software (driver) solution that enables a single Wi-Fi adapter to function like two adapters for concurrent WLAN and Wi-Fi PAN connectivity.

That’s great, but what does it do for you? Every day, more and more devices are becoming WiFi enabled. GPS, cell phones, digital cameras, MP3 players, printers, and the like. My WiFi lets you add nearly device to a Personal Area Network (PAN) that is created using the virtualized adapter. The likelihood is that if your device can connect to a standard wireless network, you’re good to go. Forget about the the dreaded network tweaking that goes on to get everything to talk to eachother on a traditional home network – this one comes with a GUI.

As you can see in the screenshot above, the entire process is nearly point and click. Look closely and you see devices like a printer, AppleTV box, projector, iPod, PSP…the list goes on.

As someone who is moving away from traditional entertainment sources (read: cable/satellite), takes a lot of photos, occasionally needs to print, and has computers littered around the house, this is huge. Multimedia devices can join the network in a pinch, I can print to my bottom-barrel laser printer without expensive & complicated add-ons, and file sharing will be a piece of cake. THIS gives me incentive to upgrade to 802.11n and invest in some WiFi enabled multimedia boxes.

So how do you get Intel’s MyFi? Well you need one of Intel’s two newest wireless cards: the Intel Ultimate N WiFi Link 5300 or the WiFi Link 5100, which are pretty much standard options in any current notebook configuration. From there you’ll of course need a software update, but it looks like from there you’re set. While Dell is being proactive and advertising the feature on their blogs, and it is noted in the WiFi card options during purchase, it doesn’t appear that anything is preventing anyone with the proper wireless card from using this feature.

Are you guys as excited about this as I am? I might need to hunt down one of these cards for my ThinkPad X61.

Check out the links below for more info and useful resources around My WiFi.

Intel My WiFi Technology Tech Brief (PDF)
Intel blog post
Install guide
Intel My WiFi community, including FAQ’s & other resources