AirFlow Networks Enters Technology Licensing Market with WLAN Switch-on-a-Chip.

Business Editors/High-Tech Writers

SUNNYVALE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--April 13, 2004

New Strategic Direction Leverages Technology through

Partnerships with 802.11 Chip and WLAN System Vendors

AirFlow Networks today announced a new strategic direction in which the company will begin licensing its patent-pending wireless LAN (WLAN) Switch-on-a-Chip (Wi-SoC) technology to vendors seeking scalable WLANs and unique support for Voice over WLAN (VoWLAN) applications. The Wi-SoC takes advantage of AirFlow's unique ability to eliminate AP-to-AP handoffs and provide blanket coverage on all non-overlapping channels simultaneously, as proven with AirFlow's award-winning system products. In addition, AirFlow announced support for the emerging CAPWAP standard as the method to link the Wi-SoC with CAPWAP-enabled APs.

"The vendor community understands the tremendous potential and challenges of enabling VoWLAN, and AirFlow's technology has always had unique applicability for VoWLAN," said Bob Machlin, president and CEO at AirFlow. "Even today, a new IEEE standards committee, 802.11r, is attempting to figure out how to maintain security while supporting fast roaming. Since AirFlow's solution inherently provides secure fast roaming, we made a strategic decision to partner with WLAN chip and system vendors -- instead of fighting against them -- to facilitate the growth of VoWLAN."

"We've been impressed with AirFlow's technology since we first learned of it," said Craig J. Mathias, a principal with the wireless advisory firm Farpoint Group (Ashland, MA). "With the demand for ever-greater performance always important, and VoWLAN now poised to become a major factor in WLAN adoption across all major market opportunities, we believe that WLAN chip and system vendors will have a big interest in the advances AirFlow has developed."

Split-MAC Architecture Provides VoWLAN Differentiation for 802.11 Chips

AirFlow is providing 802.11 chip companies with compelling VoWLAN differentiation through a royalty-free license that enable the "split-MAC" architecture, which enables redundant RF coverage, transparent zero-handoff mobility, and simultaneous blanket coverage on all non-overlapping channels. The solution allows 802.11 chip companies to maintain their existing functionality, ODM partnerships, and customers through a low-risk, low-gate-count method of embedding AirFlow's logic into their AP reference design.

"Engim's 802.11 chipsets provide the only multi-channel 802.11 solution in the industry," said Nick Finamore, president and CEO at Engim. "The combination of AirFlow and Engim technologies enables multi-service WLAN infrastructure systems that are ideal to support wireless data and voice services. By enabling multiple channels on APs, users can segment voice and data to eliminate contention, thereby greatly enhancing performance and capacity."

Wi-SoC Resolves Key WLAN Challenges for System Vendors

AirFlow will begin selling the WLAN Switch-on-a-Chip (Wi-SoC) to system vendors looking to embed scalable WLAN processing and VoWLAN applications into their existing products. The Wi-SoC provides a drop-in chip solution that provides sophisticated RF management capabilities with an all-silicon, high-speed packet processing engine, allowing products such as Ethernet switches, routers, VoIP gateways, and security products to incorporate WLAN switch functionality. System vendors can add applications such as security, rogue AP detection, policy management, and location tracking onto the Wi-SoC to enhance the overall WLAN solution.

The Wi-SoC delivers the following key benefits to system vendors:

-- Mobility Management: With AirFlow-enabled APs, clients do not

experience traditional handoffs during mobility. Instead of

dropping to a minimum performance threshold, scanning for a

new AP, associating with the new AP, and re-authenticating

with the network, clients experience seamless, transparent

transfers from one coverage region to the next. The transfer

speed between AirFlow-enabled APs is a deterministic 7

milliseconds, which doesn't degrade under load.

-- RF Scalability: AirFlow-enabled APs allow simultaneous use of

all non-overlapping channels, allowing nearly 3 times the

normal WLAN capacity in 802.11b/g networks and nearly 12 times

the capacity in 802.11a networks.

-- WLAN Scalability: The Wi-SoC provides centralized WLAN traffic

management for up to 3.6Gbps of wireless traffic and supports

up to 10,000 clients per Wi-SoC. Since the Wi-SoC is an

all-silicon solution, it does not degrade under load.

-- Voice/Data Contention Management: With simultaneous usage of

non-overlapping channels, voice and data traffic can be

segmented onto different channels to eliminate voice/data

contention.

-- Quality of Service: The Wi-SoC provides end-to-end

prioritization of VoIP as well as a deterministic 8

microseconds of system latency with much less than 1

microsecond of system jitter.

-- RF Management: The Wi-SoC provides centralized control of AP

channel management for optimal WLAN capacity and adjustable

coverage cells through tuning transmit power and receiver

sensitivity.

-- Ease-of-Use: Since AirFlow-enabled APs can accept coverage

overlap without causing a "ping-pong" effect with clients,

AirFlow-enabled APs can be deployed with minimal site surveys

and RF engineering.

-- Standards Compliant: The Wi-SoC will support the emerging

CAPWAP standard for communication between Wi-SoC-enabled WLAN

switches and CAPWAP-enabled APs.

The Wi-SoC is available for licensing immediately.

About AirFlow Networks

AirFlow Networks designs and licenses secure wireless LAN technologies that uniquely and elegantly solve deployment and scalability issues inherent in traditional WLAN architectures. AirFlow's technologies allow its partners (WLAN component and systems companies) to build products that offer far better security, performance, scalability, and support for delay-sensitive applications such as VoWLAN than ever before. AirFlow technology is fully compliant with industry standards and incorporates ten patent-pending innovations. AirFlow is a privately held company based in Sunnyvale, California. For more information, visit the company web site at www.airflownetworks.com.