Atheros Third-Generation Wireless LAN Technology Boosts Performance and Range, Reduces Power and Cost.Business Editors/High-Tech Writers SUNNYVALE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--June 3, 2003 New Chipsets, Now Shipping in Volume, Support Multiple Standards and Worldwide Tuning Ranges for Universal Wireless Connectivity Atheros Communications, the market share leader in multi-standard wireless LAN (WLAN See wireless LAN. WLAN - wireless local area network ) technology, today introduced seven new chipsets that cover the gamut of WLAN applications. These chipsets support multiple WLAN standards with optimizations for different market segments and price points. A single driver and firmware code base supports all the chipsets, providing both backward and forward Adv. 1. backward and forward - moving from one place to another and back again; "he traveled back and forth between Los Angeles and New York"; "the treetops whipped to and fro in a frightening manner"; "the old man just sat on the porch and rocked back and forth all compatibility with Atheros' legacy and next-generation multi-standard designs. The new chipsets feature third-generation wireless technology that boosts throughput and range, while decreasing power consumption and cost. "Atheros is supporting all the standards, covering all the international tuning ranges, setting new benchmarks for performance and range, and making WLANs both foolproof and future proof," said Allen Nogee, senior analyst at In-Stat/MDR. "Their broad range of design wins and steady stream of new products are testaments to Atheros' power in wireless LANs. We expect Atheros to maintain a position of prominence as the market for multi-mode solutions develops." "We are announcing availability of our third-generation 802.11a/b/g and 802.11b/g silicon, while competitors still struggle to launch their first-generation products with 802.11a support," said Craig Barratt, president and chief executive officer of Atheros. "Meanwhile, our 802.11g products are dominating benchmarks by the PC OEMs, enterprise and retail vendors, and the industry press. System developers have fielded nearly 200 products based on our chipsets, and both system developers and end users will find more of what they like in our third-generation chips." Seven new chipsets available now in volume The new chipsets introduced today include three client solutions and four access point solutions: -- AR5002X client -- Multi-standard 802.11a/b/g support for universal wireless connectivity to any 802.11 network; high performance and future-proofing with backward compatibility -- AR5002G client -- Support for the final version 8.2 draft of the 802.11g standard; a value-priced upgrade path for legacy 802.11b networks -- AR5002A client -- Reliable quality of service (QoS) and high-performance 5-GHz (802.11a) throughput required for video, audio and voice applications -- AR5002AP-2X access point -- Dual-band concurrent support for 802.11a/b/g clients, with enterprise-class security and performance -- AR5002AP-X access point -- Multi-standard support for small-office and medium-enterprise customers who primarily want to use 2.4-GHz technology with an interest in upgrading to 5-GHz support -- AR5002AP-G access point -- Single-band 802.11b/g support for value-priced, data-centric access points and home gateways -- AR5002AP-A access point -- Multi-purpose media-center support for the 5-GHz 802.11a demands of consumer electronics products These chipsets are the most highly integrated WLAN products available today. They include all of the functionality needed to implement a client subsystem or a complete access point or gateway. Atheros has reduced the bill of materials The list of components that make up a system. For example, a bill of materials for a house would include the cement block, lumber, shingles, doors, windows, plumbing, electric, heating and so on. over the company's previous generations of highly integrated chipsets as well as over competitors' chips. The third-generation chipsets are shipping with support for draft 8.2 of the 802.11g specification -- the final 802.11g draft version. Atheros is first to market with an implementation of this final version. Please see the two separate releases on the client and access point products for more details. All of the third-generation products announced today are now shipping in volume. Raising the bar for wireless networking The third-generation technology in the new chipsets provides numerous improvements in performance and range, while reducing power consumption compared to competing products. The new chipsets also implement Atheros Super G(TM) and Super A/G A/G Above Ground A/G Assemblies of God (Church Denomination) A/G Air/Ground A/G Air-to-Ground A/G Albumin-Globulin Ratio (TM) capabilities to deliver up to 90 Mbps TCP/IP TCP/IP in full Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol Standard Internet communications protocols that allow digital computers to communicate over long distances. throughput for 802.11a/g and 802.11g wireless LANs. Atheros' performance enhancements provide more than 10 times the actual throughput of other wireless LAN solutions, are scalable to any number of users and are fully compatible with legacy equipment. Other solutions that offer special turbo or bursting modes are only effective under limited network conditions and adversely affect users of 802.11b or third-party 802.11g products. Universal connectivity and security Universal wireless connectivity means that users can establish a wireless connection no matter which WLAN standard they are using (IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, New York, www.ieee.org) A membership organization that includes engineers, scientists and students in electronics and allied fields. 802.11a, 802.11b or 802.11g) and no matter what country they are in. Atheros third-generation multi-mode chipsets support all of today's WLAN standards, as well as the draft 802.11h standard, and cover all worldwide wireless networking spectrum. The chipsets also support the provisions of the Jumpstart Broadband Act recently introduced in the U.S. Senate. The resulting universal wireless connectivity allows WLAN users to roam across continents and within mixed networking environments, because the chipsets automatically self-configure for different wireless and security standards. A key feature of all the Atheros third-generation chipsets is security without compromise. These chipsets uniquely support both the Temporal Key Integrity Protocol (TKIP See WPA. ) and the government-grade Advanced Encryption Standard (cryptography, algorithm) Advanced Encryption Standard - (AES) The NIST's replacement for the Data Encryption Standard (DES). The Rijndael /rayn-dahl/ symmetric block cipher, designed by Joan Daemen and Vincent Rijmen, was chosen by a NIST contest to be AES. (AES) specified by the Wi-Fi Protected Access (networking, security) Wi-Fi Protected Access - (WPA) A security scheme for wireless networks, developed by the networking industry in response to the shortcomings of Wired Equivalent Privacy (WEP). (WPA WPA: see Work Projects Administration. WPA in full Works Progress Administration later (1939–43) Work Projects Administration U.S. work program for the unemployed. ) standard with no performance reduction. Competitors' solutions suffer a 20-50 percent performance reduction when WPA or AES is enabled. About Atheros Communications, Inc. Atheros Communications is the leading developer of networking technologies for secure, high-performance wireless local area networks. As the industry innovator and market-share leader in multi-mode wireless solutions compliant with the IEEE 802.11 specifications, Atheros is driving transparent connections among electronic devices in the office, home and on the road. Atheros technology is being used by many of the world's leading wireless equipment manufacturers including 3Com, Accton, Actiontec, Acrowave Systems, AIRAYA, Airespace, AirVast Technology, ALPS, Ambit, Aruba Wireless Networks, Askey, ASUS ASUS Arts and Science Undergraduate Society (Queen's University) ASUS Air Support Squadron (USAF) ASUS Annual Support & Update Service ASUS Administrative Support/Utilization , Avaya, BenQ, Chantry chan·try n. pl. chan·tries Ecclesiastical 1. An endowment to cover expenses for the saying of masses and prayers, usually for the soul of the founder of the endowment. 2. Networks, Contec, CyberTAN, Dacom, Delta Networks, D-Link, Gemtek, Gigabyte Technology, Global Sun Tech, HP, IBM (International Business Machines Corporation, Armonk, NY, www.ibm.com) The world's largest computer company. IBM's product lines include the S/390 mainframes (zSeries), AS/400 midrange business systems (iSeries), RS/6000 workstations and servers (pSeries), Intel-based servers (xSeries) , ICOM ICOM International Council Of Museums ICOM Integrated Communications ICOM Input, Control, Output, & Mechanism ICOM Integrated COMSEC ICOM International Currency Options Master Agreement ICOM Improved Conventional Mine ICOM Interim Communications Operations Method , Intel, Intermec, I-O Data, Linksys, NEC (NEC Corporation, Tokyo, www.nec.com, www.necus.com) An electronics conglomerate known in the U.S. for its monitors. In Japan, it had the lion's share of the PC market until the late 1990s (see PC 98). NEC was founded in Tokyo in 1899 as Nippon Electric Company, Ltd. , NETGEAR, Nortel, Philips, Proxim, Samsung, Senao, SMC Networks, Sony, Symbol Technologies, TDK TDK Türk Dil Kurumu (Turkish Language Council) TDK The Dark Knights (gaming clan) TDK Tokyo Denkikagaku Kogyo KK (TDK Electronics Co. Ltd. , TECOM TECOM Test & Evaluation Command (Army) TECOM Training and Education Command (US Army) , Toshiba, Trapeze Networks, USI, W2 Networks, Wistron NeWeb, Z-Com and others. For more information, visit www.atheros.com or send email to info@atheros.com. Note to Editors: Atheros and the Atheros logo are registered trademarks of Atheros Communications, Inc. All other trademarks mentioned in this document are the property of their respective owners. |
|
||||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion