Conexant and Kawasaki LSI Take the Hassle Out of Home Networking.NEWPORT BEACH Newport Beach, residential and resort city (1990 pop. 66,643), Orange co., S Calif., on Newport Bay and the Pacific Ocean; inc. 1906. It is a popular seaside resort and yachting center. Manufactures include electrical and medical equipment, computers, boats, and adhesives. , Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 26, 1999-- Conexant's and Kawasaki's Chipsets Enable 1 Mbps Consumer Home Networking Products to be Plugged Directly Into a Computer's Universal Serial Bus See USB. (hardware, standard) Universal Serial Bus - (USB) An external peripheral interface standard for communication between a computer and external peripherals over an inexpensive cable using biserial transmission. (USB USB in full Universal Serial Bus Type of serial bus that allows peripheral devices (disks, modems, printers, digitizers, data gloves, etc.) to be easily connected to a computer. ) Port Aiming for more consumer-friendly home networking products, Conexant Systems Inc. (Nasdaq:CNXT) and Kawasaki LSI LSI: see integrated circuit. (Large Scale Integration) Between 3,000 and 100,000 transistors on a chip. See SSI, MSI, VLSI and ULSI. Wednesday unveiled a chipset for home networking products that consumers can plug directly into a computer's Universal Serial Bus (USB) port, without having to open their PCs, install adapter cards See adapter and expansion board. or worry about which serial port or IRQ (Interrupt ReQuest) A hardware interrupt on a PC. There are 16 IRQ lines used to signal the CPU that a peripheral event has started or terminated. Except for PCI devices, two devices cannot use the same line. to use. Conexant is expanding its LANfinity(TM) family of multifunction home networking chips to address both current and future home connectivity applications. The new USB chipset combines the two companies' industry-leading expertise in home networking and USB connectivity. Both companies will offer the two-chip solution initially for 1 Mbps consumer home networking products that can be plugged directly into a computer's USB port A USB socket on a computer or peripheral device into which a USB cable is plugged. See USB. (see fact sheet). Conexant also announced today that it will offer a 10 Mbps solution by the end of the year, and has cross-licensed its home networking technologies with Epigram epigram, a short, polished, pithy saying, usually in verse, often with a satiric or paradoxical twist at the end. The term was originally applied by the Greeks to the inscriptions on stones. Inc. (see accompanying news release). "The vision of the home networking industry is to enable low-cost consumer products and the easiest network set-up possible -- no new wires, and no difficult hardware installation work," said James Muth, product line manager for Conexant's Personal Computing Refers to users working on their own computers rather than a terminal to a mainframe. Sometimes, the term refers to using computers at home for work and/or entertainment in contrast to business use only. See personal computer. Division. "USB-based solutions like the Conexant/Kawasaki chip set will help give users the easy-to-install products they've been waiting for." "This is a marriage of connectivity and communications with significant benefits to the home and small office user in the form of ease-of-use, set-up, performance and reduced cost," said Joel Silverman Joel Silverman is an American television host. He was the host of Animal Planet's Good Dog U. His co-host was a dog named Duke. External link
Home networking technology gives multiple Home PC users simultaneous access to the Internet without the expense of additional phone line charges and Internet Service Provider Internet service provider (ISP) Company that provides Internet connections and services to individuals and organizations. For a monthly fee, ISPs provide computer users with a connection to their site (see data transmission), as well as a log-in name and password. (ISP (1) See in-system programmable. (2) (Internet Service Provider) An organization that provides access to the Internet. Connection to the user is provided via dial-up, ISDN, cable, DSL and T1/T3 lines. ) subscriber fees. Connected PC and Internet appliance Also called "information appliance," "smart appliance," and "Web appliance," it is a device specialized for accessing the Web and/or e-mail. Designed for ease of use, it plugs into a telephone jack or LAN connection for Internet hookup. users also can play networked games or share home networked printers, peripherals, files and applications, all using existing wiring and without interrupting standard phone service. Cahners In-Stat Group estimates that more than 20 million U.S. households will have multiple PCs this year alone. Certain matters discussed in this news release regarding future home-networking products may constitute forward-looking statements forward-looking statement A projected financial statement based on management expectations. A forward-looking statement involves risks with regard to the accuracy of assumptions underlying the projections. , such as discussions of product release dates, product availability, market acceptance and customer demand. Such forward-looking statements involve certain risks and uncertainties, including the timely release of products by manufacturing suppliers, the availability of components and technologies from partners, suppliers and licensors, the acceptance of applicable technologies, the impact of competitive markets, products and pricing, and other risks detailed from time to time in the company's SEC reports, including the reports on Form 10-Q Form 10-Q See 10-Q. for the quarter ending April 2, 1999. Actual results may vary materially. Conexant Systems Inc. is the $1.2 billion company created when Rockwell International Rockwell International was the ultimate incarnation of a series of companies under the sphere of influence of Willard Rockwell, who had made his fortune after the invention and successful launch of a new bearing system for truck axles in 1919. spun off its semiconductor systems business to shareowners in December 1998. Conexant is the world's largest independent company focused exclusively on providing semiconductor products for communications electronics. The company aligns its business into five (5) product platforms: Personal Computing, Personal Imaging, Wireless Communications wireless communications System using radio-frequency, infrared, microwave, or other types of electromagnetic or acoustic waves in place of wires, cables, or fibre optics to transmit signals or data. , Digital Infotainment and Network Access. With more than 30 years of experience in developing analog modem A common device that converts the computer's digital pulses to tones that can be carried over analog telephone lines. See modem. technology, the company leverages its expertise in mixed-signal processing and communications technology Noun 1. communications technology - the activity of designing and constructing and maintaining communication systems engineering, technology - the practical application of science to commerce or industry to deliver integrated systems and semiconductor products for a broad range of communications applications. These products facilitate communications worldwide through wireline voice and data communications data communications, application of telecommunications technology to the problem of transmitting data, especially to, from, or between computers. In popular usage, it is said that data communications make it possible for one computer to "talk" with another. networks, cordless and cellular wireless telephony telephony without wires, usually employing electric waves of high frequency emitted from an oscillator or generator, as in wireless telegraphy. A telephone transmitter causes fluctuations in these waves, it being the fluctuations only which affect the receiver. See also: Wireless systems, and emerging cable and wireless broadband High-speed wireless transmission of data. What is "high" speed is always a changing number. Wireless systems are typically slower than land-based, wireline networks. In the past, wireless broadband started at 250 Kbps, whereas land-based broadband was generally considered to start at T1 communications networks The transmission channels interconnecting all client and server stations as well as all supporting hardware and software. . NOTE TO EDITORS: See accompanying fact sheet for additional details on the two-chip USB home networking solution from Conexant and Kawasaki LSI. LANfinity(TM) is a trademark of Conexant Systems Inc. All other trademarks referenced are the service mark, trademark, or registered trademark of their respective manufacturers.
CONEXANT SYSTEMS INC.
FACT SHEET
Conexant's USB LANfinity(TM) home networking semiconductor solution
OVERVIEW:
Conexant Systems Inc. (Nasdaq:CNXT) and Kawasaki LSI have
created a comprehensive chipset solution for low-cost,
easy-to-install 1 Mbps home networking products. The two
companies' chips provide the core technology for home
networking products that consumers can plug directly into a
computer's Universal Serial Bus (USB) port, without having to
open their PCs, install adapter cards or worry about which
serial port or IRQ to use. Conexant and Kawasaki will each
sell their chips to PC and networking-peripheral
manufacturers, and will also offer a jointly developed
reference design.
ADVANTAGES:
Conexant and Kawasaki estimate that consumer products using
their USB chipset solution will be sold for street prices
ranging from $70 to $80. The only other alternatives for
external solutions use the PC's parallel port and are
generally sold for street prices in the $150 to $200 range.
DETAILS:
Conexant's first LANfinity products, introduced in October
1998, have used a high-performance Peripheral Component
Interconnect (PCI) media access controller (MAC). To enable
significantly easier home-network system installation,
Conexant and Kawasaki LSI have combined Conexant's LANfinity
physical-layer front-end device and Kawasaki's USB MAC. The
total solution includes:
-- Conexant's CN7221 Home LAN physical-layer interface and
analog front end (PHY/AFE): this 3.3v solution is fully
compliant with industry-standard Home Phoneline
Networking Alliance (HomePNA) 1.0 specifications. It
offers the industry's most compact, 32-pin TQFP package
size and is cost-optimized for home-networking
applications, eliminating as much as $4 to $5 in
bill-of-materials costs as compared to home-networking
solutions that use a discrete AFE.
-- Kawasaki LSI's KL5KUSB111 USB-to-HomePNA controller:
enables connection from the USB host to the HomePNA 1.0
specification at 1Mbps. For faster data access, it can
also scale up to 10 Mbps because of the controller's
10BaseT Ethernet link, which consists of an on-chip MAC
(IEEE802.3) and PHY interface. It includes a USB
transceiver, serial interface engine (SIE), 16-bit RISC
CPU with internal RAM (3KB) and ROM (8KB), 1Mbps HomePNA
MAC, 10MHz Ethernet MAC and PHY interface. The RISC CPU
is specifically designed for USB transaction and control
data processing with direct access to the MAC registers.
-- Device drivers: includes all associated PHY/AFE and MAC
drivers for Win98, WinNT4.x and WinNT5.0.
PRICE, PACKAGING
AND AVAILABILITY:
Conexant's CN7221 Home LAN PHY/AFE chip is packaged in a
32-pin TQFP and priced at $5.95 in OEM quantities of 10,000.
It is available in sample quantities and will enter volume
production in June. Kawasaki's KL57SB111 chip is available in
sample quantities, packaged in a 100-pin LQFP, and priced at
$15 in OEM quantities of 10,000. Kawasaki will begin shipping
the chip in volume in the second calendar quarter of 1999.
MARKET BACKGROUND:
-- HOME NETWORKING: According to the market research firm
Cahners In-Stat Group (Phoenix), home-networking products
are expected to grow into a $1.4 billion business
in four years. A key to market growth is the pricing and
convenience of consumer home-networking products. "The
whole point of home networking is that it be as simple
and as painless as possible for the consumer," said
Michael Wolf, an analyst with Cahners In-Stat Group. "If
the industry is going to promote the convenience of not
having to install any new wiring, it can't then expect
the consumer to tear apart all their computers to install
adapter cards. Using today's very popular USB port is the
most cost-effective solution for true plug-and-play
simplicity for home-networking technology."
-- USB: USB was developed by PC and telephone industry
leaders to dramatically simplify peripheral integration.
With USB, the system detects when devices are added or
removed, and automatically assigns host resources without
user intervention and without having to re-boot the
computer. From one USB host, it is possible to connect up
to 127 peripherals. Nearly all computers shipped since
mid-1997 come equipped with a USB port, and Cahners
In-Stat estimates that nearly 400 million PC peripherals
will support USB by 2002.
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