Atheros Communications, a start-up based in Sunnyvale, California, introduced its third generation, OFDM wireless LAN silicon, featuring significant performance and range boosts, greater security and the ability to operate across 802.11a, 802.11b and 802.11g. Atheros is betting that "multi-mode" capability will eliminate the need to choose among competing WLAN standards and open up the market to the greater number of channels available across the combination of the 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz spectrum bands. The wide frequency tuning abilities of the new silicon opens the way for universal clients that adapt for different spectrum requirements in various countries. Specifically, Atheros access point chipsets include European Union-certified support for Dynamic Frequency Selection (DFS) and Transmit Power Control (TPC), as well as the draft 802.11h standard. DFS and TPC are now required for operation in Europe and will be added to U.S. requirements as a result of the recently introduced Jumpstart Broadband Act.
On the security front, the new Atheros chipsets implement both Wi-Fi Protected Access (WPA) and the 802.11i draft security standards in hardware with high-speed encryption engines that support multiple, simultaneous wireless links with both the Temporal Key Integrity Protocol (TKIP) and the government-level Advanced Encryption Standard (AES).
The new chipsets also implement Atheros "Super G" and "Super A/G" capability, which uses hardware based data compression to boost TCP/IP throughput on a wireless link to up to 90 Mbps for 802.11a/b/g, 802.11b/g, and 802.11a wireless LANs.
The silicon rollout includes four new access point chipsets:
- AP2X -- which can concurrently support two WLANs, an 802.11a network and an 802.11b, network from the same access point. Atheros' flagship chipset includes a wireless network processor with dual, concurrent MAC/baseband functionality, dual Ethernet ports with switching capability, dual hardware encryption engines and a 220-MHz embedded MIPS R4000-class processor. This chipset also includes two independent radios for both the 5- and 2.4-GHz bands.
AP-X-- which provides configurable multi-standard 802.11a/b/g support, enabling universal wireless connectivity for small-office and medium-enterprise customers who primarily want to use 2.4-GHz technology but have an interest in upgrading to 5-GHz support.
AP-G -- which provides 802.11b/g support for value-priced 2.4-GHz data-centric access points and home gateways.
AP-A -- for high performance access points being designed for video and audio/voice applications.
Atheros is also introducing three new client chipsets, including one with multi-standard 802.11a/b/g support for connecting to any access point (street prices are expected to fall below $70), another for 802.11b/g cards, and a third for 802.11a cards. Atheros claims over 40 designs wins for the new silicon.
http://www.atheros.com
