Atheros Introduces New 802.11g Chip for Carrier Gateways

Atheros Communications announced introduced an enhanced 802.11g silicon solution for home gateways. The compact, single-chip Atheros AR2417 solution, which is the newest member of the company's seventh-generation AR5007 family, offers significantly increased integration while delivering WLAN signal range of up to 300 ft. Rhe new low cost, single-chip solution for mini-PCI and cardbus designs reduce the rest of bill-of-materials (RBOM) by 30-45 percent compared to competitive solutions.



Like its predecessor, the AR5005G which has shipped more than 30 million units to date, the new AR2417 integrates the media access controller, baseband processor and 2.4GHz radio onto the single-chip design. In addition, the AR2417 now delivers greater value by integrating the low noise amplifier (LNA) and power amplifier (PA) onto the low cost, digital CMOS system-on-chip. The AR2417 offers the added benefit of its innovative 2-layer mini-PCI design.



Atheros said while it continues to push ahead with its XSPAN draft 802.11n solutions, it also continues to invest in 802.11g. Home gateway solutions based on 802.11g technology provide ample performance for basic data networking and web surfing, while the significantly greater throughput enabled by 802.11n networks is required to deliver triple-play services -- data, video and voice -- throughout the home.



The AR2417 chip is currently in volume production and shipping to leading retail and carrier customers.

http://www.atheros.com