Atheros Ships Wireless System-on-a-Chip (WiSoC) Solutions for Single and Dual-Band Access Point, Gateway and Router Designs

Wireless network processor architecture brings unprecedented level of integration security and performance to infrastructure products

SUNNYVALE, Calif., June 3, 2003—Atheros Communications, the market-share leader in multi-standard wireless LAN (WLAN) technology, today announced the volume availability of four new wireless-system-on-a-chip (WiSoC) solutions that dramatically increase wireless performance and security while reducing parts count, cost and power consumption. By combining fast network processors with high-performance wireless and wireline technologies, Atheros provides the basis for inexpensive, secure access points, gateways and routers that communicate concurrently with IEEE 802.11a, 802.11b and 802.11g clients.

“Atheros is a leader in the field in 11a/b/g, 11b/g and 11a silicon for wireless networking,” said Connie Wong, director at Semico Research. “Improving on an already high level of integration makes Atheros’ new solutions ideal for wireless infrastructure developers, who can reduce overall costs considerably while offering secure, high-performance enterprise and home-gateway products.”

 “With a single-chip wireless network processor and its radios, Atheros provides the industry’s ultimate wireless access point, gateway and audio/video solutions,” said Craig Barratt, president and chief executive officer of Atheros. “We are shipping chipsets optimized for secure enterprise-class access points, cost-sensitive home and small-office gateway and router products, and robust-quality-of-service audio/video products. For market-segment coverage and advanced technology, no one else even comes close to Atheros.”

Four new access point chipsets

Now shipping in volume, the new chipsets in the AR5002AP family represent the most highly integrated WLAN infrastructure products available today. They include:

AR5002AP-2X—Supports dual-band concurrent WLAN networks for access points or home gateways. The AR5002AP-2X allows these products to communicate with 802.11a, 802.11b and 802.11g clients simultaneously with no performance compromises, while operating Wi-Fi Protected Access (WPA) with TKIP or government-level AES encryption and 802.1x-based authentication.

AR5002AP-X—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.

AR5002AP-G—Provides 802.11b/g support for value-priced 2.4-GHz data-centric access points and home gateways. 

AR5002AP-A—Delivers the high-performance 5-GHz throughput and reliable quality of service required for video and audio/voice applications.

The flagship AR5002AP-2X 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 (802.11a and 802.11b/g, respectively), enabling the concurrent operation of two simultaneous networks with no performance degradation. The AR5002AP-2X takes full advantage of the throughput available from both bands, while reducing the chip count for a complete dual-band access point or router from nine chips to three.

All four of the new access point chipsets feature WiSoC designs that integrate the wireless and wireline functionality needed to implement a complete access point or router. Atheros has significantly reduced the bill of materials compared with the company’s previous generations of highly integrated chipsets and competitors’ solutions.

The third-generation chipsets are shipping with support for draft 8.2 of the 802.11g specification—the final 11g draft version. Atheros is first to market with an implementation of this final version.

In addition to the four new WiSoC chipsets, Atheros introduced three new third-generation client chipsets. Please see the separate release on these products for more details. All of the third-generation products announced today are now in volume production.

Security without compromise

A key feature of all Atheros third-generation chipsets is security without compromise. The chipsets fully 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). True hardware support allows an infrastructure product to support all of its clients at full speed when security functions are operating.  By contrast, competitors’ solutions suffer a 20-50 percent performance reduction when WPA or AES is enabled.

The most advanced wireless networking chips available today

The third-generation technology in Atheros’ new WiSoC chipsets provides numerous improvements in performance and range, while reducing power consumption compared to competing products. Rather than relying exclusively on hefty battery-draining power amplifiers and low-noise amplifiers to improve range, for example, Atheros has increased the radio chip’s receive sensitivity and multipath tolerance to unprecedented levels. With a given transmit power, WLAN products based on the new chips offer far better range and throughput than those based on less-efficient chipsets from other suppliers.

The new chipsets also implement Atheros Super G® and Super AG® capabilities, delivering up to 90 Mbps of TCP/IP throughput for 802.11a/b/g, 802.11b/g, and 802.11a wireless LANs. These standards-based and fully interoperable features include a new 108-Mbps capability for 11g and 11a, a real-time hardware data compression engine, standards-compliant bursting support found in third-party solutions, and dynamic transmit and modulation optimizations. Super G and Super A/G are fully backward compatible with conventional 802.11b, 802.11g and 802.11a products and fully support mixed-mode operation with Atheros and third-party solutions in the same network.

Atheros’ performance enhancements provide over 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 wireless connectivity

Atheros multi-mode technology eliminates the need to choose among competing WLAN standards. Any access point, gateway or router based on the new AR5002AP-2X or AR5002AP-X chipset can communicate with 802.11a, 802.11b or 802.11g clients. With such a network, enterprise or home users can support existing 802.11b clients while maintaining an upgrade path to the scalability and higher performance available from 802.11a or 802.11g. Additionally, the frequency range provided by Atheros-based designs covers all international wireless networking spectrum, so users are assured that their Atheros-based products support wireless standards and regulations anywhere in the world.

Atheros access point solutions also 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. The wide frequency range and DFS/TPC capabilities built into the third-generation chipsets introduced today are further assurance that infrastructure products based on these chipsets will be viable for years to come.

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 multimode 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, Avaya, BenQ, Chantry Networks, Contec, CyberTAN, Dacom, Delta Networks, D-Link, Gemtek, Gigabyte Technology, Global Sun Tech, HP, IBM, ICOM, Intel, Intermec, I-O Data, Linksys, NEC, NETGEAR, Nortel, Philips, Proxim, Samsung, Senao, SMC Networks, Sony, Symbol Technologies, TDK, TECOM, 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.

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For press and analyst inquiries contact: Cheryl Patstone, 408-773-5344, cheryl@atheros.com or Greg Wood, A&R Partners, 650-762-2838, gwood@arpartners.com.