Atheros Ships World’s First
Single-Chip 802.11g Wireless LAN Solution in Production Volume
D-Link to Introduce New Wireless Products Based on Atheros’
Single-Chip Technology
SUNNYVALE, Calif., April 26, 2004
- Atheros Communications (Nasdaq: ATHR), a leading developer of advanced
wireless LAN (WLAN) chipsets, today announced volume shipments of the world's
first complete single-chip IEEE 802.11g WLAN solution, the Atheros AR5005G.
D-Link, a global leader in networking and communications, plans to use the
AR5005G in its line of 802.11g wireless networking products, and has awarded the
first publicly announced design win for the chip.
Atheros’ innovative single-chip design, which sampled in
January, brings an unprecedented level of integration, performance, power
savings and cost reduction to the rapidly growing 802.11g market. The solution
is well suited for a wide range of retail, business and consumer electronics
products including PC cards, access points and home gateways, small form-factor
PCs, handheld data communications products, and VoIP handsets.
“We are pleased to be
extending our relationship with Atheros to utilize their latest-generation
802.11g technology,” said Steven Joe, President and CEO of D-Link. “We believe
Atheros’ single-chip solution will allow us to bring new high-performance
802.11g products to the market at very attractive price points.”
This low-cost digital CMOS
(complementary metal-oxide semiconductor) chip integrates a Media Access
Controller (MAC), a baseband processor, a high-performance 2.4-GHz radio, and
many of the discrete components used in earlier 802.11g designs, resulting in a
35 percent part count reduction from products based on two-chip solutions, and a
similar reduction in BOM (bill-of-materials) costs. In addition, the highly
integrated design enables low-cost 802.11g products that overcome the range and
throughput limitations often experienced with 802.11b and 802.11g solutions from
other vendors.
According to Colin Macnab,
vice president of marketing and business development at Atheros, “The AR5005G is
another example of our industry leadership in RF design integration, combining
analog and digital functions in standard digital CMOS. By driving performance,
cost and integration to this level, we are opening new markets that aren’t well
served by multiple chip solutions.”
The Atheros AR5005G features
new signal processing technology that extends the battery life of mobile devices
by dynamically adjusting power consumption in response to system and network
activity. This technique delivers up to 98 percent lower power consumption than
multi-chip WLAN solutions on the market today.
The chip also supports the
latest WLAN security standards, including Wi-Fi Protected Access (WPA and WPA2)
and 802.11i Enhanced Security using Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) in
hardware, without performance reduction. In contrast, competing wireless LAN
products with firmware encryption typically suffer a 20-50 percent performance
reduction when WPA or AES are enabled. The AR5005G also supports Cisco
Compatible Extensions (CCX).
To facilitate the convergence
of voice and data communications on wireless networks, the AR5005G fully
supports the Wireless Media Extensions (WME) Quality of Service (QoS)
capabilities defined in the IEEE 802.11e draft standard. No other product on
the market combines the range, throughput, power consumption, security features,
QoS capabilities and level of integration offered by the Atheros AR5005G.
Also shipping in volume is an
enhanced version, the Atheros AR5005GS, which supports robust throughput based
on Atheros’ Super G® technology. This allows the development of WLAN products
with among the highest throughput available today, enabling real throughput
rates of over 60 Mbps in a typical home environment. The AR5005GS uses Atheros
adaptive radio technology, which actively looks for clear channels and uses them
to provide maximum throughput-on-demand for all users.
Additionally, the AR5005G and
AR5005GS single-chip products both support eXtended Range operation, XR, which
enables connections at greater distances from the access point and provides
wireless connectivity to areas of the home in which signals are otherwise too
weak to connect.
About Atheros Communications, Inc.
Atheros Communications is a leading developer of
semiconductor system solutions for wireless communications products. Atheros
combines its wireless systems expertise with high-performance radio frequency
(RF), mixed signal and digital semiconductor design skills to provide highly
integrated chipsets that are manufacturable on low-cost, standard complementary
metal-oxide semiconductor (CMOS) processes. Atheros technology is being used by
a broad base of leading customers, including personal computer and networking
equipment manufacturers. For more information, visit
www.atheros.com
or send email to
info@atheros.com.
# # #
Atheros, the Atheros logo, and Super G are trademarks of
Atheros Communications, Inc. All other trademarks mentioned in this document
are the property of their respective owners.
FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS:
Except for the historical
information contained herein, the matters set forth in this press release,
including the features, performance and benefits of Atheros’ single-chip
solution and products, are forward-looking statements within the meaning of the
Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking
statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual
results to differ materially, including, but not limited to, the impact of
competitive products and technological advances, manufacturing difficulties,
difficulties in development of enhanced and new products, the company’s ability
to market the product and ship in volume, and other risks detailed in Atheros’
Prospectus dated February 11, 2004 as filed with the SEC and from time to time
in Atheros’ SEC filings. These forward-looking statements speak only as of the
date hereof. Atheros disclaims any obligation to update these forward-looking
statements.
Cheryl Patstone, 408-773-5344, cheryl@atheros.com
or Greg Wood, A&R Partners, 650-762-2838,
gwood@arpartners.com.
