Atheros Communications’
High-Performance Wireless Chips Featured in AIRAYA 4.9GHz Public Safety
Network Product
New AIRAYA WirelessGRID™ Bridges
Support Outdoor Multipoint and Point-to-Point Wireless Connectivity
SUNNYVALE, Calif., May 2, 2005—Atheros
Communications, Inc. (NASDAQ: ATHR), a leading developer of advanced wireless
LAN (WLAN) chipsets, today announced that AIRAYA Corp. has selected Atheros’
chipset technology for its public safety series of WirelessGRID™ bridges. The
products enable secure, high-performance wireless multipoint and backhaul
networks in the new homeland security and public safety 4.9GHz band.
The Federal Communication Commission (FCC) designated the
4.9GHz band for fixed and mobile operation. The spectrum can be used to extend a
high-speed network outdoors or between buildings. Additionally it can be used
for dispatch, vehicular and personal communications, or to establish secure
wireless local area networks for incident scene management.
AIRAYA’s 4.9GHz WirelessGRID bridges were recently
certified by the FCC. The solutions offer a rugged enclosure design, and combine
four operating bands (4.9, 5.2, 5.4, 5.8 GHz), with four channel size selections
(5, 10, 20, 40 MHz) to optimize spectrum usage, maximize data throughput and
increase system capacity for homeland security and public safety applications.
“The 4.9GHz band offers homeland security and public safety
organizations their own high-speed wireless communications band,” said Mike
Nydam, president and chief executive officer of AIRAYA. “The Atheros chipset
enables us to provide our customers with compelling solutions designed to meet
the need for secure, reliable, fast and affordable public safety wireless
multipoint and backhaul solutions.”
Atheros’ chipset technology provides a high degree of
flexibility with band and channel size selection enabling public safety
organizations to deploy a high performance wireless network that can be used in
any environment. The Atheros chipset also provides the industry’s strongest
wireless security support.
The chipset features an Advanced Encryption Standard (AES)
encryption engine, enabling real-time support for full 802.11i security. AES
encryption is supported by all of Atheros 802.11a/g and 802.11g chipsets,
allowing real-time encryption with no degradation of operating data rates for
the computing, consumer electronics and wireless broadband markets.
“Atheros’ advanced wireless chipsets feature a wide tuning
range including 4.9GHz band support,” said Craig Barratt, president and chief
executive officer of Atheros Communications. “AIRAYA is bringing to market
high-performance and affordable 4.9GHz-based products featuring Atheros’
technology. We’re pleased to join AIRAYA in developing new products that will
enhance wireless networking for public safety agencies.”
About AIRAYA
AIRAYA Corp is a privately held company based in Morgan
Hill, California. The company’s mission is to provide fast and affordable
outdoor wireless bridges for the broadband wireless marketplace.
Our
AIRAYA's portfolio includes a complete line of high-performance
indoor and outdoor 4.9-5.85 GHz wireless multipoint and backhaul
(point-to-point) bridges and accessories for connecting IP networks at distances
up to 30 miles. AIRAYA outdoor wireless bridges are installed in thousands of
networks in more than 30 countries worldwide. For more information, visit the
AIRAYA web site at
www.airaya.com, email
info@airaya.com or call toll free 1.866.2AIRAYA
(1.866.224.7292).
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 and the Atheros logo are trademarks
of Atheros Communications, Inc. All other trademarks mentioned in this document
are the sole property of their respective owners.
FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS:
Except for the historical information
contained herein, the matters set forth in this press release, including
statements regarding the features, performance and benefits of Atheros’ and
AIRAYA’s products, and the potential applications of these 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, difficulties in development and manufacture of
new products and upgraded products, unforeseen problems in the performance of
products upon broad deployment of these products, whether a significant number
of public safety and homeland security departments will deploy wireless networks
and use AIRAYA’s products, the effects of governmental regulation, and other
risks detailed in Atheros’ Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended
December 31, 2004 as filed with the SEC and in other reports filed with the SEC
by Atheros from time to time. 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,
For analyst contact: Deborah Stapleton, Investor
Relations for Atheros, 650-470-0200,
deb@stapleton.com
