Sunnyvale, Calif., March 11, 2002 - Atheros Communications today became the first vendor to deliver a second-generation 802.11a chipset, with a host of new advances in radio design using orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM), the preferred technology for IEEE 802.11 wireless LANs at any frequency. The chipset includes enhancements for state-of-the-art security, including hardware-assisted Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) for line-speed encryption.
"Atheros has been here once before," said Allen Nogee, Senior Analyst at Cahners In-Stat/MDR, "single-handedly changing the WLAN landscape with new technology much sooner than anyone was willing to predict. Now, before any other company has even shipped their first-generation 802.11a chipset, Atheros is announcing its second generation, once again taking the WLAN market by surprise."
The new chipset features the industry's most comprehensive security solution, covering four key areas-AES encryption, 802.1x authentication, Virtual Private Networks (VPNs), and Virtual LANs (VLANs).
AES is the state-of-the-art technology selected by the U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology to replace the 3DES (Triple Data Encryption Standard) standard currently used for banking and other high-security applications. It is universally considered the best commercially available encryption and integrity-checking technology. The chipset also supports Temporal Key Integrity Protocol (TKIP) and WEP functionality for legacy systems that do not support AES.
For authentication, Atheros uses 802.1x to verify that clients have the credentials to be on the network. The 802.1x standard enables centralized network authorization, dynamic key management, and centralized user administration to enhance the security and interoperability of wireless LANs.
Support for VPNs enhances end-to-end security through the use of tunneling protocols and certificate authorities. This provides an additional layer of application security for corporate networks.
The VLAN feature separates guest user or "hot spot" traffic from private traffic over the same physical wireless network. On top of the other features, this maintains the privacy of the most secure network traffic, while allowing IT managers to make it easy for visitors to roam onto and use one's wireless resources.
In addition to security, the Atheros second-generation 802.11a solution has been enhanced in several important ways. Fifteen major second-generation improvements have been made to 5-GHz radio performance. These enhancements build on the inherently high quality of 802.11a operation in the interference-free 5-GHz band.
The new chipset has been enhanced to support applications across all 5-GHz unlicensed bands: the 5.150-5.350 U-NII, 5.470-5.725 ERC (Europe), 5.725-5.825 U-NII and 5.825-5.850 ISM. International support includes Dynamic Frequency Selection (DFS) and Transmit Power Control (TPC) for European regulatory requirements. The chipset is also compatible with the developing IEEE 802.11e, f, h, and i standards. Capabilities exist for support of outdoor wireless applications, additional indoor channels, and transportation applications (vehicular telematics).
Atheros Turbo Mode™ increases wireless data rates to 108 Mbps and is backward compatible to Atheros' first-generation 72 Mbps mode. A sophisticated rate adaptation algorithm always seeks to optimize a connection's data rate and error correction codes for any application.
These enhancements assure real-time delivery of audio, video, and voice data in accordance with emerging IEEE standards for supporting multimedia applications.
Proprietary features in this chipset increase battery life up to 35% versus 802.11b designs, making it the preferred choice for ultraportables or handhelds.
While Atheros' first-generation chips are already the most integrated of any 802.11a or 802.11b chipsets, the second-generation designs further reduce bill of materials cost by dropping the overall component count more than twenty percent. All Atheros chipsets rely on standard CMOS technology to achieve highly integrated system-level solutions at the best cost.
"The twenty-percent component reduction and new features of our second-generation 802.11a product will accelerate the proliferation of wireless LANs," said Rich Redelfs, president and chief executive officer of Atheros. "Atheros is raising the bar on delivering mobility without sacrifice-wireless connectivity with the security, scalability, performance and reliability that IT managers expect from a wired LAN."
The Atheros Second-Generation 802.11a Chipset (AR5001A) is sampling now and will be shipping in volume in the second quarter of this year. End user products will be launched by a variety of computing and consumer electronics manufacturers in the second half of the year.
The chipset is one of three new WLAN solutions that Atheros is introducing today. For more information about today's overall Atheros technology announcement, the 802.11a/g/b combo solution and the integrated access point solution, please see the separate news releases on these topics.
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 wireless OFDM technology 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 Accton, Actiontec, ALPS Electric, Intel, Intermec, Netgear, Proxim, SMC Networks, Sony, TDK, UltraDevices and others. For more information, visit www.atheros.com or send email to info@atheros.com.
Cheryl Patstone, 408-773-5344, cheryl@atheros.com
or Greg Wood, A&R Partners, 650-762-2838, gwood@arpartners.com.
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