Atheros Receives Industry's  First Wi-Fi™ Certification For Dual-Band 802.11a and 802.11b Interoperability

Joins Other Vendors in First Wi-Fi Alliance Certification of 802.11a-Only Products

SUNNYVALE, Calif., January 16, 2003 - Atheros Communications, the leading developer of advanced wireless LAN (WLAN) chipsets, today announced that its AR5001AP IEEE802.11a access point reference design (model AR5BAP-00021A) and AR5001X dual-band (802.11a/b) CardBus reference design (model AR5BCB-00022A) have received the Wi-Fi CERTIFIED seal of interoperability from the Wi-Fi Alliance.

The AR5001X-based design is the first, and to date only, dual-band 5 GHz/2.4 GHz product to pass the rigorous Wi-Fi interoperability certification testing. The certification of this reference design will enable the many products based on this design to quickly achieve certification as well.

“This first certification of a combo 802.11a/b-based product is a major milestone for the WLAN industry,” said Craig Mathias, a principal with the wireless advisory firm Farpoint Group. “We expect that the certification of dual-band WLAN products will have a profound impact on the market – promising tremendous growth potential due to the interoperability, scalability and investment protection these products offer.”

Atheros’ reference designs were among the first group of IEEE802.11a and dual-band products to pass the Wi-Fi Alliance’s interoperability certification testing, which was conducted at the organization’s San Jose, California laboratory beginning November 29, 2002. Only products that satisfied all prerequisites for certification and passed the compatibility benchmark received the Wi-Fi CERTIFIED seal of interoperability.

Wi-Fi products comprise one of the fastest growing segments of the high-technology market. Dual-band products provide all the benefits of the advanced 802.11a standard while still providing backward compatibility with the installed base of WLAN products based on the legacy 802.11b standard. With dual-band solutions, businesses and consumers benefit from having more non-overlapping channels. The result is higher network performance, since dual-band products provide up to five times the speed and over 20 times the user capacity of 802.11b-only products.

“Consumers want hassle-free wireless connections, whether for business or personal use,” said Rich Redelfs, president and chief executive officer of Atheros. “Dual-band solutions mean the consumer doesn't have to worry about which ‘flavor’ of wireless LAN is in use. Now that dual-band compliance is being Wi-Fi CERTIFIED, the consumer also doesn't have to worry about compatibility among different certified products.”

Introduced in September 2000, the Atheros AR5000 chipset was the industry’s pioneering 802.11a chipset. In March 2002, Atheros introduced and began shipping in volume the first dual-band 802.11a/b WLAN chipset, the AR5001X, and its second-generation chipset for integrated 802.11a access point designs, the AR5001AP. Atheros has a growing list of more than 50 publicly announced customers that are using the company’s 802.11a and dual-band (802.11a and 802.11b) reference designs.

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 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, Acrowave Systems, AIRAYA, AirVast Technology, ALPS, Ambit, Askey, ASUS, BenQ, Contec, CyberTAN, Delta Networks, D-Link, Gemtek, Gigabyte Technology, Global Sun Tech, ICOM, Intel, Intermec, I-O Data, Linksys, NEC, NETGEAR, Philips, Proxim, Samsung, Senao, SMC Networks, Sony, Symbol, TDK, TECOM, 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.

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