Stichting Wireless Alphen


Datum: Woensdag 10 september 2003

Nieuwe wireless chip.
Chipfabrikant Broadcom heeft een nieuwe chip ontwikkeld waarmee kleine apparatuur, zoals een mp3-speler of een mobiele telefoon ook aan een WiFi-netwerk kan worden gehangen. De AirForce One is klein van stuk en gebruikt 97 procent minder stroom dan andere WiFi-producten. Tot nu toe was het alleen maar mogelijk om pc's en laptops aan een WiFi-netwerk te hangen. Dit komt door de omvang en het stroomverbruik van traditionele LAN-chipsets. Door de ontwikkeling van de kleine chip wordt het toepassingsgebied van WiFi-netwerken flink uitgebreid, naar onder andere PDA's, mobiele telefoons en digitale camera's

Dit is wat broadcom zelf over de nieuw aangekondigde chip verteld (in Engels):

Broadcom is shipping the industry's first standards-based technology that delivers significantly better performance in 802.11g, 802.11a/g and 802.11b wireless LANs. Broadcom has enhanced its OneDriver™ software with Xpress™ technology, which improves the efficiency of data traveling over a wireless network to increase overall throughput.

Xpress technology is based on the Wireless Multimedia Enhancements (WME) specification, a fundamental element of the current IEEE 802.11e draft specification. By utilizing standards-based technology, all of Broadcom's 54g™, 802.11b and 802.11a/g products deliver maximum throughput in homogeneous and mixed-mode (802.11g +802.11b) environments and improve the network performance even in networks using equipment from other vendors. The resulting advance in network performance is increasingly important as the population of wireless LAN devices and the applications for wireless networking grow. "Broadcom's open approach reinforces our commitment to standards-based performance enhancements," said Jeff Abramowitz, Senior Director of Marketing for Broadcom's Home and Wireless Networking Business Unit. "As the leader in next generation wireless networking, Broadcom continues to advance the industry with technology innovation. Broadcom's premium wireless LAN solutions with Xpress technology provide maximum performance regardless of the brand of technology deployed in the network."

Last week the IEEE approved the new mainstream wireless LAN standard, 802.11g, which supports 54 Mbps, 2.4GHz wireless LANs. According to The NPD Group, Broadcom's 54g™ technology currently represents 93 percent of all 802.11g equipment sold through US retail distribution. Additionally, all major 802.11g-enabled notebook PCs sold to date are based on Broadcom 54g™ technology.

Xpress Technology Advances Industry Migration to 802.11g While Xpress technology improves performance for all flavors of 802.11 technology, customers will see the biggest benefit in mixed 802.11b and 802.11g wireless networks that will become prevalent as the industry transitions from 802.11b to 802.11g. The 802.11g standard requires the use of protection mechanisms to allow access points to manage the airspace in use by both 802.11g and 802.11b clients. Xpress technology reduces the overhead and dramatically increases network efficiency in these mixed networks.

"Linksys was first to market with Wireless-G products because we knew that 54g™ would meet customer demands for a standards-based high-performance wireless LAN solution," said Mike Wagner, Director of Worldwide Marketing at Linksys. "When Linksys introduces Xpress technology, our existing and future 802.11g customers will get additional standards-based performance benefits, especially those with mixed-network environments."

Xpress Technology Improves Efficiency and Throughput Broadcom's wireless solutions enhanced with Xpress technology increase throughput by improving the efficiency of wireless transmissions. Analogous to a train in which cars are added to deliver more passengers in the same amount of time, Xpress technology re-packages data from multiple wireless exchanges into a single wireless exchange, reducing the inter-exchange overhead and increasing efficiency. This method of re-packaging data has been defined as Continuation TX Opportunity (CTXOP) in the IEEE 802.11e draft specification, and is interoperable with 802.11 standards.

Due to more efficient data transmissions, Xpress Technology can increase aggregate performance in a homogeneous 802.11b, 802.11g or 802.11a network by as much as 27 percent. In a mixed 802.11g+802.11b environment, aggregate performance improves by as much as 75 percent and individual 54g™ clients enhanced with Xpress technology can achieve more than six times greater performance than legacy 802.11b products.

Performance gains afforded by Xpress technology are not limited to 802.11g or Broadcom products. Any 802.11 client adaptor can receive Xpress technology packets and achieve better throughput. This is especially beneficial in many corporate networks that include equipment from multiple vendors. In homes, the additional bandwidth provided by Xpress will improve performance as consumers add wireless LAN-enabled devices to their home networks including desktop PCs, printers, handhelds and media servers.

Xpress is the latest in a stream of major, standards-based technology introductions in which Broadcom has led the industry. Xpress technology has been added to its OneDriver software, future-proofing current products by delivering next-generation capabilities today. Broadcom was the first company to offer standards-based 2.4 GHz 54 Mbps wireless networking with it's 54g™ products. The company was also the first to offer security features found in the IEEE 802.11i draft specification, including certified support for Wi-Fi Protected Access™ (WPA) with built-in hardware support for the Advanced Encryption Standard (AES).

The updated OneDriver software with Xpress technology is now available to Broadcom's PC OEM, retail and broadband modem partners, who will enable end users to upgrade existing hardware with a simple software download.

Broadcom's AirForce™ Wireless LAN Product Family Broadcom's high performance AirForce wireless LAN product line features the greatest breadth and depth in the industry. In addition to transceivers that provide IEEE 802.11g, 802.11b and dual-band 802.11a/g solutions, Broadcom integrates wireless network processors, communications technologies and software solutions into reference designs that speed customers' time to market.

The AirForce family includes 54g™, the premier technology for 54 Mbps wireless LANs in home, offices and public hot-spots. Solutions based on 54g™ technology provide the highest throughput and range, and are completely interoperable with the 40 million 802.11b nodes currently in service. Broadcom partners, including Apple, Belkin, Buffalo/MELCO, Cisco/Linksys, Dell, Fujitsu, Gateway and HP, have implemented 54g™ technology in notebook PCs, client devices, access points, routers, cable modems, DSL modems and GPRS cellular products. For additional information about products based on Broadcom or 54g™ technology, visit www.broadcom.com or www.54g.org.