“The ability to provide a single high performance solution that customers can use worldwide is essential to large OEMs who are beginning to make significant shipments,” said Brian O’Rourke, principal analyst, In-Stat. “The fact that Alereon’s chipset is not only worldwide, but can also provide greater than 200 Mbps throughput will allow vendors to introduce end products that finally meet the promise of Wireless USB.”
Alereon's AL5000 family includes the AL5300/AL5100 chipset along with the new AL5350/AL5100 chipset. Both are based on WiMedia's common radio platform and integrate all essential RF circuitry plus the BBP/MAC and software to develop a worldwide Wireless USB product. Covering all WiMedia bands from 3.1 GHz to 10.6 GHz, the AL5350/AL5100 chipset was optimized to operate at full speed over-the-air while requiring minimal memory or resources, allowing for easy integration into PC host applications and accessory products alike. Additionally, Alereon’s AL5000 family chipsets are the only worldwide solutions that support WiMedia band groups 1, 3, 4, and 6, offering Wireless USB connectivity over the full WiMedia spectrum by providing greater than 10 channels in every region of the world. The AL5350 BBP/MAC adds a high performance PCIe interface that is ideal for host applications such as video, where true performance is required.
“The solutions on today’s market don’t deliver the full promise of wireless USB due to low throughput,” said Eric Broockman, CEO of Alereon. “Alereon’s AL5350 PCIe solution is capable of over 200 Mbps of delivered throughput, which is more than 5x of what is currently available, and will enable exciting PC peripheral products, such as wireless monitors and docking stations. Our solution will finally bring the potential of UWB technology to the market.”
The new AL5350/AL5100 chipset is based on the current AL5300/AL5100 solution that is already in production and has passed both FCC and Wireless USB certification, and WiMedia upper band group registration. Alereon exclusively offers customers fast time-to-market with designs for both PC host and device applications, including PC host reference designs for Half-MiniCard and ExpressCard34/54s, and device side reference designs for wireless monitors, docking stations, and wireless connections to HDTVs.
“Alereon is truly unique in two ways,” said Dr. David Shoemaker, Alereon’s Vice President of Engineering and Operations. “First, we are the only full solution provider for both PC host and peripheral applications. Second, all of Alereon’s RF and Baseband technology is developed in-house which minimizes our customer’s risk in working with multiple vendors and alleviates concerns about the continuity of supply resulting from dependencies on third party IP.”
The AL5350/AL5100 chipset is currently available for initial sampling. Volume production will begin this quarter.
About Alereon, Inc.
Alereon, Inc. is a fabless semiconductor company using revolutionary Ultra Wideband (UWB) radio technology to develop high-bandwidth, low-power, low-cost Wireless USB and WiMedia UWB chipsets that are ideal for today’s personal computer and portable products, like digital cameras, mp3 players and cell phones. Our mission is to replace the complex tangle of wires that interconnect today's electronic devices with wireless links. For more information, visit http://www.alereon.com.
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