Four new firms have signed up to Atheros’ 802.11a-based wireless network format.
US communications firm Atheros yesterday announced that Card Access, Intermec Technologies, Proxim and TDK Corp have signed up to use its wireless local area networking (wLAN) system. The single-chip solution is based on the 802.11a standard.
In the office, and especially in the home, providing network connection points for all the devices that you want to communicate with each other is cumbersome. wLAN solutions solve this problem. Another major application for wLANs is in public access hotspots such as airports, hotels – and soon coffee houses, as Starbucks installs wLANs in its locations. These will allow people to use mobile devices without the higher costs and lower bandwidth of a 3G or GPRS connection.
There are currently various competing standards in the area: 802.11a, 802.11b and Bluetooth. The latter two products have so far been ahead in adoption and publicity, but they are dogged by serious problems. 802.11b, also known as Wi-Fi, has been adopted by US PC makers (and Starbucks). But the 2.4GHz frequency band where it operates gets interference from microwave ovens and telephones, potentially causing serious data loss.
Bluetooth, which uses the same 2.4GHz frequency band, is backed by Intel and by mobile device manufacturers including Ericsson and Nokia. However, interference has again been a problem. Microsoft will not support Bluetooth in the new Windows XP, because it isn’t stable enough for consumer use.
The problems with Bluetooth and 802.11b are both likely to be ironed out eventually. But by the time the market matures, they may well be superseded. 802.11a operates in the 5GHz frequency band, where it will face much less interference. It is also faster than either of the 2.4GHz standards, with Atheros claiming 72 megabits per second compared with 802.11b’s 11Mbit/s maximum (typical fixed LANs offer 10 or 100Mbit/s).
Wireless networking is certain to be a major force over the next few years. And within a few years, most of the solutions are likely to be based on 802.11a. It’s just better than its rivals.
