Subject: [NEXTEL-1] Wi-Fi Chipmaker Urges Caution

From: Marcel <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 29 Jan 2003 15:21:08 -0500

Wi-Fi Chipmaker Urges Caution
BY BRAD SMITH
JANUARY 29, 2003

The president of Wi-Fi chipmaker Atheros Communications said today he thought
some of his competitors were rushing to market too soon with products using an
early version of the 802.11g specification.

Rich Redelfs also said the trend in Wi-Fi this year will be in multi-mode access
using two or three standards. He said four leading laptop manufacturers are using
the Atheros 802.11a and 802.11b Wi-Fi chipsets in laptops coming out this year.
Three of those, IBM, NEC and Toshiba, are already shipping laptops with the
combination chipset. He said the fourth, HP, plans a laptop later this year that will
include all three specifications, 11a, b and g.

Redelfs said Atheros has been sampling chipsets using the 802.11g specification
but is waiting for the standard to be ratified, which he predicted will come in July.
He said the specification has continued to undergo changes, most recently two
weeks ago, which could affect performance.

There have been media reports that some of the early products using the
pre-approved version of the 802.11g specification have had interoperability
problems. Those problems reportedly were turned up during tests at the University
of New Hampshire's Interoperability Laboratory. Broadcom Corp., which has
shipped 802.11g chips, says the reports are unfounded.

Redelfs says one of the issues involving 802.11g is how to handle legacy networks
using 802.11b, because they both use the 2.4 GHz unlicensed spectrum. The
older standard provides data rates up to 11 megabits per second, while 11g is five
times faster. Redelfs says Atheros believes the 802.11g standard has now
reached the point that any further changes can be incorporated in software, rather
than the silicon.

Atheros believes multi-mode products with embedded chipsets will be demanded
by enterprise IT departments, Redelfs said.

Separately, Atheros today announced that four major computer makers -
Hewlett-Packard, IBM, NEC and Toshiba - are integrating its multi-mode,
multi-band WLAN solution into new laptop computers. Atheros' chipsets enable
connectivity to networks built to either that 802.11a or 802.11b standards,
operating at 5 GHz and 2.4 GHz.

http://www.wirelessweek.com/index.asp?layout=newsat2direct&starting=3&pubdate=01/29/03
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Wi-Fi Chipmaker Urges Caution
BY BRAD SMITH
JANUARY 29, 2003

The president of Wi-Fi chipmaker Atheros Communications said today he thought
some of his competitors were rushing to market too soon with products using an
early version of the 802.11g specification.

Rich Redelfs also said the trend in Wi-Fi this year will be in multi-mode access
using two or three standards. He said four leading laptop manufacturers are using
the Atheros 802.11a and 802.11b Wi-Fi chipsets in laptops coming out this year.
Three of those, IBM, NEC and Toshiba, are already shipping laptops with the
combination chipset. He said the fourth, HP, plans a laptop later this year that will
include all three specifications, 11a, b and g.

Redelfs said Atheros has been sampling chipsets using the 802.11g specification
but is waiting for the standard to be ratified, which he predicted will come in July.
He said the specification has continued to undergo changes, most recently two
weeks ago, which could affect performance.

There have been media reports that some of the early products using the
pre-approved version of the 802.11g specification have had interoperability
problems. Those problems reportedly were turned up during tests at the University
of New Hampshire's Interoperability Laboratory. Broadcom Corp., which has
shipped 802.11g chips, says the reports are unfounded.

Redelfs says one of the issues involving 802.11g is how to handle legacy networks
using 802.11b, because they both use the 2.4 GHz unlicensed spectrum. The
older standard provides data rates up to 11 megabits per second, while 11g is five
times faster. Redelfs says Atheros believes the 802.11g standard has now
reached the point that any further changes can be incorporated in software, rather
than the silicon.

Atheros believes multi-mode products with embedded chipsets will be demanded
by enterprise IT departments, Redelfs said.

Separately, Atheros today announced that four major computer makers -
Hewlett-Packard, IBM, NEC and Toshiba - are integrating its multi-mode,
multi-band WLAN solution into new laptop computers. Atheros' chipsets enable
connectivity to networks built to either that 802.11a or 802.11b standards,
operating at 5 GHz and 2.4 GHz.
http://www.wirelessweek.com/index.asp?layout=newsat2direct&starting=5&pubdate=01/29/03
--
    "NEXTEL-1 IT'S NOT JUST NEXTEL"
  Note The New address
Subscribe to Nextel-1: http://www.groups.yahoo.com/subscribe/NEXTEL-1

  "NEXTEL2 FOR iDEN SOFTWARE DEVELOPERS"
Subscribe to Nextel2: http://www.groups.yahoo.com/subscribe/NEXTEL2

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For Now, NextWave Sees Opportunity In Business, Not Selling Out

By Mark Rockwell
January 29, 2003

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WASHINGTON-NextWave Telecom apparently still is making
noises about becoming a big wireless carrier.

While speculation swirls about whether or not the wireless license holder
will sell off its spectrum or plow ahead with plans for selling wholesale
digital airtime, the company's  primary plan is 'going out and finding the
best opportunity for our creditors and investors. There are lots of opportunity
to deploy data services,' NextWave senior vice president Michael Wack says in an
interview with Wireless Week.

NextWave said almost a year ago it had activated wireless networks in 60 of
its 95 markets nationwide, at a cost of $100 million, but declined to specify at
the time exactly what it had activated in those markets.

NextWave contends it has met the FCC's build-out requirements and is
currently waiting for the commission to review 'demonstration filings' the
company made a year ago that showed it is providing adequate service in at least
60 of its markets nationally, says Wack.

The company claims it has built out enough network infrastructure in those
locations to serve 33 percent of the customers in areas where it owns C-block
spectrum and 25 percent of customers in its D-, E- and F-block licensed markets,
Wack says. Those percentages are in line with what the FCC requires, he
says.

The FCC has yet to respond to those demonstrations of service, he adds. The
intervening Supreme Court case has been a drag on the FCC's response, say
NextWave and FCC officials.

FCC officials have said the company may have been given a little leeway in
the build-out requirements, because making NextWave build out networks in areas
where it might-or might not-have owned licenses would have been onerous, at
best.

But NextWave officials say that partnerships or selling off some licenses
could happen if the company finds that the market for data doesn't pan out.

In more fallout from the Supreme Court ruling this week that won NextWave its
right to retain its PCS spectrum holdings, FCC Chairman Michael Powell said the
NextWave experience had taught the FCC a few things about auctions.

In a briefing this morning with telecommunications reporters, he said he was
concerned bidders in a future spectrum auction might use the cover of bankruptcy
to avoid paying for their bids. He added the FCC would avoid acting as financier
for minority-owned companies in future auctions.

<< Previous News@2 Article

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News Briefs:

There's more competition emerging from the wireline business for wireless
LAN customers. Data CLEC DSL.net says it has partnered with
equipment maker QGO to conduct a wireless hot spot trial at
'Au Bon Pain' bakery shots in three New England cities.

Service provider Suburban Broadband plans to deploy
broadband wireless networks in 14 Colorado counties using
WaveRider's 900 MHz, non-line-of-sight Last Mile Solution
gear. The networks planned for deployment over the next three years will offer
service to Colorado's most populous counties, including Denver, Boulder,
Douglas, Jefferson and Arapahoe counties along the Front Range of the
Rockies.

BellSouth is suing Glenayre Technologies
and Call Sciences, alleging the two are infringing on the
Baby Bell's patents for call routing technology that typically is used for
'one number' services.

Wireless networking equipment maker Proxim says its net
loss in the fourth quarter jumped to $144.1 million from a loss of $11.3
million in the same period of 2001. Total revenue in the quarter, including
the results of the Orinoco 802.11 product line acquired from Agere
Systems, more than doubled to $50 million from $24.2 million a year
earlier.

Motorola says its first deployment of CDMA2000 1XRTT
network equipment in Latin America is taking place in the Brazilian states of
Sao Paulo and Parana, with a rollout of a new network by Portugal
Telecom/Telefonica Moviles.

Cingular has begun selling wireless handset faceplates
that subscribers can customize with the own photos or other images. Faceplates
for sale on the Cingular Web site are for six Nokia models
and the Motorola T193, so far.

Boost Mobile will begin offering location-based directory
services to subscribers on its iDEN networks, using go2 Directory
Systems' Mobile Yellow Pages directory.

Cetecom says it has been accredited by the
Bluetooth Special Interest group as the first Bluetooth
Qualification Test Facility with the scope of protocol and profile conformance
testing in North America.

Miami-based Fun to Phone Solutions is acquiring the
mobile entertainment business of Finland's Frantic Media,
which develops interactive games and SMS-based services.

US LEC says iDEN wireless carrier Southern
Linc will be using it for network solutions including a customized
SS7 network, customized E911 network and a redundant network for inbound and
outbound calls.

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