Tiny Footprint Wireless LAN/Modem Combination Card Provides OEMs Unprecedented Level of Integration for Embedded Wireless Connectivity
Actiontec Electronics, Inc., a leading manufacturer of broadband-based application and Internet access products, announced today it had begun shipments of the 802MIP Mini PCI 802.11b/Modem Combo Card. The tiny card provides the most highly integrated solution yet for high data rate embedded wireless networking connectivity in PCs, laptops, and handheld information appliances.
Using the card, OEMs can cost effectively integrate a complete wireless LAN into their mobile systems without sacrificing conventional dial-up access. The Mini PCI 802.11b/Modem Combo Card maximizes convenience, durability, and manufacturing flexibility, while eliminating the need of users to sacrifice a valuable PC card slot to stay connected to their wireless corporate LAN or to the Internet.
"Wireless networking is arguably the hottest trend in mobile computing today. Actiontec is effectively addressing this trend while sustaining the dial-up connectivity needs of OEMs by delivering the first-ever solution to combine 802.11 wireless networking and V.90 modem technology into one Mini PCI slot," stated Ramzi Al-Harayeri, vice president of OEM sales for Actiontec Electronics. "The response to the new Mini PCI Wireless Combo Card by the top-tier notebook computer manufacturers has been overwhelming."
The Actiontec Mini PCI 802.11b/Modem Combo Card utilizes Intersil's PRISM 2.5 chip set. This revolutionary chip set integrates the digital portion - the baseband processor (BBP) and the medium access controller (MAC) - for the full IEEE 802.11b wireless LAN standard onto a single integrated circuit.
Ensuring maximum security, the card offers 64 or 128-bit data encryption using the RC4 Wired Equivalency Privacy (WEP) 40 IEEE standard. In accordance with the IEEE802.11b specification, the Mini PCI 802.11b/Modem Combo Card uses 2.4 GHz Direct Sequence Spread Spectrum (DSSS) technology and adaptively adjusts its data rate from 11 Mbps to 5.5/2.0/1.0 Mbps to guarantee the most reliable operation regardless of signal strength.
"Intersil's PRISM(R) 2.5 wireless networking chip set is optimized for smaller form factors and embedded WLAN applications such as mini-PCI cards and single-sided PCMCIA cards," said Larry Ciaccia, vice president and general manager of Intersil's Wireless Networking Business. "The significant board space reduction achieved by the PRISM 2.5 chip set enabled Actiontec to incorporate dual-mode networking capabilities - 802.11b and v.90 modem - on the same embedded WLAN card."
The V.90 modem is fully AC97 compliant, and includes Data Fax and Wake Up on Ring. The programmable digital line interface is designed to meet global telephone line requirements.
The 802MIP Mini PCI 802.11b/Modem Combo Card is available for immediate shipment to OEMs. The entire laptop solution including the Mini PCI Combo card has passed the WECA wi-fi test to ensure complete interoperability with other 802.11b-certified products.
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