Airgo Networks

Qualcomm acquires Airgo

Mon, 04 Dec 2006 19:01:37 -0500

In an important move, Qualcomm is acquiring WLAN and Bluetooth technologies, allowing it to do three things: Accelerate the pace of integrating wireless networking capabilities in mobile phones; become a major player in 802.11n; and fatten its patent portfolio and the stream of licensing revenues that come with it. The company being acquired is Airgo Networks, which develops WLAN technologies and is a MIMO pioneer. The Bluetooth technology assets will be bought, for $39 million, from RF Micro Devices. The technologies these two companies develop will soon be more tightly integrated with chip sets Qualcomm sells to mobile phone makers, and will position Qualcomm better to compete with Broadcom and Intel.

The three important things about the Qualcomm move:

The main reason to buy Airgo is to build WiFi capabilities into Qualcomm's phone chipsets. Airgo will likely replace Qualcomm's previous partner, Atheros, and it says it will integrate Draft 2.0 WiFi, backward compatible with 802.11a, b, and g, as well as Draft 1.0, into its Mobile Station Modem and Snapdragon chipsets.
Qualcomm will continue to offer stand alone WiFi chips, and will go for full integration when 802.11n is finalized. Qualcomm may even be moving into consumer gear.
The acquisition will also enrich Qualcomm's stable of patents and would strengthen its hand in legal disputes--not only in on-going ones such as the dispute Qualcomm has with Broadcom over Bluetooth technologies--but in future legal skirmishes pertaining to MIMO.

Both deals will close by the end of December.

For more on Qualcomm's latest moves:
- see this press release
- James Niccolai's Computerworld report
- and Eric Griffith's Wi-Fi Planet discussion
- Airgo to forgo Draft 1.0 products focusing instead on a Draft 2.0 strategy

Analysis: Qualcomm to man 802.11n toll-booth

Mon, 04 Dec 2006 19:01:36 -0500

The British weekly The New Statesman runs weekly competitions, typically literary in nature, in which winners win books, free subscriptions or theater tickets. I remember one competition in which readers were asked to pick the most belaboring-the-obvious, most not-telling-us-anything-we-did-not-know-already newspaper headline. The winner was a London Times headline: "In India, Wherever You Go You Run Into People." If the New Statesman were to run a competition this week for the most obvious, boring sentence in an article, my candidate would be a line from Computerworld: "[Qualcomm] is in the midst of several patent disputes." Tell us something we don't know.

ABI research's Phil Solis calculates that only about a third of Qualcomm's earnings come from licensing fees (many cell phones use Qualcomm's CDMA, and Qualcomm collected $2.75 billion in licensing fees in its most recent fiscal year). Still, it is difficult to think of another technology company in the strategic moves of which licensing fees, royalties, and sheer zest for litigation play such a prominent role.

Just as Qualcomm's acquisition of Flarion raised the specter of a drawn out litigation campaign over WiMAX patents, the company's acquisition of Airgo will likely lead to litigation over 802.11n. Peter Judge writes that the controversy about Qualcomm's Draft 2.0 announcement "may well pale beside likely intellectual property issues." Qualcomm's vice president Enrico Salvatori says he knows the value of Airgo's MIMO patents: "We will continue to push our business model, based on enabling OEMs delivering products based on our essential patents and IPR." Salvatori's comment should be layered on top of what Airgo's CEO Greg Raleigh said last year: "802.11n is Airgo's technology... Our intellectual property is wrapped up throughout. There appears to be a market north of 2.5 billion chipsets, and 80 percent of the WiFi market will be 802.11n by the end of 2007." Judge concludes: "Whatever Qualcomm does in FMC, we'd be very surprised not to see it following up the potential revenue stream from the patents."

Glen Fleishman is glum: "I expect Qualcomm to follow its usual aggressive strategy. Which means bloody noses, lawsuits and so on."

For more on the IP aspects of Qualcomm's move:
- see Peter Judge's Techworld discussion
- and Glenn Fleishman's comments

ALSO: Back in the spring Qualcomm acquired Flarion Technologies, in the process adding significantly to its stable of OFDM-related patents. Robert Jaques's Vnunet report and Nancy Gohring's Techworld report both delve deeper into Qualcomm's love of litigation.

Wi-Fi Alliance to certify draft 802.11n products

Mon, 04 Sep 2006 20:01:39 -0400

The Wi-Fi Alliance will begin certifying 802.11n products--an audacious move, considering that the standard itself has not yet been finalized. The typically cautious, go-by-the-book organization has decided to take this step in an effort to head off interoperability issues likely to emerge as more and more companies rush to offer pre-802.11n, or draft-802.11n, gear. Rushing to market before standards were finalized has happened before, but the advantages of 802.11n over its predecessors are such that companies have an even greater incentive to do so, in an effort to capture as much of the market as possible as early as possible.

The 802.11n standard was supposed to be finalized by 2007, but it now appears that 2008 is a more realistic date for completion. Most observers welcomed the Alliance's unusual move. Dave Borison, director of product management at 802.11n pioneer Airgo Networks said: "I think it will shepherd the whole industry forward...Right now, it's chaos. Consumers have no idea if they are buying products that can be upgraded or if they will work with other certified Wi-Fi gear."

For more on the Wi-Fi Alliances' 802.11n move:
- see Stephanie Neil's Managing Automation report
- and Michael Thuresson's NEAsiaonline discussion

MORE: MetaLink will be demonstrating its WLANPlus 802.11n draft technology at the IBC show in Amsterdam next month. Report

Netgear stumbles in draft-n race

Mon, 29 May 2006 20:01:36 -0400

When you walk point you draw fire. Netgear boasted that it was first to ship a draft-802.11n wireless ADSL router and now it has drawn criticism for a product which is likely to prove inferior to its existing products. Netgear says its RangeMax Next ADSL2+ modem router, or DG834N, is the first wireless-enabled ADSL2+ modem router based on the 802.11n draft. The company also claims that it delivers "the fastest data throughput speeds and furthest ranges available in the industry." The ADSL2+ uplink can reach 24 Mbps, while the WLAN may provide more than 100 Mbps (with Netgear quoting 300 Mbps symbol rate).

The point is, the company already sells a product range, the RangeMax 240 WPNT834, which some say is faster and cheaper. RangeMax 240 products are based on the third-generation Airgo chip set--also used in the Linksys SRX400 series--which beat Netgear's Draft-802.11n products in a test run by Farpoint Research's Craig Mathias. Other tests have found that draft-802.11n products interfere with existing WLANs, in ways which degrade the performance of both. "Draft-802.11n products don't just trash other WLANs, they trash themselves as well," said Dave Borison, senior product director at Airgo. "You are better off buying 802.11g."

Netgear does not agree, saying that while both products offer "highest speeds and best range," the DG834N also offers them the "compliant to draft 802.11n" feature. Trouble is, it is not exactly clear what are the benefits of draft-n "feature." Standards should allow products to work together, but Mathias' tests showed that draft-n products do not work together at draft-n speeds. What is more, they are unlikely to upgrade to the eventual 802.11n standard (Netgear admits as much).

With all these problems accompanying draft-n gear, why do companies rush to offer such gear? Airgo's Borison says the reason is that other WLAN chip makers are worried that Airgo's MIMO chips are poised to run away with the top end of the WLAN market, so these chip makers are scrambling to do something -- anything: "Broadcom and Atheros are bleeding, as we sweep across the high end where the margins are good," he said. "We've backed these guys into a corner." Borison is correct, even if his explanation is a bit self-serving. Also, there are nuances in the approaches of different companies that should not be overlooked: Broadcom's approach to draft-n standard (but also USRoboitcs'), for example, is different from other companies' approaches. It's also different from its own approach to the 802.11g standard way back then.

The last word is Mathias's: "It does seem they [Netgear] just wanted to be first to market...But being first to market with a product that isn't ready for production, isn't as good as what they already ship, and claims compliance with a non-standard just boggles the mind."

For more on the draft-n conundrum:
- read this Techworld report

PLUS: USRobotics implicitly criticized Netgear and other companies rushing to market with pre-802.11n products. In a statement released last week, the company said, "Products developed, produced, and marketed prior to the approval of the IEEE 802.11n Draft 1.0 specification are based upon technology that may not be compatible with Draft 1.0, and future, specifications for products...Even early versions of 802.11n Draft 1.0 based products have shown issues with interoperability and legacy networks...USRobotics will release its 802.11n Draft 1.0-compliant products when these issues have been resolved." Release

ALSO: MIMO is expected to become popular as a solution to enhance data throughput and quality of communication in complex propagation environments. There are several different interpretations and implementations considered to be MIMO technology, and MIMO will be adopted in many of the wireless and mobile communication systems in the future. MIMO will be integrated in IEEE 802.11n standards. MIMO is a family of techniques for multi-antenna wireless transmission and reception. There are many ways to accomplish MIMO processing, including MIMO Multiplexing, MIMO Diversity, and others (IEEE 802.11n will adopt Spatial Division Multiplexing (SDM) which is a form of MIMO Multiplexing). The substantial benefits of MIMO come at a price: MIMO also increases the challenges in design and system evaluation and validation, and as a result new measurements need to be considered for testing MIMO systems. Discussion

802.11n hogs bandwidth

Tue, 18 Apr 2006 20:01:37 -0400

You win some, you lose some. Next-generation 802.11n WiFi offers very fast data rates, but these will be achieved only by hogging bandwidth in channels already congested with 802.11b and 802.11g links, industry experts say. Existing WiFi standards use 20 MHz channels, and users can double the data rate by doubling this bandwidth. Proprietary turbo modes on some 802.11g devices do just this by "bonding" two channels, something akin to using two lines instead of one on a crowded switchboard. There was criticism of this practice, so some vendors switched off turbo mode by default, or to have their gear switch the turbo mode off when it detects other WiFi networks. A late amendment to the 802.11n draft spec, however, specifically allows for optional 40 MHz channels, the equivalent of two existing ones.

Masato Kato, Buffalo engineering manager and observer at the 802.11n deliberations, said the amendment will leave only one non-overlapping channel at 2.4 GHz where several networks are already competing for airspace. Kato points out that channel bonding is illegal in Japan. Critics point out that 802.11n systems would be faster than existing WiFi even without channel bonding. Thus, real throughput could be 70-150 Mbps even before bonding, with higher rates still with it. Paul Senior, vice-president of Airspan, says that 802.11n can use the less congested 5 GHz bands and 2.4 GHz, and that speed is not the only advantage of the new spec over older ones. More robust security and provisions that will improve the standard of VoIP calls are attractive enough.

For more on 802.11n bandwidth hogging:
- see Clive Akass' Vnunet report

CLARIFICATION: Last week we wrote about an "802.11n Rush" involving companies such as Marvell, Broadcom, Netgear and Airgo. Broadcom's Henry Rael wrote us the following note:

Airgo Networks is the only chip vendor that has been marketing proprietary MIMO products. Broadcom did not introduce MIMO-enhanced chips before the draft 802.11n standard was announced. In fact, Broadcom was the first company to announce draft-compliant products after the EWC proposal was accepted by the IEEE. This is an important point for Broadcom, because the company has been very vocal about the need to honor industry standards. Broadcom, therefore, would like to avoid any suggestion that it was selling proprietary or non-standard based WiFi products. Release

ALSO: Note that Netgear and Buffalo have both recently announced draft-802.11n products based on Broadcom's Intensi-fi products. Release (Netgear) | Release (Buffalo)

802.11n rush underway

Tue, 11 Apr 2006 20:01:35 -0400

There was the Gold Rush, and now there is the 802.11n rush. Marvell has partnered with Netgear to bring out a chip set complying with the draft 802.11n standard. Until now, WiFi chip set leaders Airgo Networks and Broadcom have brought out MIMO-enhanced WiFi chip sets, but without an 802.11n draft standard, both have been obliged to market the chips as being compliant with 802.11a, b and g. Now, with the draft standard having been published in March, Marvell has jumped into the market with a product designated as compliant with the draft 802.11n standard. The chip set is being used by wireless router manufacturers Netgear and D-Link in routers which claim to manage a 300 Mbps throughput. This surely is a theoretical figure, with actual throughput likely near 200 Mbps. The products range in price from $129 to $249 and will be offered both in stores and online.

Netgear is currently rolling out to stores its RangeMax Next Gigabit Edition Networking kit which includes a wireless router with 10/100/1000 switch and wireless notebook adapter, among other products. The kit, which is based on Marvell's 802.11n draft-compliant chip sets, has already passed FCC approval and retails for approximately $349.

For more on Marvell new chip:
- see eWeek's report
- and this press release

PLUS: Speaking of MIMO: Thomas McGonagle is a computer engineering professor at the Benjamin Franklin Institute of Technology and network engineer with the Federal Aviation Administration. He is an advocate for the technology's proliferation and volunteers with the Boston Wireless Task Force, which aims to build a free city-wide network. He also organizes monthly meetings for the Boston Wireless Advocacy Group. McGonagle cautions users to avoid MIMO routers. MIMO gadgets achieve excellent signal quality and range by hogging the wireless spectrum up to 219 yards away. If a user lives in the city or suburbs, his MIMO router will knock out his wireless-enabled neighbors' connections. If the neighbors also have MIMO, everyone loses their connections. MIMO also will not work with those free WiFi hotspots which are popping up in increasing numbers of cafés and libraries. ''The most useful routers are those based on the 802.11g standard," says McGonagle, whose own home router, an 802.11g, is the LinkSys WRT54G. Article

ALSO: STMicroelectronics is sampling what it describes as an "ultra-low-power," single-component 802.11a/b/g WiFi chip which operates at 2.4 GHz or 5 GHz and supports both OFDM and CCK signal modulations. The highly integrated STLC4420 targets cellular and WiFi phones, PDAs, cameras, and laptop computers, according to the company. Report

IEEE approves EWC 802.11n as first draft

Tue, 24 Jan 2006 19:01:39 -0500

In October 1942, the pivotal battle for control of North Africa took place on the planes of Al Alamein in western Egypt. The Allied forces, led by Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery, defeated the Nazi forces led by General Erwin Rommel. In a speech on November 10, 1942, Winston Churchill referred to the Battle of Al Alamein within the larger context of the war against Germany, saying, "This is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning." It is the same with the first draft of the 802.11n standard which was unanimously (184-0, with four abstentions) approved by the IEEE last week. The approval will prompt vendors to accelerate shipments of pre-802.11n compliant equipment in mid-2006 (see story #4), even if the final specification will not be ratified until sometime in 2007.

In what must be regarded as a setback for MIMO pioneer Airgo, the IEEE's task group voted to make the Enhanced Wireless Consortium (EWC) proposal its first draft (see "Background"). EWC members Broadcom, Atheros and Marvell were quick out of the gate with announcements of the release of products based on the approved draft.

802.11n APs and client devices should offer a real-world rate of around 100 Mbps, which is double that of 802.11g gear (802.11n's theoretical speed is about 300 Mbps). The technology also offers enhanced range, backward compatibility with existing 802.11a/b/g kit, greater reliability and improved resistance to signal interference. Airgo CEO Greg Raleigh, however, warns that we should not expect robust, interoperable equipment too soon. "Having something that meets the draft spec means nothing--it will only be interoperable after the spec is ratified and then the kit [must be] certified by the Wi-Fi Alliance... That could be 2007," he said.

The year 2007 shapes up as a very interesting year: Intel promises to deliver WiMax-enabled laptops by 2007 to support mobile roaming among WiMax base stations and fixed wireless broadband links over several kilometers.

For more on the 802.11n draft:
- see this ElectronicNews report
- and the EWC site

BACKGROUND: The unanimous vote accepting the 802.11n Joint Proposal specification took place during the IEEE's bimonthly meeting in Kona, Hawaii. During the later part of 2004 and most of 2005, there was a pitched battle over the specifications of 802.11n between two powerful coalitions--the WWiSE consortium, backed by Motorola, Airgo, Broadcom, Conexant and others; and TGn Sync, which had support from Intel, Atheros, QUALCOMM, Sony and more. With the battle in stalemate, a third coalition--the Enhanced Wireless Consortium, or EWC--consisting of breakaway companies from the two existing coalitions was created last August. It was led by Intel, Atheros and Broadcom, and its goal was to minimize the influence of Airgo on the final specifications.

It was a Machiavellian move: Airgo pioneered MIMO technology, and the technology was central to both WWiSE and TGn Sync proposals. Airgo already enjoys then lion's share of the pre-802.11n market, and an endorsement of a specification inspired by its technology would give it an additional boost. The EWC proposal also incorporates MIMO at its core, but it is not as close to Airgo's version of MIMO as the other two proposals were, thus forcing owners of Airgo's pre-802.11n equipment--and those who contemplate buying it now--to take into account the fact that they will likely have to engage in costly and elaborate upgrades once the EWC-based 802.11n specifications are ratified in 2007.

Airgo agreed that there was a need to move beyond the WWiSE-TGn Sync stalemate, but its cool reaction to the IEEE draft decision was unmistakable. For one, it came out against promoting technologies as firmware upgradeable to the final 802.11n specification at this point in time. "While most within the 11n task group agree that it will take just over a year to move from Draft 1.0 to .11n ratification, it is debatable as to when the draft will be stable enough to begin designing firmware upgradeable chipsets," the company said in a statement. "Claims that chip sets based on any early draft will be firmware upgradeable to the final 11n specification are irresponsible, and may mislead consumers who do not fully understand the IEEE process."

The company's statement continued: "The draft will undergo several more rounds of review and revisions before it is stable enough to guarantee firmware upgradeability to the final ratified standard. More importantly, it will be impossible for customers to be assured of interoperability until the Wi-Fi Alliance begins such testing and certification after Q107."

As Churchill said, "This is not the end..."

802.11n plot thickens as January IEEE decision nears

Tue, 29 Nov 2005 19:01:39 -0500

Last summer the IEEE almost reached an agreement on the specifications of 802.11n, but then things got discombobulated as the haggling between the two rival coalitions continued and a third proposal was offered. There was an IEEE meeting in Vancouver last week, but nothing much happened there to advance the cause of an agreed-upon standard. There is going to be a vote on the standard in January, though, and smart money says that the IEEE will go with a joint proposal that combines the various vendor-backed specifications.

"In January you'll have a confirmation vote," said Airgo's Rolf De Vegt, with a first draft likely out by March. Farpoint's Craig Mathias agrees: "Nothing will happen with 802.11n until the January meeting--it's my expectation that the joint proposal will move forward at that point... It remains to be seen if those involved in EWC will produce it regardless."

Yes, what EWC plans to do is the $64,000 question. EWC, or the Enhanced Wireless Consortium--also known as the Gang of Four--is the latest entrant in the standard rivalry, offering the third proposal back in August. It is led by Atheros, Broadcom, Cisco and Intel, and its goal is to keep early MIMO leader Airgo from gaining too much of the 802.11n market share. Rumor has it that regardless of the IEEE January decision, EWC members believe they have enough technical and market power among them to come out with their own 802.11n specification and then duke it out in the marketplace with the alternative, IEEE-backed version.

For more on the state of 802.11n:
- read Dan Jones' Unstrung report
- and see the EWC Web site

Renewed 802.11n spec tensions

Tue, 06 Sep 2005 20:01:37 -0400

The plot thickens. Two weeks ago it appeared that the 802.11n war was over, with the two major warring coalitions agreeing to submit a joint proposal to the IEEE task group. WLAN chip heavyweights Intel, Broadcom, Atheros, and Marvell have formed an informal alliance to jointly submit to the IEEE an interoperable PHY and MAC layers. Conspicuously absent is Airgo Networks, the current leader in MIMO technology, a technology which will be at the core of 802.11n.

Critics of the new group accuse its members of trying to hijack the IEEE standardization process in order to slow down Airgo and blunt its advantage in MIMO. They even charge members of the group with collusion meriting the intervention of the Federal Trade Commission for antitrust violations. Others just worry that Intel and the other members would naturally pay more attention to developing PC chips, neglecting the handset market and its needs. Then there are those who are critical of the group for potentially delaying the the standards process.

Marvell's Paramesh Gopi tried to assuage critics' concerns by saying that the goal was to develop a baseline spec for laptops which would be extensible to other applications, including handsets. "No one is bypassing the IEEE," he insisted. Agere's Aon Mujtabi, chairman of the 802.11n physical-layer group, is unconcerned: "I've seen nothing that would cause alarm."

For more on the new 802.11n skirmish:
- see Patrick Mannion's Commdesigns report

802.11n compromise in sight

Tue, 05 Jul 2005 20:01:39 -0400

In what may well be a significant breakthrough for 802.11n, the leaders of the two groups advancing competing proposals for the standard's sepcifications have agreed to submit a joint proposal at the next meeting of the working group tasked with elaborating the standard. The meeting will be held in two weeks. In the March meeting of the task group, one of the leading contenders, TGn Sync, won a simple majority over rival WWiSE but fell short of the 75 percent majority required to carry the day. In the May meeting, however, TGn Sync's vote fell to below 50 percent.

Not surpirisingly, Dave Borison of pro-WWiSE Airgo said of the May vote, "The IEEE 802.11n ballot was a good result... It's a wake-up call for both camps. We want to move forward and get a standard in place. Within the next quarter, or two at the most, we will have a compromise." Airgo is the leader in MIMO chipsets, and MIMO technology is central to both proposals. Borison belives that the two proposals could be reconciled quite easily, although some differences may have to be handled as options within the standard. TGn Sync uses 40MHz channels instead of the 20MHz channels, which are the global standard. Each standard also uses different numbers of antennas, and TGn operates in the 5GHz spectrum rather than the 2.4GHz band which WWiSE supporters use.

TGn Sync is led by Agere, Intel, and Atheros; supporters of WWiSE include Conexant, Broadcom, Airgo, and Texas Instruments.

For more on a likely 802.11n compromise:
- see Matthew Broersma's Techworld's report
- check out this Unstrung report

Samsung offers first MIMO-equipped laptops

Tue, 31 May 2005 20:01:35 -0400

Samsung appears to be the first laptop manufacturer to embed MIMO technology in its laptops. The laptops, available as of today, will use chips from Airgo Networks. These chips could, theoretically, increase data rates to 100 Mbps and extend signal range to up to 900 ft. (Airgo says its chips will more likely offer rates of about 45 Mbps.) 802.11g chips transmit data at about 25 Mbps, and offer range of between 150 and 300 ft. Because Samsung does not sell directly to consumers in the US, customers here will have to wait for an embedded solution in laptops.

MIMO technology will be at the heart of the emerging 802.11n standard. Linksys and Belkin already ship wireless routers and NICs which use the Airgo MIMO technology. MIMO has several advantages over current 802.11 technology. It allows two or more distinct signals to be carried simultaneously over the same 802.11 radio channel, thus allowing for more data to be transmitted over the available radio spectrum. It makes connections more reliable, since its radios "listen" to echo radio signals which bounce off walls and other obstacles, and directs radio traffic to the stronger path (a single radio is more likely to drop the conenction of slow down in the echo confusion). MIMO also allows radio trafiic to be sent around walls and other objects.

For more on Samsung's MIMO offering:
- see Marguerite Reardon's CNET report

ANALYSIS: The Samsung deal is illustrative of Airgo's growing lead in the pre-802.11n market. The two proposals for the 802.11n standard now competing for IEEE ratification are both based on MIMO technology. Airgo, the leader of one of the rival camps, says that its version of MIMO-based 802.11n now accounts for about 3 percent of the WiFi consumer products market.

Reconciliation of 802.11n proposals may be near

Tue, 24 May 2005 20:01:39 -0400

The IEEE 802.11n task group has failed yet again to bridge the differences between the two rival proposals for the standard -- one advanced by the WWISE group, the other by the TGn Sync coalition. This time, however, a subtle change in the pattern of the voting may encourage the two camps to search for a compromise, something they will try to do as they meet next week to dicuss the future of the effort to reach an agreed-upon 802.11n proposal. TGn Sync uses 40 MHz channels instead of the 20 MHZ channels, which are the global standard, and the two standards use a different number of antennas. TGn also uses the 5 GHz spectrum instead of the 2.4 GHz band used by WWISE.

The change, observers note, is a shift in support toward the WWISE proposal -- not exactly a gorund swell, but a distinct shift. Both proposals are still short of the 75 percent required for adoption, but in the last round of voting support for the Intel-backed TGn Sync proposal fell from 57 percent to under 50 percent. The shift away from TGn Sync toward the Airgo-led WWISE may well reflect the fact that Airgo has a considerable lead in the pre-802.11n market. Both propsals are based on MIMO technology, but Airgo says that its version of MIMO-based 802.11n now accounts for about 3 percent of the WiFi consumer products market.

For more on state of 802.11n:
- see Peter Judge's Techworld report

PLUS: The market for MIMO silicon may get more crowded as Israeli company Metalink showed a single-chip real MIMO RF system. The chip uses the 5 GHz band, is backward compatible with 802.11a, and can work with WiFi silicon from other vendors. Metalink says it will support any 802.11n standard which the IEEE will agree on. Website