Wi-Fi-semi players refine offerings

Maturity carries the same characteristics whether you're talking memory, processors, or specialty technologies, such as wireless LAN, which is surely showing signs of maturity. The customer base is starting to make sense of the alphabet-soup-like list of IEEE 802.11 flavors. And the chip vendors supplying 802.11 or Wi-Fi (Wireless Fidelity) chip sets are now fine-tuning features such as power consumption and range rather than concentrating on making the technology sound. Even newcomers to the game, such as IceFyre, tout their novel power-amplifier architecture rather than their MAC (media-access-controller) and PHY (physical-layer) devices that are increasingly tough to differentiate.

As for the plethora of Wi-Fi flavors, expect to see both 2.4-GHz, 802.11b/g and 5-GHz, 802.11a find acceptance. The head start that 8-2.11b products enjoy and the superiority in range that these products demonstrated over early 802.11a products means that 2.4 GHz will likely remain the dominant band. Expect the 11b-follow-on 802.11g products to dominate among consumers and in public hot-spot applications. Some enterprises will turn to 802.11a products because of the greater number of channels available at the higher frequency. And proponents of these products still believe that the users will employ the technology to carry digital video around a home, but I'm frankly increasingly skeptical that 802.11 of any flavor will succeed in that role. The fact that the MAC is collision-based, along with its range and realizable data rate, combine to make it a poor match for consumer-video distribution, and a wired backbone looms as the only sure answer.

Still, Wi-Fi is in the middle stages of growth, and the chip vendors are rushing to corner design wins. And a spate of recent wireless events has yielded new chip-level products in both bands. Intel has easily made the most noise starting with the Centrino ad campaign and continuing with goings-on at the Intel Developers Forum and One Unwired Day, a series of Intel-sponsored 802.11 events around the country that took place on Sept 25. Arguably, however, Intel should concentrate on technologies it can master, because it still hasn't delivered a homespun 802.11 chip set; the Centrino offering uses chips from Texas Instruments (www.ti.com) and others.

But Broadcom, Atheros, Philips, and IceFyre recently all debuted new 802.11 product families with prices hovering around $20 (large volumes). First, Broadcom launched a single-chip 11b product for PDAs and cell phones (see "Tiny Wi-Fi chip debuts," EDN, Sept 18, 2003, pg 24). Now, Broadcom has added the AirForceT chip that brings a/g or g functions to PCs. Broadcom is touting in detail the fact that notebooks equipped with its chip run 20 minutes longer on batteries than the same system with a Centrino chip set.

Meanwhile, Atheros, one of the original driving forces behind 11a technologies, launched what it considers its fourth-generation chip set, the AR5004X, which supports a/b/g operation for universal connectivity. The company also acknowledged the dominance of b/g networks with the AR5004G chip set. Atheros' main claim with the new products is increased range and decreased power consumption. Atheros claims a 60% power savings over previous 11b products.

Philips also boasts of range advantages in its new SA525x 802.11a/g and 802.11g chip sets. A highly programmable architecture, however, may be the real differentiator for the Philips products. The company touts the chips in multimedia roles, such as video distribution, and will pair the wireless-LAN chips with its Nexperia chips for digital TVs and home gateways. The programmability will allow the company to add support for new 802.11 multimedia extensions that are in the works.

New to the party is IceFyre. Arguably, the company or any other new entrant may have a tough time getting traction in a market that big players crowd. IceFyre has the requisite MAC and PHY products but is counting on a unique power amplifier to truly differentiate its offerings in power consumption and range. The company also appears alone in pushing 11a-only designs in addition to a/b/g combos. The others have moved to b/g-only offerings along with a/b/g offerings that operate in both frequency bands.

IceFyre implements its power amplifier using a Class F switch-mode architecture. Most other companies rely on Class A/B architectures, and IceFyre claims that those implementations achieve at best 15% power efficiency. The company claims that Class F designs can approach 60% efficiency and that its first products will hit 35% efficiency, immediately resulting in range and power benefits. Note, however, that IceFyre has yet to ship products but promises to deliver before the end of the year.

Atheros, 1-408-773-5200, www.atheros.com.

Broadcom, 1-949-450-8700, www.broadcom.com.

IceFyre, 1-613-599-3000, www.icefyre.com.

Intel, 1-800-538-3373, www.intel.com.

Philips, 1-800-234-7381, www.semiconductors.philips.com.