Alereon Announces Industry’s First 3.1-10.6 GHz Worldwide Ultrawideband Solution
Device meets worldwide regulatory requirements which will support future Certified Wireless USB, WiMedia and Bluetooth
AUSTIN, Texas –June 18, 2007 — Alereon, Inc., the Certified Wireless USB technology leader for mobile ultrawideband (UWB) WiMedia solutions, today announced its AL5000 Family, the first ultrawideband solution able to meet all regulatory requirements worldwide for applications based on Certified Wireless USB, Bluetooth and WiMedia. The initial products in the AL5000 Family include the AL5300 Dual Role Device Media Access Controller/BaseBand Processor (MAC/BBP) and the AL5100 RF Transceiver, both based upon and software compatible with the AL4000 Certified Wireless USB chipset, the only native device solution certified by the USB-Implementers Forum (USB-IF).
The AL5100 RF Transceiver is the world’s first and only UWB transceiver capable of transmitting and receiving all 14 bands of the WiMedia ultrawideband spectrum. The current WiMedia specification has already been accepted by ECMA and ISO as the worldwide standard for ultrawideband technology. In addition, the AL5000 Chipset was specifically designed to transmit and receive WiMedia band groups one, two, three, four, five and six which span frequencies from 3.1 to 10.6 GHz. Supporting band groups four, five and six (7.9 to 10.6 GHz) allows Alereon to provide consumers in Japan and Korea with 17 channels, which is comparable to channel allocation for consumers in the rest of the world. This contrasts with alternative solutions that support band groups one and three only, providing Japan and Korea with only a single channel. The AL5000 Chipset is ideal for Certified Wireless USB, Bluetooth or WiMedia manufacturers that wish to address various worldwide markets including the United States, Europe, Japan, Korea, and China, and which have differing UWB regulatory requirements. A single worldwide AL5000 solution allows their research and development, certification, manufacturing logistics and inventory to be streamlined, resulting in significant cost and time to market savings.
“The AL5100 will provide our customers the flexibility to develop their products such that they can work in any region of the world, and be assured of compliance to local UWB regulations.” stated Eric Broockman, CEO of Alereon “The ability to design a single system that is compliant to specifications across the globe is a huge value add to PC Peripheral and portable electronics manufacturers.”
“The AL5000 Family extends the industry-leading RF performance of the AL4000 Family.” stated Dr. David Shoemaker, VP of Engineering and Operations at Alereon. “As demonstrated with the AL4000 Family, customers using the AL5000 Family will experience twice the range, four times the coverage area and far better power efficiency versus alternative solutions. We have succeeded in delivering superior performance, namely receive sensitivity and transmit EVM, parameters that customers and consumers value. In addition, the stability of our performance across process and temperature variations enables customers to manufacture high-yielding, compliant products.”
Stated Dr. Michael Foley, Ph.D., executive director of the Bluetooth Special Interest Group (SIG): “The Bluetooth SIG is hard at work on the high-speed version of its technology, based upon the combination of Bluetooth technology and WiMedia. Availability of WiMedia hardware this early in the market supports the planned introduction of High Speed Bluetooth technology in 2008 that operates in the unlicensed spectrum above 6 GHz.”
“Last fall, the USB Implementers Forum announced plans to extend Certified Wireless USB specification to support the upper band requirements of the WiMedia standard. With the AL5100 supporting all six WiMedia band groups, Alereon is well positioned to support Certified Wireless USB at these higher frequencies.” said Jeff Ravencraft, chairman and president of the USB-Implementers Forum.
Initial alpha samples of the AL5000 Chipset are being delivered in June to development partners and Alereon plans to sample evaluation boards during Q3 of 2007. The AL5000 is fully software compatible with Alereon’s AL4000 series to provide a seamless migration to next generation world wide solutions.