Alereon Announces Worldwide Wireless USB Solutions for Home and Office
AUSTIN, Texas and TAIPEI, Taiwan – June 02, 2008 – Alereon, Inc., the Certified Wireless USB technology leader for Ultra Wideband (UWB) WiMedia solutions, today announced a full range of high performance worldwide reference designs for Wireless USB applications. Included are the Worldwide PCIe Half-MiniCard and Worldwide PCIe ExpressCard/34 reference designs for host laptops; and the Worldwide Wireless USB Graphics Adapter reference design for device solutions. Leveraging on Alereon’s first generation products, which were certified by the USB-IF, the new reference designs are compliant with both the WiMedia and Certified Wireless USB specifications along with the Windows Premium Logo Program utilizing the Windows Host Controller Interface (WHCI). The PCIe Half-MiniCard and ExpressCard/34 designs feature the Alereon AL5350/AL5100 Wireless USB chipset with PCIe interface, making them the only true worldwide host reference designs. Operating in WiMedia band groups 1, 3, 4 and 6, Alereon’s AL5000 Family of products provide both OEMs and ODMs with a single solution that can meet the regulatory requirements in any country via software configuration.
“In today’s environment, offering reference designs is a requirement for silicon vendors who wish to assist OEMs in getting products to market quickly,” said Fiona Thomson, research director, IMS Research. “Alereon is the only supplier of an end-to-end solution that can provide greater than 200 Mbps of throughput and is compatible with the worldwide regulatory environment, allowing OEMs to introduce products that finally meet the promise of Wireless USB.”
As part of Alereon’s turn-key reference design strategy, all Alereon reference designs are delivered with a module FCC certification enabling both OEMs and ODMs to achieve rapid time-to-market. Alereon designs adhere to recent European and Japanese regulations, including the new updates slated as requirements for both the end of 2008 and 2009, thus providing customers with the confidence to ship AL5000 Family-based products worldwide not only today but also in the future. With the capability of over 200 Mbps of delivered throughput – more than 5x what is available on the market today – the PCIe Half-MiniCard and ExpressCard/34 reference designs will deliver the high-speed and high-performance necessary to realize the true promise of Certified Wireless USB. In addition to support for extremely dense environments such as office cubicles and apartment complexes, Alereon implementations support all the WiMedia channels including 10 fixed and hopping channels in bandgroups 1, 3, 4 and 6 a requirement to achieve the highest data rates, range and density for docking stations, streaming video and synchronization applications.
“OEMs and ODMs need a worldwide high-performance solution they can introduce to the market rapidly,” said Eric Broockman, CEO of Alereon. “Alereon provides a single source for laptops, docking stations, wireless monitors and laptop to HDTV connectivity, allowing customers to quickly and easily market products in 2008.”
Key features of the AL5620 Graphics Adapter include support for DVI or VGA output for resolutions up to 1680×1050, and 16.7 million colors with smooth DVD video playback and quick responsiveness.
Each Alereon reference design is Certified Wireless USB compatible and delivered as a complete production-ready design including:
• Software and device drivers for Windows XP and Vista
• Schematic and board layout design files
• Complete bill of materials and documentation
• FCC certification; CE, and TELEC compliant
The AL5708 Worldwide PCIe Half-MiniCard, AL5705 Worldwide PCIe ExpressCard/34 and the AL5620 Worldwide Wireless USB Graphics Adapter are currently available for initial sampling.