ASIC's Out
NEWS RELEASE TRANSMITTED BY CCN - A NEWSWIRE SERVICE OF ITG
FOR: WI-LAN INC.
TSE SYMBOL: WIN
JUNE 14, 2000
Wi-LAN: World's First W-OFDM-Based ASIC Chips Prototyped
CALGARY, ALBERTA--
NEW CHIPS WILL ENABLE WI-LAN TO ESTABLISH HIGH-SPEED, LOW-COST
LEADERSHIP IN LUCRATIVE BROADBAND WIRELESS ACCESS PRODUCT MARKET
Wi-LAN Inc. (TSE:WIN), an innovator of high-speed wireless
data/Internet communications, today announced that prototype
application specific integrated circuit (ASIC) chips that use
Wi-LAN's patented Wideband Orthogonal Frequency Division
Multiplexing (W-OFDM) technology have been jointly developed by
Wi-LAN and Philips Semiconductors as part of a licensing agreement
between the two companies.
+Efforts to develop the W-OFDM technology ASIC chips are on track
and development of a prototype is an important milestone,+ said
Dr. Hatim Zaghloul, Wi-LAN chairman and CEO. +We expect to receive
the initial chips in July and to start integrating the chips into
our I.WiLL(tm) W-OFDM technology broadband wireless access
products for delivery as early as this fall.+
Use of the ASIC chip will enable Wi-LAN to decrease the cost of
broadband wireless access products to service providers looking to
deploy cost-effective broadband wireless access networks in the
LMDS, MMDS (U.S.), MCS (Canada) and 3.4 to 3.6 GHz (Europe and
International) licensed frequency bands and UNII unlicensed bands.
Last week, the company announced the launch of the world's first
W-OFDM customer premise equipment (CPE) and product plans for 2000
that will include W-OFDM technology-based wireless products, built
with the ASIC chips, priced below U.S. $500.
To process the signal for W-OFDM and error correction, the
company's CPE uses a single digital signal processor (DSP) - the
Texas Instruments TI TMS3206201 - and two field programmable gate
arrays (FPGAs) programmed by Wi-LAN. The ASIC developed by Wi-LAN
and Philips integrated the two FPGAs into a single device. The
DSP is currently used for modulation, demodulation, channel
estimation and correction.
Future Plans
Wi-LAN plans to develop faster FPGAs and ASICs to exceed the full
54 megabits per second (Mbps) of the IEEE802.11a and ETSI BRAN
HiperLAN/2. Wi-LAN is targeting to demonstrate wireless data rates
of 90 Mbps this year and 155 Mbps in 2001. Wi-LAN also plans to
integrate the entire digital system into a single chip.
Philips Semiconductors, one of the world's largest semiconductor
suppliers, is developing ASIC chips for Wi-LAN as part of a
licensing agreement announced in 1999. The agreement gave Philips
Semiconductors permission to develop, modify, make and sell W-OFDM
application specific integrated circuits for the IEEE 802.11a
standard.
In July 1998, the Institute of Electrical and Electronics
Engineering (IEEE) selected OFDM technology as the standard
802.11a for Local Area Network applications. In response to this
standard, Wi-LAN agreed to license its patented W-OFDM technology
to a variety of interested parties, including chipmakers and
equipment manufacturers.
W-OFDM is Wi-LAN's variation on OFDM that further improves its
characteristics, including allowing greater transmission speeds.
The Philips agreement marked the first license agreement of W-OFDM
technology for the IEEE 802.11a standard, and was the first step
towards the manufacturing of low-cost W-OFDM products.
About Wi-LAN
Wi-LAN, based in Calgary, Alberta, is a leading innovator in the
field of high-speed wireless data communications, specializing in
high-speed Internet access, LAN/WAN extension and wireless access.
Wi-LAN is a founding member of the OFDM Forum and its patented
W-OFDM technology is necessary for implementing the IEEE 802.11a
and ETSI BRAN HiperLAN/2 standards. Wi-LAN's products have been
sold in more than 50 countries on six continents. Wi-LAN's common
shares trade on The Toronto Stock Exchange under the symbol +WIN.+
Detailed information on Wi-LAN can be found on the Web at
wi-lan.com..
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