MRVL Drives Mass Deployment of Wireless LANs With the Industry's First
Two-Chip 802.11b Solutions
Business Editors/High-Tech Writers
SUNNYVALE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aug. 19, 2002--
Libertas(TM) Chipset Offers Breakthrough Solutions to Allow
"Worry-Free" Wireless LAN Connectivity
Marvell(R) (NASDAQ:MRVL), a technology leader in the development
of extreme broadband communications solutions, today solved critical
issues hindering the widespread adoption of Wireless LANs by offering
the industry's most integrated, two-chip, CMOS 802.11b Wireless LAN
solutions. The Marvell Libertas(TM) chipsets are optimized to provide
unprecedented levels of performance and incorporate new features that
will make Wireless LAN a standard feature in enterprise
infrastructures, laptops, home gateways, and consumer electronic
devices.
Current competing solutions prevent the mass deployment of
Wireless LANs due to problems with short range, poor battery
management, weak interference immunity, and insufficient security. To
improve range, the Marvell Libertas solutions incorporate advanced
Digital Signal Processing (DSP) technology that lessens the impact of
multi-path, unwanted "echoes" in wireless transmissions, which
severely reduces range and lowers transmission speeds. The Libertas
chipsets have up to a four times better multi-path tolerance than
current competing solutions. Furthermore, the Marvell Libertas
solutions incorporate the industry's highest receive sensitivity and
highest on-chip, power amplifier (PA) output at 20dBm at the antenna
connector. As a result, the Libertas chipsets easily offer twice the
distance of competing solutions.
"Our goal was to deliver breakthrough technology that solved
critical issues, such as increasing range and enhancing security, for
our customers' wide range of applications," stated Weili Dai,
Marvell's Executive Vice President and General Manager for the
Communications Business Group. "The challenges our customers have with
current competing solutions can only be overcome with the Marvell
Libertas 802.11b solutions. With our technology, our customers can
confidently build secure and reliable Wireless LAN products. In
addition, our high level of integration will enable our customers to
build very cost-effective solutions for the mass deployment of
Wireless LAN into the enterprise, home, public 'hot spot,' and other
emerging markets," added Ms. Dai.
"In addition to extending range performance, the Marvell Libertas
solutions include additional advanced features that provide enhanced
capabilities for Wireless LAN systems," stated Lawrence Tse, Marvell's
Vice President of Wireless Engineering for the Communications Business
Group. "Marvell has incorporated auto-programmability with our on-chip
power amplifier to provide better power management and extended
battery life. We have also optimized our industry-leading DSP
technology to provide more interference immunity to co-channel 802.11b
interference, allowing for increased speeds and 'worry-free'
functionality in realistic Wireless LAN deployment scenarios. Last, we
have dedicated hardware to perform advanced IEEE AES encryption,
providing the industry with the most secure Wireless LAN connections."
In addition to client and access point chipset offerings, Marvell
also provides complete hardware and software reference designs to
accelerate customers' time-to-market. "Our complete reference designs
make it easy for our customers to implement Wireless LANs as a `must
have' capability in various market segments," stated Dr. James Chen,
Wireless Product Marketing Manager for the Communications Business
Group. "To this end, we are excited to announce reference designs such
as embedded Mini PCI for laptops, PC Cards for retail markets and
Compact Flash for PDA applications. Tying all of these clients
together will be our Access Point reference designs which will allow
APs to be deployed more cost-effectively and more densely than ever
before."
Libertas 802.11b Client Chipset Solution
For client applications, the Marvell Libertas chipset solution
comprises the 88W8000 RF transceiver and the 88W8300 baseband
processor/MAC, and includes the following features:
-- On-chip PA with near +20dBm output power at the antenna port,
low noise amplifier (LNA), variable gain amplifier (VGA),
voltage-controlled oscillator (VCO), programmable frequency
synthesizer, and RF up/down converters (mixers)
-- Packet-based antenna diversity
-- On-chip MAC supports 802.11b standard data rates (1, 2, 5.5,
and 11 Mbps) and Marvell proprietary 22 Mbps High Data Rate
mode
-- Hardware security engine for WEP and AES encryption and
decryption
-- Low speed interfaces include: GPIO, UART, SPI, MicroWire, and
Serial EEPROM
-- Embedded ARM core with on-chip SRAM memory for low power
operation
-- Host interfaces include: 16-bit PCMCIA, PCI, Mini PCI, 32-bit
Cardbus, USB 1.1, and Compact Flash
-- Reference designs will include software drivers for Windows(R)
XP, Windows 2000, Windows Me, Windows 98SE, and Windows CE.Net
Libertas 802.11b Access Point Chipset Solution
For access points, the Marvell Libertas chipset solution comprises
the 88W8000 RF transceiver and the 88W8500 Access Point chip. It
offers most of the above features plus the following:
-- Replaces host interfaces with user selectable MII or PCI
external interface for Home Wireless Gateway designs
-- Integrated 10/100 Mbps Fast Ethernet MAC and PHY with Virtual
Cable Tester(TM) (VCT) technology to diagnose cabling and
connection faults
-- Embedded ARM core with on-chip Instruction and Data cache
memory
-- Supports up to 256Mb external SDRAM and FLASH memory
-- HW filtering of MAC addresses o Supports TCP/IP, DHCP and SNMP
for Access Point (AP) operation o Supports 802.1x secure port
protocol for advance security authentication
-- Reference designs will include uCLinux software for Access
Point functionality and simple networking functions
Availability
The Marvell Libertas 88W8000 RF chip and the 88W8300/88W8500
baseband and MAC processor/Access Point chips are now sampling.
About Marvell
Marvell (NASDAQ:MRVL), a technology leader in the development of
extreme broadband system-level IC solutions for Internet connectivity
and infrastructure, comprises Marvell Technology Group Ltd. and its
subsidiaries, including Marvell Semiconductor, Inc. (MSI), Marvell
Asia Pte Ltd. (MAPL), Marvell Japan K.K., Marvell Taiwan Ltd., Marvell
International Ltd. (MIL), Galileo Technology Ltd. (GTL) and SysKonnect
GmbH. On behalf of MIL, MSI designs, develops and markets integrated
circuits utilizing proprietary Communications Mixed-Signal Processing
(CMSP) and digital signal processing technologies for communications
signal processing markets. MAPL is headquartered in Singapore and is
responsible for production, distribution and design operations. GTL
develops high-performance communications Internetworking and Switching
products for the broadband communications market. As used in this
release, the terms "Company" and "Marvell" refer to the entire group
of companies. The Company applies its technology to the extreme
broadband communications market where its products are used in network
access equipment to provide the interface between communications
systems and data transmission media. MSI is headquartered at 645
Almanor Ave., Sunnyvale, Calif., 94085; phone: 408/222-2500, fax:
408/328-0120. Marvell's common stock is traded on the NASDAQ under
the symbol MRVL. More information on Marvell is available on the
Internet at www.marvell.com.
Safe Harbor Statement of Marvell under the Private Securities
Litigation Reform Act of 1995: This release contains forward-looking
statements based on projections about our products, our markets, our
beliefs, and our assumptions. Words such as "anticipates," "expects,"
"intends," "plans," "believes," "seeks," "estimates," "may," "will,"
"should," and their variations identify forward-looking statements.
Statements that refer to, or are based on projections, uncertain
events or assumptions are forward-looking statements. These statements
are not guarantees of results and are subject to risks and
uncertainties. Market results may differ materially and adversely.
Some risks and uncertainties that may cause a difference for the
commercial activities highlighted in this release include, but are not
limited to, the timing, cost and successful completion of product
development, volume production, end-customer adoption, end-customer
qualification, and the timing, pricing, rescheduling, or cancellation
of significant customer orders.
For other factors that could cause Marvell's results to vary from
expectations, please see the sections titled "Additional Factors That
May Affect Future Results" in Marvell's annual report on Form 10-K for
the year ended February 2, 2002 and Marvell's subsequent reports on
Form 10-Q. We undertake no obligation to revise or update publicly any
forward-looking statements for any reason.
Marvell(R), the Marvell logo, Libertas, and Virtual Cable Tester
are trademarks of Marvell. All other trademarks are the property of
their respective owners.
--30--jb/sf*
CONTACT: Marvell Semiconductor, Inc.
Kathryn Gentry, 408/222-2500 (Corporate Communications)
kathy@marvell.com
James Chen, 408/222-2500 (Product Marketing Manager)
jamesc@marvell.com
KEYWORD: CALIFORNIA
INDUSTRY KEYWORD: COMPUTERS/ELECTRONICS TELECOMMUNICATIONS
NETWORKING HARDWARE SOFTWARE PRODUCT
SOURCE: Marvell Semiconductor, Inc.
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