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Technology Stocks : Frank Coluccio Technology Forum - ASAP -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Frank A. Coluccio who wrote (368)	11/15/1999 12:09:00 PM
From: Stephen L	Respond to of 1782

For all on Wireless LAN Technologies: Atmel Announces World's First USB 11 Mbps Media Access Controller (MAC) and single chip for Access Points For Wireless Local Area Networks SAN JOSE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Nov. 15, 1999--Atmel Corporation (Nasdaq: ATML) today released a family of three 11 Mbps Media Access Controllers (MACs) to support a range of equipment options for wireless Local Area Networks (LANs). The Fast-VNET family, each member being a single chip controller based on a ARM7TDMI(TM) RISC processor includes: the AT76C503, the world's first Media Access Controller (MAC) chip to support USB applications in wireless LANs; the AT76C510 (VNET-B), the world's first single chip bridge controller for Access Points; and the AT76C502 MAC to support PCMCIA applications in wireless LANs. These controllers all provide the processing and functionality required for the MAC protocol of wireless LANs, focusing on, but not limited to the IEEE 802.11b Standards operating in the 2.4 GHz ISM band. The three new Fast-VNET versions join the previously announced AT76C501 (2 Mbps MAC) already in production, and form a family of components offering the industries most complete range of wireless LAN controller options. Fast-VNET has an open architecture that complies with the IEEE 802.11b standard, but allows OEMs to implement proprietary protocols as well. To address the entire WLAN market, Atmel offers both a USB (AT76C503) or PCMCIA (AT76C502) bus interface with a MAC control unit and a Physical Attachment Interface (PAI). The PAI provides an interface that allows a glueless connection to Intersil's PRISMII(TM) baseband and Direct Sequence Spread Spectrum (DSSS) radio chip set, but can also communicate with other DSSS radios. Atmel is working with OEMs that are designing the Fast-VNET parts into their designs using various front-end radios. Fast-VNET, like the AT76C501, is based on an ARM7 RISC processor. The ARM7 core provides the necessary processing power to support 11 Mbps and provide fallback to 5.5, 2 and 1 Mbps. Both Fast-VNET parts include an integrated Wired Equivalent Privacy (WEP) block that allows encryption/decryption to be invoked on the fly with minimal interaction from the ARM. Atmel's Product Marketing Director Richard Bisset states, "the ARM processor is an excellent engine for this type of application. It's processing power and software tools allow our customers flexibility that is not offered with proprietary or DSP type processors. It supports power savings modes by allowing peripherals and devices to be turned off when not in use. At power-up, both the AT76C502 and AT76C503 load program code from a boot-strapped Atmel flash or optionally through the USB or PCMCIA interface on the computer to integrated SRAM. Internal SRAM enables fast execution of program code as well as minimizes power consumption." The AT76C510 (VNET-B) is a single chip bridge controller for Access Points (AP) or Bridges for wireless LANs. The design is based on the Fast-VNET architecture with the addition of a second ARM7 and a 10/100 Ethernet MAC. Mr. Bisset states, "the reason why 2 Mbps wireless products did not capitalize on horizontal markets was due primarily to price and performance. Pricing of Access Points only compounded the pricing hurdles. Prices for Access Points were high because they essentially were a dedicated motherboard PC running software to enable it as an Access Point. This not only made it expensive, but also large in size. With 11 Mbps applications, the requirement for Access Points will grow because transmission distances for 11 Mbps will significantly be less than distances achieved with 2 Mbps. Atmel's AT76C510 addresses both the cost and size issues. Because we are using two ARM cores, each with their own internal program memories, we are able to process the 802.11b code and translate 802.11 packets to Ethernet packets all on a single chip. The AT76C510 enables Access Point to be manufactured with fewer parts, reducing the overall Bill of Materials as well as making Access Points much smaller in size." To facilitate quick time-to-market and reduce engineering costs, Atmel provides reference designs for its USB, PCMCIA and Access Point products. Reference designs include drivers for Win98, WinNT, WinCE (2.0) and Linux. For customers that want to develop their own code and test it, Atmel offers a development board. Mr. Bisset further states, "we have made it very easy for OEMs to go straight to production by using our reference designs and working with qualified card manufacturers. Founded in 1984, Atmel Corporation is headquartered in San Jose, California with principal manufacturing facilities in Colorado Springs, Colorado, Nantes and Rousset, France and Heilbronn, Germany. Atmel designs, develops, manufactures and markets on a worldwide basis semiconductors, including nonvolatile and embedded memory, logic, analog, microcontroller products and system-level integration (SLI) solutions using advanced CMOS, BiCMOS, BiPolar and SiGe process technologies.