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Synad demos low-cost dual-chip, dual-band chipset

Three chips bad, two chips good for 802.11a/b/g

British wireless networking chipset company Synad today unveiled its debut product: Mercury5G, a dual-band, dual-chip 802.11a/b/g offering.

The chipset comprises the SYBB8200 modem/MAC and the SYRF8100 radio chip. Synad's radio technology, dubbed AgileRF, can directly hop from the 2.4GHz band to the 5GHz spectrum, courtesy of an integrated frequency synthesizer that operates right across that frequency range. That enables the chipset to monitor available 802.11a, 802.11b and 802.11g coverage, and dynamically - and transparently - switch connections, Synad engineering VP Andrew Watts told The Register.

The MAC is based on an ARM9 processor core and features hardware-accelerated data encryption. The part supports WPA, AES, WEP and 802.1x. It also delivers packet prioritisation to improve the delivery of streamed data, such as audio, MPEG-2 video and file transfers.

Cost is driving the WLAN market at the component level, said Kevin Mapplebeck, Synad's VP of marketing and business development. Synad believes it has a strong proposition here with the two-chip Mercury5G. Broadcom's rival offering, for example, is a three-chip solution. Mercury5G also integrates SRAM, so there's no need for external memory components.

Broadcom, however, already has strong support among notebook vendors - and crucially the Taiwanese manufacturers who produce the vast majority of the world's WLAN PC Cards and mini-PCI modules, and indeed most of the notebooks that ship today. HP is already offering Broadcom 802.11b/g modules in its systems, and Dell is offering Broadcom's dual-band part as a $69 upgrade.

Synad reckons that's about twice as expensive as it should be, based on the extra cost of adding 802.11a to a base 802.11b/g system. Dell and Broadcom are targeting corporate buyers, who are arguably the only constituency interested, or likely to become interested, in 802.11a support and are relatively price insensitive.

Not so the Taiwanese producers, and Synad's two-chip solution may win out over three-chip offerings from Broadcom and Atheros, the other big name in WLAN chipsets.

Synad won't say how much it's charging for its chipset, but it is touting the part to potential customers. It is also offering mini-PCI and PC Card reference designs, plus a full driver and tool set. The company expects to begin volume shipments in the summer. ®

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