Category: notebook components
By: Pallab Jyotee Hazarika
Atheros unveils first Wi-Fi/Bluetooth card
This can spell a change of size in netbooks specifically
Atheros, a Santa Clara based manufacturer of wireless technologies, recently unveiled the first ever single-stream Wi-Fi 802.11n and Bluetooth combo solution on a Half MiniCard form factor - the AR9002WB-1NGB add-in card. The card features Atheros Align 11n 1-stream technology and Atheros ROCm Bluetooth technology.
This invention is mainly helpful as we are going more and more mobile and are looking for sleeker and smaller machine with the same firepower. This card will enable a laptop or netbook to have just one card for both the wireless solutions, reducing the extra space needed for two cards basically. The card offers a Wireless-N connection up to 150Mbps (single-stream, as opposed to 300Mbps in other dual-stream Wireless-N solutions found mostly in desktop computers – as reported by cnet).
Apart from reducing the size, having both the components in the same card will reduce the energy usage also, as the netbook will be able to support concurrent audio and data transfer applications, while browsing the Internet and syncing a Smartphone's contact database from the same laptop – points out Dong of cnet.
The AR9002WB-1NGB sports an AR9285 single-chip 1-stream 11n PCIe solution for Wi-Fi, and an AR3011 Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR single-chip solution for the Bluetooth. The combo card supports Bluetooth 3.0 up gradation. It also supports Windows XP, Vista and Win 7 as well as Linux.
About Atheros
Atheros Communications is a global leader in wireless and wired communications products. Atheros combines its wireless and networking systems expertise with high-performance radio frequency (RF), mixed signal and digital semiconductor design skills to provide highly integrated chipsets that are manufactured on low-cost, standard complementary metal-oxide semiconductor (CMOS) processes. Founded in May 1998, they are into WLAN Networking, Mobile WLAN, Gigabit Ethernet and Fast Ethernet, GPS, Bluetooth etc.
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