Chipset claims global WLAN interoperability

Prism WorldRadio is a two-chip, dual-band (2.4 and 5GHz) wireless LAN solution designed to provide true global wireless connectivity.

Prism WorldRadio is a two-chip, dual-band (2.4 and 5GHz) wireless LAN solution designed to provide true global wireless connectivity.

Prism WorldRadio is Intersil's second-generation dual-band WLAN solution and leverages the experience gained from the company's first-generation Prism Duette chipset.

Intersil reckons it sets new standards in world-class power, performance, software, security and cost.

Prism WorldRadio enables users to establish a WLAN network connection throughout the world with any standards-compliant wireless 802.11 infrastructure they encounter, including existing and proposed standards 802.11a, b, d, g, h, i or j.

Prism WorldRadio is capable of tuning frequency ranges that cover the entire worldwide wireless LAN spectrum (2.40 -2.50 and 4.9 -5.85GHz).

Prism WorldRadio also delivers the industry's best power performance, consuming up to 75% less power than competitive designs, allowing users to spend more time connected on battery power.

"Prism WorldRadio is an advanced wireless networking technology that essentially eliminates all barriers when connecting to whatever 802.11 network you may encounter worldwide.

Prism WorldRadio will provide Wi-Fi users greater mobility and interoperability than they experience with their cellphones", said Rich Beyer, President and CEO of Intersil.

"There's been strong growth in wireless networking across many regions of the world, but each region has different spectrum allocations or regulatory requirements; even within regions there are networks based on the three varieties and two bands of the 802.11 standard.

Prism WorldRadio overcomes these barriers to deliver true, worldwide client coverage.

The Prism WorldRadio solution also delivers best-in-class performance in throughput, range and power consumption.

Along with advanced security and support functions, this gives our customers the most advanced 802.11 solution in the industry".

Kurt Scherf, Vice President of Research for Parks Associates said, "To achieve the ultimate vision of wireless networking anywhere, there needs to be a universal card that providers users with wireless connection from their office, living room, the local coffee shop, an airport or hotel, and literally any public WLAN hot spot.

Intersil is the world leader in WLAN silicon, and its solution for this world radio vision addresses the standards compliance, security, performance, power consumption and other issues in such a way as to yield a very stable, high performance solution for any wireless user, anywhere.

Prism WorldRadio is designed for compliance to each of the 802.11 standards (802.11a, b, d, g, h or j) and with the ability to identify, associate and connect to networks employing access points operating to any of the standards.

For true worldwide operations, Prism WorldRadio self-configures to the appropriate frequency and operating parameters specific to any region.

For instance, in the 5GHz band, European regions have different and separated WLAN spectra.

Prism WR fully supports the 2.40-2.50 and 4.9-5.85GHz frequency ranges with certified dynamic frequency selection (DFS) and transmit power control (TPC) capabilities to ensure no interference with specified radar operations.

Prism WR also complies with the proposed 802.11j amendment for operation within the 4.9-5.1GHz band in Japan.

Prism WorldRadio features a dual-band (2.4 and 5GHz) zero intermediate frequency (ZIF) transceiver chip and an integrated baseband processor and medium access controller (BBP/MAC) chip.

ZIF architecture eliminates the need for an intermediate frequency, reducing components and complexity, thereby reducing size and cost.

The BBP/MAC chip handles both frequency bands and both OFDM (orthogonal frequency division multiplexing) and CCK (complementary code keying) modulations necessary for support of IEEE802.11b, 11g or 11a networks.

Prism WorldRadio employs Intersils Prism Nitro technology, a firmware upgrade that is part of Intersil's SingleSource Driver suite.

Prism Nitro technology delivers up to a threefold improvement in throughput for 802.11g clients operating in mixed-mode wireless networks and up to 50% greater throughput performance in 802.11a and 802.11g only networks.

Prism Nitro technology is fully IEEE802.11 compliant, and uses prioritisation algorithms and enhanced protection mechanisms to significantly increase network performance.

The Prism WorldRadio solution includes new power management technology that has the lowest standby current, receive current and average idle current in direct testing against competitors WLAN solutions.

The power save mode feature allows Prism WorldRadio to save up to 35% receive mode current compared with competing solutions.

Prism WorldRadio consumes significantly lower power than competing solutions over a wide range of user activity; this equates to longer battery life for mobile handheld and notebook users.

Intersil's power management IC, the ISL6411, powers the Prism WR solution.

The ISL6411's 4 x 4mm quad flat no-lead package significantly reduces board space to accommodate shrinking form factors.

In addition, this highly integrated IC greatly reduces the bill of materials by combining three low-dropout regulators, a reset function and extensive current and thermal protection functions into a single chip.

On-chip logic provides sequencing for BBP, MAC and analogue supply voltage outputs.

"The Prism WR solution is 100% compliant to all IEEE802.11 WLAN standards, including the recently adopted 802.11g standard, and offers our customers a reduction in total bill of materials along with the WLAN industry's leading features and performance", said Larry Ciaccia, Vice President and General Manager of Intersil's Wireless Networking Product Group.

"Intersil customers are designing innovative new dual-band products such as the Universal Client Card with our new Prism WorldRadio solution and Prism Nitro technology.

They are leveraging Prism WR's dramatically improved performance and increased battery life, offering compelling value to the market".

Prism WorldRadio fully supports Wi-Fi Protected Access (WPA) and the IEEE802.11i draft security standard with high-speed encryption capabilities for both the Temporal Key Integrity Protocol (TKIP) and the Advanced Encryption Standard (AES).

Intersil has also integrated within the drivers and reference design solutions of the Prism WR chipset, Cisco Compatible Extensions (CCX) support and Meetinghouse's Aegis authentication API to enable fast, easy-to-implement compliance with 802.11i, WPA and CCX.

Intersil's industry leading security solution also works with Funk Software's Odyssey Client WLAN access control and security system to provide interoperability and promote ease of use with virtually all major Windows operating systems.

Intersil has implemented quality of service (QoS) improvements for the Prism WR solution through software and firmware enhancements of the MAC to support video streaming, Voice over Internet protocol (VoIP) and multimedia related services for the home and enterprise.

These new wireless media enhancements, in combination with the IEEE802.11a and g high datarates, provide a significant advantage to 802.11-based WLAN users by allowing immediate migration to new multimedia applications.

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