Tuesday, May 28, 2002

The HomeRF Working Group has released future plans, most of which include stressing the use of HomeRF for voice communications. The upcoming HomeRF 2.1 specification will also increase the number of active handsets on a phone system, extend range, and introduce voice roaming. HomeRF will be endorsing 802.11a for high-bandwidth applications in the 5GHz band as a compliment to its use of 2.4GHz.

Asoka USA Corporation and Intellon Corporation today announced a strategic relationship to work together to develop future powerline networking products. The Asoka PlugLink Ethernet bridge (PL9610-ETH) and USB Adapter (PL9710-USB) have both been shipping since January.

Thursday, May 23, 2002

TROY Wireless has partnered with FieldSoftware Products to release a new Bluetooth printing solution for Pocket PCs, consisting of the WindConnect Bluetooth print adapter and FieldSoftware's WindPocketCE software.

Monday, May 20, 2002

3Com has announced the OfficeConnect Wireless Cable/DSL Gateway, a router with support for up to 32 users of 802.11b and a 4-port 10/100 switch. It includes basic firewall, up to 128-bit WEP, and has VPN pass-thru capability. It should be available this month at a price of $280 MSRP.

Thursday, May 16, 2002

Belkin has a new version of an 802.11b PCI-based NIC, the $99 F5D6001, this time a full card, not an adapter that requires a PC Card NIC to be inserted like the F5D6000, which should save around $60. The PCI card will ship on May 21.

Wednesday, May 15, 2002

D-Link is leaving Intersil behind and moving its 802.11b-based products to the Texas Instruments ACX100 chip set. Get the full scoop at 80211 Planet.

Fujitsu PC Corporations' latest LifeBook S series notebook based on the 1GHz Intel Pentium III-M will come with integrated 802.11b networking as well as an Ethernet port. Starting price on the thin and light laptop is $1,499.

Monday, May 13, 2002

HomePlug-chipset maker Cogency Semiconductor will announce this week the reference design for OEMs of a USB-HomePlug Wall Adapter using Cogency's Piranha chipset. Plug one end into an outlet and the other into the USB port of your computer and the PC will be on your home powerline network. Price of final products would likely be around $99.

3e Technologies is shipping the 3e-520 3e-520 Series Wireless Gateway commercially for $899. This wireless gateway/access point also supports HomePNA, Ethernet, Bluetooth, and IrDA. It's also a print server.

Friday, May 10, 2002

Small Biz Loves DSL but U.S. Lags Behind: Despite increasing reliance on the high-speed connection, the US fell from 5th to 10th in rankings of global DSL subscriptions according to Yankee Group. Read about it at CyberAtlas.

Thursday, May 9, 2002

TROY Wireless reports that its WindConnect Bluetooth print adapter has been approved for use with Compaq's iPAQ PocketPC H38709, Bluetooth MultiPort by Compaq, and Compaq Bluetooth Wireless Pack with CF Card Slot.

The 802.1X security protocol for wireless LANs is catching on as companies like Meetinghouse Data, Funk Software and Wind River Systems announce implementations of it, and several other companies sign on to use it. You can read more about it at 802.11 Planet.

Tuesday, May 7, 2002

Proxim has announced shipping of a $279 Harmony 802.11a PCI Card. It supports their proprietary 2X mode for speeds rated up to 100Mbps second. It will be available here in the US as well as in Europe (see the news from Thursday, May 2). Proxim is also set to integrate 802.1X security into all of its Harmony 802.11a products.

Intel announced Intel PRO/Wireless 5000 LAN Dual Band Access Point, which supports both 802.11a and 802.11b from the same device (the company also demonstrated their own combo 802.11a/b chip set that will be available later this year).

Electronics giant Philips is partnering with Netgear for cross promotion of their various products. First up, Philips' Internet audio systems will be co-marketed with Netgear routers, 802.11a products, HomePNA phoneline products, and Powerline products.

SMC Networks announced what looks like the first 802.11a router today: Barricade 802.11a Wireless Cable/DSL Broadband Router (SMC7004AWBR-54), as well as their own dual-mode 802.11a/b Access Point (the EliteConnect SMC 2785W). Read more about them at 802.11 Planet.

Acer has demonstrated the first line of laptops with integrated 802.11a 54Mbps wireless networking, using a mini-PCI card using a chip set from Atheros and Wistron NeWeb that will also support 802.11g when it's ratified. Read about it at allNetDevices.

Monday, May 6, 2002

D-Link's Ethernet to Wireless Bridge product will convert any Ethernet based product into an 802.11b capable resource for the WLAN. Read about it at 80211 Planet.

SMC Networks has shipped it's "next-generation" 802.11b USB 1.1 adapter. The Plug-and-Play EZ Connect 11Mbps Wireless USB Adapter (SMC2664W) is a smaller clip on unit measuring 1x2.25x3.25 inches. It supports 64- and 128-bit WEP. Estimated price is $118.

Pioneer has announced production of a dual Ethernet/80211b home gateway that will support a cable modem connection via DOCSIS 1.0/1.1 modem. It will support 40- and 128-bit WEP and triple DES encryption. The gateway will be available in the second half of 2002. Scientific-Atlanta has announced a similar product comes sans Ethernet that will be available this summer. Linksys is also getting into act (see next).

Linksys is unveiling a large number of new products at Networld+Interop this week. Among them are a new 802.11a Access Point and 802.11a PC Card; an Instant Wireless Network Bridge for converting Ethernet-based products into an 802.11b clients, and new DSL/Cable residential gateways that include the broadband modem along with different types of networking such as router with either an 802.11b access point or Ethernet switch. We'll bring you more details as we get them.

Netgear's FVS318 Cable/DSL ProSafe VPN Firewall router is reportedly the "lowest price per port" broadband VPN Firewall Router, at a cost of $150 with 8 10/100 switched ports. It features a Stateful Packet Inspection (SPI) firewall and up to eight IPSec-based VPN tunnels can be established to remote sites and users. The FVS318 has a Smart Wizard setup utility for detecting the type of ISP used and minimal steps for configuration.

Thursday, May 2, 2002

TDK Systems is launching new Bluetooth products. The TDK Mobile give your control over your Bluetooth-enabled phone via the PC using a Bluetooth adapter. TDK Dialler lets users of TDK's blue5 and blueM Palm add-ons dial a phone from the Palm's stored numbers list. Finally, TDK blueDial does the same with the current bluePAQ device, allowing dialing from an Compaq iPAQ's stored list.

Proxim has announced it will be first to market with 802.11a products in Europe. Both the Skyline and Harmony lines of 54Mbps access points and CardBus NICs will be available in Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Greece, Ireland, Norway, and Portugal as of this month, with hopes for the rest of Europe to follow this year. There's more at 802.11 Planet.

Wednesday, May 1, 2002

Belkin will release a new KVM switch with full USB sharing and sound support at next weeks Networld+Interop show in Las Vegas. The OmniView Small Office/Home Office (SOHO) Series Universal Serial Bus (USB) Keyboard/Video/Mouse (KVM) Switch with Audio will come in a 2-port model for $149.99 and 4-port model for $179.99. They feature a newly sculpted look that's different from previous Belkin KVM switches.