Lantiq's New Wireless LAN Chips Set Benchmarks for Reach and Robustness

Beam-Forming Ensures Best-in-Class Reach and Integrated Thick MAC Processor Cuts the Main Processor Load in Half

MUNICH and NEUBIBERG, Germany, Aug. 23, 2010 -- Lantiq, a leading supplier of broadband access and home networking technologies, today introduced its latest 802.11n WLAN solutions -- the XWAY™ WAVE300 family. Featuring advanced beam-forming technology and an integrated "Thick MAC" processor, WAVE300 has been demonstrated to deliver up to 300 percent increased reach and radio coverage compared to existing solutions, while maintaining links with a minimum or even zero-packet-error rate requirement.

The WAVE300 beam-forming technology is capable of intelligently providing high-bandwidth data rates directly to end user devices, regardless of whether the device is "beam-forming ready" or not. Enriched by the "Thick MAC" processor, the Lantiq 11n solution is also at least twice as efficient with its routing capacity giving it superior energy and cost efficiency.

"The use of WLAN is changing. Originally developed to connect notebooks to routers, new user scenarios such as connecting smart phones to high-data broadband applications and supporting HD video links are now required," said Ulrich Huewels, Senior Vice President and General Manager of Lantiq's CPE Business Unit. "Each scenario has specific requirements that our best-in-class WLAN solutions meet in terms of reach and Quality of Service."

The WLAN market shows significant growth. According to In-Stat the market will see an increase in the number of Wi-Fi-enabled devices, from over 500 million in 2009 to nearly 2 billion pieces in 2014. An obstacle as the market becomes more diversified is that related WLAN solutions have to address different application needs.

Using the Lantiq beam-forming technology helps manufacturers extend the reach of their WLAN devices and literally eliminate dead wireless spots for users at home. These advanced technologies result in about 8-10dB increased gain and an up to 300 percent increased reach compared to standard WLAN. The WAVE300 family also significantly enhances the streaming of HDTV via WLAN. Compared to existing solutions where only best-effort streaming is available, the Lantiq solution enables a full wireless IP HDTV experience. This results in sustainable bit rates and elimination of pixel errors, allowing multiple simultaneous HD streams without packet loss. On reference systems, Lantiq demonstrated the transmission of four HD streams with 20 Mbps simultaneously with maximum reach.

About the XWAY™ WAVE300

The WAVE300 architecture intelligently offloads the main processor by executing all real-time and processor-intensive operations on the "Thick MAC," which results in higher throughput and more free performance on the SoC for other applications and services. The Lantiq 11n family achieves a maximum 3x3 MIMO (Multiple-Input-Multiple-Output) data rates up to 200 Mbps net throughput on single band implementation and dual-mode capable chips in the family reach up to 270 Mbps net throughput in concurrent mode operation.

Lantiq provides several software and pin-compatible versions of the WAVE300, all in 65nm, optimized for various application needs, from low-cost standard WLAN 11n 2x2 products to video-grade WLAN. Fully compliant with IEEE 802.11n, it addresses ADSL/VDSL routers, gateways and IADs, Gigabit-WLAN routers, video-bridges, set-top boxes and digital TV applications. With its versatile interface, the Lantiq 11n solution can be connected to any host processor with a PCI, mPCI or PCIe interface.

The WAVE300 (baseband/MAC and HF part) is available in single-band 2.4GHz and 5GHz variants and a dual-band device. The WAVE300 family is available in volume production and Lantiq offers different reference packages as design-in support. For more information, please visit: http://www.lantiq.com/WAVE300.

About LANTIQ

Lantiq offers a broad and innovative product portfolio for next-generation networks and the digital home. The company has a global team of about 1,000 experts in Europe, North America the Middle East and the Asia Pacific regions. Headquartered in Neubiberg just outside of Munich, Germany, Lantiq specializes in broadband communications, encompassing analog, digital and mixed-signal ICs along with comprehensive software suites. Lantiq is a fabless company, and its semiconductor solutions are deployed by major carriers and in home networks in every region of the world. Further information is available at www.lantiq.com.