[MLB-WIRELESS] New Linux Based AP on a chip

[Thomas F. Anglero]

"...Now comes word from Intersil Corp. that it has developed the
industry's first access point on a chip reference design, which
includes a PRISM wireless chipset, an ARM9-based media access
controller and a Linux-based open-source operating system. Building on
the flexibility of Linux, Intersil has also created an AP Developer's
Kit that allows OEMs to customize the features and functionality.

This is not the first time that a vendor has used Linux as the
foundation for a wireless gateway. Colubris Networks
(see
http://update.networkcomputing.com/cgi-bin4/flo?y=eEgO0B2kKa0qi0SjW0AR )
has been leveraging Linux for quite some time in
its line of wireless access points and gateways. What's new is the
availability of the reference design from Intersil, the leading global
supplier of 802.11b wireless chipsets. And its decision to use an ARM
CPU provides plenty of overhead for additional features without
worrying about the impact on overall system performance.

This market has gone from niche to commodity faster than any other I
have witnessed. While this is great news for users, the biggest danger
is that some vendors -- in their zest to get product into a hot
channel -- are rushing their offerings to market without adequate
debugging. Although this practice is by no means unique to the
wireless market, the hidden complexity inherent in such a product
offering makes us all the more concerned. We hope Intersil will not
adopt this approach to development.
http://update.networkcomputing.com/cgi-bin4/flo?y=eEgO0B2kKa0qi0SjJ0AE



I hope this information has been helpful!

Thomas A.




--
To unsubscribe, send mail to minordomo at melbwireless.dyndns.org with a subject of 'unsubscribe melbwireless'  
Archive of the Entire mailinst list at:
http://melbwireless.dyndns.org/cgi-bin/minorweb.pl?A=LIST&L=melbwireless