News

Entropic And Atheros Show WLAN-To-Coax Bridge (21/1/2004)

Atheros Communications, a leading developer of wireless LAN (WLAN) system solutions, has joined forces with chip innovator, Entropic Communications, to demonstrate a WLAN-to-Coax networking bridge product in the Connected Home Entertainment TechZone at CES.

Coax, installed in the vast majority of American TV-homes, is an ideal medium for high-speed communication, but was not designed for interactive, two-way networking. A new chip from Entropic solves this problem, and turns the coax into a high-speed -- 270Mbps -- pipe that is well suited for secure, robust home networking. Entropic's technology supports multiple simultaneous HDTV signals, as well as standard definition TV, broadband data, voice, and gaming.

"Our customers in the cable and satellite industry want to use the large amount of coax already installed in many homes in combination with 802.11 wireless technology to efficiently and economically create a hybrid wired/wireless network," according to Michael Stauffer, director of business development at Atheros Communications. "Entropic has developed a unique, elegant solution for using coax in a high-speed home network. We are working together to satisfy the needs of the cable and satellite industries."

Capable of networking any home over the existing coax cable infrastructure, products based on this new technology can handle video, data, voice, and all manner of digital entertainment effortlessly, and with zero impact on existing cable or satellite programming.

"In doing these demonstrations with technology leaders such as Atheros, we show that this new notion of networking over coax has the flexibility to complement a wide range of existing products," said Patrick Henry, Entropic president and CEO.

www.atheros.com
www.entropic-communications.com