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Cambridge, UK – 13 May 2008 – CSR today announced that its UniFi silicon provides Wi-Fi functionality in the new WLAN-Ethernet Combo Module from WhizNets. The module will provide OEMs with a quick and simple way to integrate a wide range of wired and wireless connectivity options in industrial control and monitoring devices, allowing for more time to concentrate on developing the core functions of a product.
The Whiz-WLAN-ETH Combo Module offers wired connectivity options including USB, SPI, UART, and CAN interfaces. The module is unusual in also offering a complete WLAN solution alongside; with a high performance 802.11b/g Wi-Fi silicon provided by CSR, plus an IP network processor and a media access controller. The module also supports a wide variety of IP network protocols and security standards and features a unified command line interface to make setting up communications with external host processors as simple as possible. WhizNets’ module also includes a Flash element for firmware updates.
The Whiz-WLAN-ETH Combo Module is designed to support industrial or retail/banking applications such as ATMs, control and measurement (remote measurement using Wi-Fi, or wired using the range of physical connectivity options supported).
CSR’s UniFi is the lowest power Wi-Fi solution in the market, designed on a tiny chip scale package (CSP) of just 5.8 x 6.4mm, allowing WhizNets to embed this on a module with a wide range of interfaces yet measuring just 3.3 x 1.3 x 0.2 inches. CSR designs its embedded wireless technologies to ensure the requirement for external components is minimised and this gives UniFi a low bill of materials for such WLAN modules. UniFi is a complete Wi-Fi solution designed to lower the time-to-market for OEMs such as WhizNets. For companies looking to embed multiple wireless technologies into one product, CSR’s UniFi also sports excellent radio coexistence, with CSR’s proprietary Unity Bluetooth/Wi-Fi collision decision logic built in.
“We wanted to offer a combination communications interface that offered more than the competition”, said Jack Tuite, Vice President of Sales and Marketing. WhizNets. “With the increasing use of wireless technologies for monitoring and control of industrial devices, we decided early on that integrating Wi-Fi would be a good idea. We were aware of CSR’s strengths in offering reliable embedded wireless technologies. CSR’s UniFi therefore offered the ideal combination of small size and powerful features for our needs, and was a simple way to introduce a real value-add feature”.
Neil MacMullen, Senior Vice President of CSR’s Wi-Fi Business Unit commented, “In many ways WhizNets has set out to achieve the same thing in this module as CSR did in UniFi. WhizNets has designed a device that provides a complex function and yet is still very easy for ODMs to integrate. WhizNets’ offering takes the difficulty of connectivity out of the manufacturer’s hands, allowing them to focus on their broader design.”
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