News & Events
Intersil Unveils New Products for its PRISM® WLAN Chip Set Portfolio

— New chips add up to "PRISM 2.5"

SAN JOSE, CA, Wireless Symposium, February 22, 2000 – Intersil, the world’s leading developer of silicon technology for Wireless Local Area Networks, today announced new IC additions to its PRISM® II WLAN portfolio to further reduce board space, cut WLAN adapter card manufacturing costs, and provide a Universal Serial Bus (USB) host interface option in addition to its PCMCIA interface.

Dubbed PRISM 2.5, the redesigned chip set demonstrates the continuing progress Intersil is making toward more highly integrated, feature-rich WLAN silicon solutions for CompactFlash, miniPC, CardBus or embedded modules. Wireless LAN adapters in these smaller forms are necessary for wide deployment of wireless connectivity in small devices such as laptops, palmtops, PDAs, and digital cameras, to name just a few. PRISM 2.5 makes a major step by integrating the baseband processor (BBP) and medium access controller (MAC) – digital functions done by separate ICs in the PRISM II set.

"Widespread adoption of wireless LANs across the consumer, SOHO and enterprise segments is contingent upon the availability of low cost, high speed and ever-smaller solutions," said Larry Ciaccia, vice president and general manager of Intersil’s PRISM Wireless Products Business. "PRISM 2.5 is evidence of solid advancement toward that goal and breaks new ground in the adoption of wireless for mainstream, consumer and enterprise computing. PRISM 2.5 demonstrates Intersil’s leadership position in WLAN chip sets."

The PRISM 2.5 solution has four chips, instead of the five in the original PRISM II chip set. The chip set’s four ICs implement a complete data communications radio operating in the 2.4 GHz Industrial Scientific and Medical (ISM) band at data rates up to 11Mbps. From the antenna, the four chips are: a new low-cost power amplifier (ICW3984); a new, smaller RF/IF converter housed in Amkor’s MicroLeadFrame™ package (HFA3683IR); the existing PRISM II I/Q Modulator/Demodulator and Synthesizer (HFA3783); and the new Integrated Baseband Processor/Medium Access Controller (BBP/MAC), designated the ICW3870. The first three chips in the chain use SiGe process technology, while the BBP/MAC chip is a highly integrated sub-micron CMOS circuit.

The ICW3870 BBP/MAC is the integration of the HFA3861B baseband processor and the HFA3842 MAC and offers improved multipath performance as compared to the original PRISM II chip set. The performance specifications for the two integrated circuits remain the same as for the separate HFA3861B and HFA3842. Firmware is totally compatible with PRISM II. The PCMCIA interface for the 3870 is the same as for the 3842.

Beyond just the elimination of one package, this integration of the BBP and MAC eliminates a large number of I/O pins and reduces board complexity, size and manufacturing cost. It allows significant reduction of WLAN board space, enabling embedded WLAN applications for form factors such as USB, MiniPCI and CompactFlash.

AVAILABILITY:
Intersil will begin sampling the three new chips (ICW3984 Power Amplifier, HFA3683IR RF/IF Converter, and ICW3870 Integrated Baseband Processor and MAC) in late Q2 of this calendar year with full production slated to begin in early Q3. The I/Q Modulator/Demodulator and Synthesizer (HFA3783) is available now. High volume pricing for the individual new chips or the PRISM 2.5 chip set is available on request.

Adoption of PRISM WLAN Technology
Since introducing the PRISM WLAN chip set in 1996, over fifty companies have incorporated PRISM chips in more than 100 product designs. PRISM technology is designed to comply with the IEEE’s 802.11 global standard and Intersil is a founding sponsor of the Wireless Ethernet Compatibility Alliance (WECA), whose "Wi-Fi" brand will ensure compatibility between various 802.11-based systems. Intersil has a continuing program to rapidly introduce better performing, more highly integrated generations of PRISM chip sets and supporting design tools. PRISM chips are used in WLAN systems from industry-leading companies including Nokia, Siemens, Compaq, 3Com, Nortel, Samsung, Dell, Zoom, Cisco/Aironet, and SpectraLink.

About Intersil
Intersil Corporation uses semiconductor expertise to enable highly integrated voice, data and video communications. Intersil's integrated communications portfolio includes PRISM® Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) chip sets that enable mobile connectivity products for the home and office; analog and mixed-signal integrated circuits for broadband access to wireless and wired Wide Area Networks (WANs); and power management products that enable 24x7 reliability in network servers, next generation PCs and information appliances. For more information about Intersil, visit the company's Internet homepage at www.intersil.com.

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PRISM is a registered trademark of Intersil Corporation.