Flarion Technologies has made a move on the wireless LAN market following a partnership deal with Netgear Inc. (Nasdaq: NTGR) (see NetGear Flashes With Flarion).

The New Jersey-based startup is to integrate its Flash-OFDM technology into Netgear's 802.11 b/g products.

OFDM, which stands for Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing, is a modulation scheme that can support an average data rate of around 1.5 Mbit/s for users in a standard, PCS-sized cell site, while using only 1.25 MHz of spectrum.

"Product for mobile operator trials is expected in Q4 this year," says Netgear spokesman Doug Hagan. Both vendors declined to divulge further details.

Today's announcement is Flarion's second major OEM deal. Earlier this month the company struck a deal with Siemens AG (NYSE: SI; Frankfurt: SIE) to manufacture its Flash-OFDM kit for use by the German vendor in the 450MHz band (see Flarion Flashes With Siemens).

"We are beginning to see an ecosystem converge around Flash-OFDM," says Flarion's EMEA marketing director, Joe Barrett, in true marketing fashion. "It isn't an exclusive deal. We welcome multiple companies so we can build up this ecosystem."

— Justin Springham, Senior Editor, Europe, Unstrung