Agere Intros WiFi ChipsAgere Intros WiFi Chips

ALLENTOWN, Pa. -- Agere Systems (NYSE: AGR.A, AGR.B) today announced that it is delivering its high-performance WaveLAN(tm) 802.11a/b/g multimode wireless networking chip set to leading original design manufacturers (ODMs), enabling seamless roaming for notebook users worldwide. This solution's high-speed wireless networking and effortless connectivity capabilities, coupled with a low-cost bill of materials, ensure that multimode Wi-Fi products deliver anytime, anywhere performance at price points of 802.11g-only devices.

Agere will offer a live demonstration of its multimode chip set, which includes a dual-band 2.4 GHz (802.11b/g) and 5.2 GHz (802.11a) RF transceiver, media access controller (MAC), baseband processor and power amplifier, during the 2003 Computex trade show, being held Sept. 22-26 in Taipei, Taiwan.

In addition, several top Taiwan-based ODMs, including Askey Computer Corp., CyberTAN Technology Inc., Global Sun Technology Inc. and Universal Scientific Industries (USI), are participating in Agere's multimode early adopters program. As part of this program, these ODMs gain early access to Agere's multimode reference designs, helping accelerate the development, certification, testing and deployment of new high-speed Wi-Fi client solutions and network access points.

Industry analyst firm IDC estimates that multimode solutions will account for 67 percent of total client-side shipments by 2005. Client-side wireless networking will be dominated by notebook PC applications, representing 87 percent of the total market as early as next year.

"The future of wireless networking is clearly 802.11a/b/g multimode solutions," said Ken Furer, research analyst for industry analyst firm IDC. "Corporate and consumer notebook users want the ability to move effortlessly between wireless networks of different frequencies, which cannot be achieved using 802.11g-only solutions."

Agere's WaveLAN multimode solution offers a bill of materials component count that is 30 percent less than competing solutions and a chip set with significantly less die area, making it the most cost-effective available. In addition, Agere's single-chip, dual-band RF delivers superior performance by exceeding all industry standards for range, sensitivity, transmission and robustness.

"Agere's high-performance, low-cost multimode solution solves the problem of seamless wireless connectivity in a world of multiple network standards," said Stan Swearingen, vice president of Agere's Computing Connectivity division. "Now, PC OEMs and ODMs can use one product that provides the standards support and radio performance for notebook users to roam into any hot spot."

Agere's WaveLAN multimode wireless networking chip set is expected to begin volume production in fourth calendar quarter 2003.

Agere Systems Inc.