Intel to produce 802.11g WLAN module by year end

Intel will begin mass-producing its long-awaited 802.11g wireless networking module at the end of this month, a senior Intel Asia Pacific executive has said.

The Pro Wireless 2200BG unit will be offered alongside Intel's existing 802.11b and 802.11a/b products, all components of the chip giant's Centrino platform. The new unit is based on the second generation of 'Calexico', Intel's wireless chipset architecture. Calexico 2 comprises two chips rather than the previous generation's four.

Calexico 2 will also form the basis for a tri-mode 802.11a/b/g part due to ship early in the second half of 2004. The module will offer 802.11i security, the standard having been ratified by the IEEE by that point. Calexico 2 will also be a key part of 'Centrino 2', codenamed 'Sonoma' and also due to ship during H2 2004.

Sonoma is based on a new chipset, 'Alviso', which will bring a 533MHz frontside bus, PCI Express, DDR 2 SDRAM, Gigabit Ethernet and Serial ATA to Centrino notebooks.

News source: The Register - Intel to produce 802.11g WLAN module by year end