SUNNYVALE, Calif.-IBM Corp., NEC and Toshiba Corp. have begun shipping laptop computers incorporating Atheros Communications’ multimode 802.11 a/b chipsets, and Hewlett-Packard Co. will soon ship laptops with built-in 802.11 a/b/g chipsets from the Sunnyvale, Calif., company.
“We are the first and, as of right now, the only company to ship combination a-and-b chipsets and have been doing so since (last) July,” said Rich Redelfs, president and chief executive officer of Atheros.
Laptop computer makers want these combination chipsets incorporated into their devices so they don’t have to manufacture different models for each flavor of Wi-Fi, he said. They also don’t want to waste their help desk personnel time on calls from customers whose computers do not connect wirelessly only because their RF interface technology differs from that of the hot spot they are trying to access.
