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Press Release

Ralink Technology Announces Industry's Longest Range draft-802.11n Wi-Fi Chipset

- Chipset Eliminates Reception Shadows in Homes, Businesses and Cities
- Patented Antenna Design Enables Industry's Smallest USB 2.0 Footprint
- Company Announces 45 Million Wi-Fi LAN Chipsets Shipped

Cupertino, Calif. December 18, 2006 - Ralink Technology, Corp., which has shipped 45 million WiFi chipsets, today announced the industry's longest range Wi-Fi chipset for the design of draft-802.11n wireless Local Area Networks.  The RT2800 chipset doubles the range of high-performance wireless systems and thereby eliminates reception shadows in homes, offices and city-wide networks.  The long-range reception is made possible by patented, low-noise circuitry that pinpoints and recovers the high-speed 802.11n streams of data.

The 802.11n standard provides data throughput greater than 180 Mbps with actual connection speeds of 300 Mbps to accommodate protocol overhead.  The new standard offers up to six times the performance of the 802.11g standard that is widely used today.   The RT2800 chipset consists of a transceiver, and an integrated Baseband and Media Access Control (MAC) device that support industry standard interfaces including PCI, MiniPCI, CardBus, USB 2.0, PCIe and MiniCard.  The chipset is fully backward compatible with the existing industry wireless standards such as 802.11a, 802.11b and 802.11g. 

The new chipset is currently available with reference design and driver software for the Windows Vista operating system.  The Linux source code for all Ralink drivers is available. The RT2800 chipset can be used to design routers for homes, businesses and city-wide networks.  It can also be used in the design of desktop computers, laptops, printers, networks storage systems, media servers, projectors, televisions set-top boxes, etc.  The 802.11n standard is currently in a draft status, however designs are underway and end-user products are now entering the market in anticipation of final approval.  The Ralink chipset is designed so that changes to the draft-802.11n can be installed into end-user products via software upgrades.

Industry's Smallest USB Footprint
The USB 2.0 version of the Ralink chipset has a patented antenna which is an industry first because it is contained inside a small housing that enables the entire draft-802.11n design to fit inside the small footprint of a USB package.  The USB 2.0 chipset is also the first draft-802.11n solution to offer its driver in optional onboard flash memory instead of on a CD-ROM disk.  This gives the end-use a true plug-and-play product because the driver is uploaded into the computer through the USB connector.

Rapid Networking Industry Growth
According to Chris Kao, Chairman and CEO, "The networking industry is entering a major new growth phase as millions of networks in homes, business and cities are converting to the convenience of wireless connections.  Our company recognized this trend and has built an extensive wireless product portfolio to proliferate Wi-Fi adoptions throughout the world.  As a result, consumers win because of our relentless drive for better performance and/or lower cost.  Our company rides the wave for a flourishing business.  It is an ideal win-win combination."   
 "We have offices in both the United States and Taiwan which has allowed us to recruit the best engineering talent in both countries.  It also allows us the stay close to our customers on both sides of the world."

Transceiver Features
The transceiver is offered in a version that supports both 5 GHz and 2.4 GHz bands. It consists of three receivers and two transmitters for a 300 Mbps transfer rate.  The other version has only a 2.4 GHz band and is targeted for compact-space designs.  This version can also achieve a 300 Mbps transfer rate.  Both transceivers are powered from a single 3.3 volt supply and use a 40 MHz crystal that controls a built-in phase locked loop to synthesize the transmit carrier frequencies.  

Baseband and Media Access Control Chip Features
The integrated baseband and media access control chip contains six analog-to-digital converters than translate the three incoming receiver channels into data that are digitally demodulated.  The recovered data is further processed by the security and quality of service (QoS) accelerators, then the data is transferred out of the chip with its direct memory access (DMA) controller.  In transmit mode, the chip reverses the process by transferring incoming data through the QoS and the security engines, then the data is processed by two digital-to-analog converters for output to the transceiver.

To give users more flexibility, many optional specifications of the draft-802.11n are supported. These features include short GI, green field, spatial expansion, reverse data grant and fast link adaptation.

Low Power Design
The Ralink chipset was designed for low power so that it can extend the battery life of notebook computers and other portable products.  The chips automatically power down any circuitry that is not being used.  The entire chipset operates from a 3.3 Volt supply and consumes only 480 mA under MCS15, IPG = 50 (S and 40 MHz during transmit, and it draws 400 mA during receive under the same condition approximately.

MIMObility™
The new chipset incorporates multiple input multiple output (MIMO) technology that uses three receivers and two transmitters to achieve reliable, high-speed transfers.  In accordance with the draft-802.11n standard, the throughput is effectively doubled when MIMO mode is activated to allow two data streams to transfer simultaneously.  Since the Ralink chipset enables this "MIMO capability" it is therefore referred to as MIMObilityTM.  The name MIMObilityTM  is also used because the Ralink chipset attains outstanding range extension that provides general users much craved for "My Mobility."

About 802.11n
The 802.11n standard is a very important industry advance because it provides up to six times the throughput of the 802.11g standard that is widely used today.  The new standard can achieve data throughput greater than 180 Mbps with the actual wireless connections operating at 300 Mbps to accommodate protocol overhead.

The speed of the new standard, which can simultaneously deliver three channels of HDTV (High Definition Television), is needed to keep pace with advances such as 100Mbps VDSL (Very-high bit rate DSL) that is increasing the data rates into homes and businesses.  The standard also provides "instant" transfer of large files consisting of high-resolution digital photographs and video clips.  The 802.11n speed is also important because its faster data packets allow a wireless router to support more users and simultaneously support greater numbers of the wireless devices that are being announced each month.

The 802.11n standard is currently in a draft status, however designs are underway and end-user products are now entering the market in anticipation of final approval.  Any changes in the standard are expected to be implemented via software upgrades to existing end-user products. All of the following devices are sampling now.  Package types include TQFP (Thin Quad Flat Pack), TFBGA (Thin and Fine Ball Grid Array) and QFN (Quad Flat pack No lead).

Baseband and Media Access Control (MAC) Chip

 Transceiver Chip

About Ralink Technology

Ralink Technology Corp. was founded in January 2001 to develop and market wireless Local Area Network chipset solutions.  The company has its headquarters in Hsinchu, Taiwan and an office in Cupertino, United States.  Ralink has shipped 45 million Wi-Fi chipsets since 2003.  The company's chipsets are recognized for superior throughput, extended range, low-power and consistent reliability.  

Windows Vista™ is a trademark of the Microsoft Corporation

MIMObility™ is a trademark of Ralink Technology, Corp.