Summit Delivers High-Performance Wireless LAN Radio Modules to Vertical Market Devices
Summit’s compact flash and PCMCIA 802.11g Wi-Fi adapters address the hardware, software, and support requirements of application-specific device vendors and their customers. Based on Broadcom® 54g® technology, the Summit modules include key hardware innovations to deliver industry-leading range, battery life, and temperature range. Summit software delivers support for key operating systems, strong security, and easy administration.
Akron, OH (PRWEB) June 15, 2006
Summit Data Communications, Inc. today announced the first family of 802.11g Wi-Fi modules designed specifically for integration into application-specific devices (ASDs) like portable data terminals, bar code scanners, portable printers, medical devices, and industrial equipment. The Summit modules provide the performance, security, and software features required for reliable operation in business-critical ASDs and their environments.
The Summit 10G family of compact flash (CF) and PCMCIA (PC card) adapters provide the range and throughput required in radio-challenging environments such as retail stores, distribution centers, hospitals, factories, and ports. The Summit adapters come with a complete software suite that includes device drivers, integrated security software, and a full-featured application for monitoring and management of all radio and security parameters. Summit provides comprehensive technical and compliance services to ASD vendors to ensure successful integration and ongoing end-customer satisfaction.
Performance and Reliability
Based on Broadcom® 54g® technology, the Summit modules include key hardware innovations that set them apart from mainstream 802.11g products. One hardware innovation is the use of high-performance transmitters and receivers that provide the greatest possible operating range. The modules provide up to 80 milliwatts (mW) of transmit power, which is 40% greater than mainstream radios. This additional power, coupled with industry-leading receiver sensitivity, results in a far more reliable connection than that provided by radios designed for home and office use.
"As Wi-Fi becomes an invaluable tool for retail, healthcare and industrial applications, Broadcom and Summit are developing solutions that meet or exceed customers' performance, range and security requirements -- even in the most challenging environments," said Jeff Baer, senior marketing manager for embedded Wi-Fi from Broadcom's Wireless LAN Business Unit. "Delivering solutions for the exploding ASD market will continue to extend Broadcom's Wi-Fi presence beyond PCs, retail networking gear and other wireless LAN applications."
To allow for operation under the extreme temperatures found in factories, warehouses, freezers, and the outdoors, the Summit modules provide an operating temperature range of -30° to 75° Celsius (-22° to 167° Fahrenheit). With an advanced power circuit, both the SDC-CF10G and PC10G consume just 175 milliamps (mA) of power in receive mode and 10 mA when in idle mode, which is approximately one third less than most 802.11g radios. Summit's modest power consumption provides for increased ASD battery life and full-shift operation.
Security and Manageability
Increasingly, ASDs transmit sensitive information such as inventory data and patient information. To assure the integrity of that information and protect the entire network infrastructure from wireless intrusion, Summit's 10G family provides the highest level of interoperable security available, including support for Wi-Fi Protected Access (WPA) and WPA2 (IEEE 802.11i). The radios provide hardware acceleration for the encryption algorithms used by WEP, TKIP (WPA), and AES (WPA2). For mutual authentication of client device and network, the Summit products support IEEE 802.1X with pre-shared keys or any of a broad range of Extensible Authentication Protocol (EAP) types. Supported authentication credentials include logon passwords, one-time passwords, and digital certificates.
The software suite for the Summit CF and PC Card modules supports Microsoft Windows CE Version 4.2 and 5.0 as well as Pocket PC 2003 and Windows Mobile 5.0. Support for Windows XP Embedded is planned for Q3 2006, and support for other operating systems is planned for the second half of 2006.
The Summit software suite includes the Summit Client Utility (SCU), a fully integrated management and monitoring utility. With SCU, users and administrators can view and configure all radio parameters, including transmit power and SSID, and all security parameters. SCU supports multiple network profiles to allow for device operation in multiple facilities. To enable applications other than SCU to manage Summit modules, the company provides an application programming interface (API). Summit also provides ASD vendors with a manufacturing utility that allows them to set regulatory parameters such as channel set and maximum transmit power to provide for world-wide compliance across multiple devices.
Price and Availability
List pricing for the SDC-CF10G 802.11g compact flash module is $89, with a list price of $109 for the SDC-PC10G 802.11g PCMCIA module. Both devices are available today in sample quantities with volume quantities available in June 2006. Additional product specifications can be found at www. summitdatacom. com. Availability and volume discount information is available to qualified ASD vendors by emailing sales@summitdatacom. com or calling 866.434.4300 in North America or 330.434.7929.
About Summit
Summit Data Communications, Inc. is dedicated to providing high-performance wireless LAN modules for today’s business-critical ASDs such as portable data terminals, barcode scanners, portable printers, medical devices and industrial automation equipment. Summit devices are optimized for the challenging radio environments in which ASDs operate, including factories, warehouses, ports, hospitals, and retail stores.
Broadcom® and 54g® are among the trademarks of Broadcom Corporation and/or its affiliates in the United States, certain other countries and/or the EU. Any other trademarks or trade names mentioned are the property of their respective owners.
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