USRobotics' Position on 802.11n

As news of draft-802.11n and MIMO products reaches the market and wireless vendors release products designed to work with the upcoming 802.11n standards, USRobotics announced today it is working to develop its own line of next generation wireless products. USRobotics, a Platinum Equity company, is committed to supporting its customers and has once again chosen a route to the next generation of products that will ensure interoperability and compatibility. The company is actively working to design and develop products that are expected to meet specifications of the IEEE 802.11n Draft 1.0 standard. Initial products in the family are scheduled to release during the fourth quarter of 2006.

USRobotics has a long history of working with standards bodies to develop and implement consistent technologies, both in the analog, wired, and wireless industries. As an early member of the Enhanced Wireless Consortium, USRobotics is proud of its role in the wireless standards process. After more than 30 years of developing high-performance, standards-based, and interoperable technology solutions for our customers, USRobotics will continue to maintain that history with its next generation of wireless products.

Products developed, produced, and marketed prior to the approval of the IEEE 802.11n Draft 1.0 specification are based upon technology that may not be compatible with Draft 1.0, and future, specifications for products. Initial testing of those ‘Pre-N,' ‘MIMO,' and ‘802.11n-compatible' products has shown increased speed and throughput, but problems remain with legacy and neighbor networks. Even early versions of 802.11n Draft 1.0 based products have shown issues with interoperability and legacy networks. As the IEEE comes closer to complete ratification of the standards, changes can be expected for the final standard. Therefore, products developed with pre-standards technology, or even rushed to market with standards based implementations, put customers at risk of incompatibility.

USRobotics will release its 802.11n Draft 1.0-compliant products when these issues have been resolved. Customers can rest assured any products they purchase from USRobotics today will work with our next generation of wireless products and that any investment they make will continue to be a wise one when n-standard compliant products become available.