Samsung Ships Airgo MIMO Laptops

(Business News & Technology News, 10 Jul 2005)

Airgo Networks Inc. is moving into a new market segment with PC OEMs. The company announced that Samsung will use its Multiple Input Multiple Output (MIMO) chipset, dubbed True MIMO, in what Airgo says are the world’s first laptops with embedded MIMO-enhanced Wi-Fi technology.
The move is one toward better wireless connectivity, said Palo Alto, Calif.-based Airgo. Using MIMO, the new Samsung X20 laptops and upcoming X25 maintain complete interoperability with 802.11b, 802.11g, and 802.11a/g devices, while delivering extended range above the Wi-Fi standards and higher data rates in a single 20MHz channel.
MIMO, itself, is an antenna technology in which multiple antennas are used at both the transmitter and the receiver to allow higher data rates. The technology is the basis for the upcoming IEEE 802.11n standard, successor to 802.11g.
"As people start using wireless more for mission critical business applications and at home, it's less of a complementary technology. What's happening is people are starting to realize that basic connectivity just doesn’t really cut it anymore," said David Borison, director of product management at Airgo.
Indeed, the market is starting to pick up on more wireless LAN and advanced technologies like MIMO. NPD Techdata reports that sales of Wi-Fi products with Airgo’s True MIMO chipset have been growing at a 48 percent monthly compounded growth rate since the first full month of shipping in the U.S. retail market. Further, according to IDC, WLAN shipments for mobile PCs will grow from 50 million in 2005 to more than 100 million by 2009.
In its second generation True MIMO chipset, Airgo has reduced the overall bill of materials (BOM) cost by about 20 percent and reduced power consumption by 18 percent, the company said.