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Proxim Wireless: Proxim Is First to Break the 300 Mbps Speed Barrier for 802.11n Solutions, Enabling WLAN Networks at Half the

^{Published on 2008-11-17 06:57:33 - Market Wire}
 

SILICON VALLEY, CA--(Marketwire - November 17, 2008) - Proxim Wireless Corporation (NASDAQ: [ PRXM ]), a leading provider of end-to-end broadband wireless systems that deliver the quadruple play, today announced the availability of the industry's first 802.11n solution to achieve 320 Mbps of throughput with a dual-radio solution. In addition, Proxim's new 802.11n products have been designed to be customer-friendly and overcome the barriers of cost and complexity faced by competing products to deliver 802.11n networks at half the price of existing WLANs. With Proxim's ORiNOCO® AP-8000 and AP-800 802.11n access points, organizations of all sizes can achieve higher performance than their existing wired and wireless LANs while avoiding the costly controller upgrades, deployment challenges, and additional network planning that have deterred enterprises from upgrading to 802.11n.

Realizing the Truly Unwired Enterprise

IEEE 802.11n is the next generation of the Wi-Fi standard. The primary advantages of 802.11n-compliant products are significantly higher throughput and longer range. With the advent of 802.11n technology, the truly unwired enterprise is possible -- yet many organizations cite the high cost of migration and the complexity of deployment as barriers to moving to 802.11n.

Proxim's ORiNOCO AP-8000 dual-radio and AP-800 single-radio APs overcome the challenges hindering adoption by achieving numerous key industry firsts:

 -- First 802.11n solution to achieve greater than 300 Mbps throughput performance, with dual-radio throughput rates tested at 320 Mbps -- First 802.11n solution to work within the 802.3af (POE) power requirements in both single- and dual-radio 3x3 MIMO 11n configurations, eliminating the cost and hassle of additional wires and power injectors to each AP that are typically required with competitive 802.11n products -- First solution to support Dynamic Frequency Selection (DFS) globally in all 5 GHz bands, which eliminates the worry of network interoperability and interference and provides 10 times the number of channels available at 2.4 GHz -- First solution to support both 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz operation on each 802.11n radio, providing the flexibility for deployment in various environments -- First 802.11n solution that utilizes the same mounting hardware as existing Proxim 802.11a/b/g APs, greatly simplifying upgrades unlike competitive 802.11n products which often require new mounting hardware 

"802.11n is the most important development in wireless LANs since the original standard of 1997," said Craig Mathias, a Principal with the wireless and mobile advisory firm Farpoint Group. "Proxim has been building wireless LANs since before there was 802.11 and Wi-Fi, and their experience shows with new .11n products that allow for simplified upgrades to existing installations and also appeal to those just getting started with wireless LANs. 802.11n offers better performance than most wired networks, along with the flexibility and convenience of mobility -- Proxim's announcement clearly shows that the era of the unwired enterprise has truly arrived."

Proxim ORiNOCO AP-8000 and AP-800

Proxim's ORiNOCO AP-8000 and ORiNOCO AP-800 access points enable the industry's highest performance, easiest to use, and most cost-effective 802.11n networks for enterprises of all sizes. Proxim 802.11n solutions have achieved the industry's highest performance to date with throughput exceeding 170 Mbps with a single radio and 320 Mbps with a dual radio solution. However, Proxim focused on more than just introducing a product with the industry's leading throughput -- Proxim engineered its products to be simple for its customers to use. Many competitive products require substantial investment in additional infrastructure before they can be installed. These real-world costs can quickly deter enterprises from upgrading to enjoy the benefits offered by 802.11n products. Proxim's AP-8000 and AP-800 provide an 802.11n solution that enables customers to quickly, easily and cost-effectively deploy the highest-performance 802.11n network available.

"Proxim has been responsible for deploying and managing our Wireless LAN for the past 7 years at each of our Microsoft TechEd EMEA conferences. This year we had 4300 connected wireless users at the IT Professionals conference in Barcelona where Proxim had installed 5 of their brand new 802.11n access points. The access points performed flawlessly at the conference with a peak usage of 70 users per radio and peak throughput of 175 Mbps," said Luca Balbo, Group Manager, Event Marketing at Microsoft Corporation. "We have added an additional 2 access points for this week's Developers Conference and will also be using the AP-8000 at next week's Microsoft Convergence conference in Copenhagen. These events have a very large number of power users and the performance of Proxim's new 802.11n access point has been remarkable."

Higher Performance than Existing Wired LANs/WLANs

Proxim's ORiNOCO 802.11n products enable enterprises of all size to finally unwire the wired LAN by providing greater performance than existing Ethernet networks.

 -- Highest throughput with single radio rates of over 170Mbps and dual radio rates of 320Mbps -- Substantially higher throughput than typical 10/100 wired LANs -- No need to run new cable to add stations to a LAN -- 7x the throughput of existing typical WLANs -- High reliability for quad play applications -- The only solution to provide dual 2.4 GHz and dual 5GHz operation -- The first solution certified to work for the entire 5 GHz spectrum worldwide 

Half the Cost of Existing WLANs

Proxim's 802.11n solution drastically reduces the cost of WLAN deployments using 802.11a/b/g products.

 -- With the added range and throughput, ORiNOCO 802.11n deployments cost only half of today's 802.11a/b/g networks when deployed to achieve the same capacity -- Proxim's 802.11n solution provides two times the range of standard 802.11a/b/g APs to ensure enhanced signal strength to hard-to-reach clients in the office, which simplifies deployment 

Reduced Cost of Upgrading to 802.11n

Proxim's ORiNOCO 802.11n products are the first to overcome the deployment challenges and the associated costs of competitive 802.11n products by eliminating the need for forklift upgrades, additional wiring, or additional network planning.

 -- Because Proxim does not require costly WLAN controllers, Proxim 802.11n networks can cost-effectively scale to meet increasing bandwidth demands in the future -- ORiNOCO 802.11n APs are the only APs on the market that are completely 802.3af compliant in all configurations, which avoids the cost of additional wiring or power injectors as required by 802.3at compliant APs -- Proxim's 802.11n APs utilize the same mounting hardware as existing Proxim 802.11a/b/g APs, enabling simple swap out of old APs and making upgrades a snap 

Distributed WLANs with Centralized Management

To provide centralized management of Proxim 802.11n networks, the ProximVision ES network management system supports the ORiNOCO AP-8000 and AP-800 products. The ProximVision ES network management system provides rapid network deployment and mobile configuration -- providing a complete view of the wireless network and comprehensive device configuration. The product installs on Windows XP, Windows 2003 and Windows Vista and supports SNMPv1, SNMPv2 and SNMPv3. Primary benefits include:

 -- Rapid Network Deployment - ProximVision ES automates configuration processes for faster, more efficient deployment of Proxim Wireless networks. -- Mobile Configuration Capabilities - ProximVision ES gives network managers a mobile option for exhaustive device configuration with a software-based tool. -- Greater Ease of Use and Upgradability - ProximVision ES can support a greater number of APs than competitively priced solutions and provides the simplest path to configuration and upgrade. 

Pricing and Availability

Proxim's ORiNOCO AP-8000 (dual-radio) and AP-800 (single-radio) products are available immediately for $1,099 and $799 respectively. For more information on how to buy, please visit: [ http://proxim.com/buy/default.aspx ].

About Proxim Wireless

Proxim Wireless Corporation (NASDAQ: [ PRXM ]) is a leading provider of end-to-end broadband wireless systems that deliver the quadruple play of voice, video, data and mobility to all organizations today. Our systems enable a variety of wireless applications including security and surveillance, VoIP, last mile access, enterprise LAN connectivity and Point-to-Point backhaul. We have shipped more than 1.8 million wireless devices to more than 235,000 customers worldwide. Proxim is ISO-9001 certified. Information about Proxim can be found at [ www.proxim.com ]. For investor relations information, e-mail [ ir@proxim.com ] or call +1 413-584-1425.

Safe Harbor Statement

Statements in this press release that are not statements of historical facts are forward-looking statements that involve risks, uncertainties, and assumptions. Our actual results may differ materially from the results anticipated in these forward-looking statements. The forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties that could contribute to such differences including difficulties in overcoming the network installation and operational challenges relating to any specific customer or geographical area; factors affecting actual product performance in specific deployments, which could result in lower throughput, range, and other performance criteria than achieved in laboratory tests; factors beyond our control such as weather, geographic, governmental, trade and customs, interference, and other third-party issues; specific requirements of a given customer in their specific situations; new or enhanced products introduced by third parties; and difficulties or delays in supplying products with the features, performance, compliances, certifications, cost, price, and other characteristics desired by customers. Further information on these and other factors that could affect our actual results is and will be included in filings made by Proxim Wireless Corporation from time to time with the Securities and Exchange Commission and in our other public statements.