CSR plans to jump into Wi-Fi fray

CSR plans to jump into Wi-Fi fray
SAN JOSE, Calif. — A leading Bluetooth startup is preparing to jump into the crowded field of Wi-Fi chip makers. Cambridge Silicon Radio (Cambridge, England) is briefing customers on its plans to ship an 802.11a/b/g combo chip set in 2004.

So far the company is keeping quiet on details of its plans to enter what is for it a relatively new and more crowded market area, except to say it is not planning an integrated Bluetooth/Wi-Fi product.

"We will plan to leapfrog competitors in any new market we enter, and in this case that could mean improvements in size, power or cost," said J. Eric Janson, vice president of marketing for CSR.

"I don't think it makes sense to integrate Wi-Fi and Bluetooth at all. There's nothing meaningful to share and the needs for signal isolation are too great," Janson added.

Janson said it's too early to jump into another closely related field — chips for ultrawideband. "UWB will take a while to get to any level of volume. They haven't finished the standard yet, and the key thing that takes awhile to emerge in all these new markets is a solid software stack," he said.

Early in its life, CSR had a product for the European HyperLAN wireless LAN standard.