HomeRF wanders as 802.11b, Bluetooth find homes

Based on the HomeRF 2.0 standard, the company touts Symphony HomeRF's data rates as comparable to IEEE-802.11b wireless LANs, but with greater interference resistance, superior security and a more consumer-oriented feature set. The product arrives as Silicon Wave is adding Bluetooth capability to Toshiba notebooks and as Sharp integrates Intersil's Prism wireless-LAN chip sets into its AN-SS700 audio/visual digital transmission system.

HomeRF is losing ground to 802.11b, which is shaping up as the dominant wireless technology, according to Allied Business Intelligence (Oyster Bay, N.Y.). A recent ABI study found that while HomeRF accounted for 58 percent of wireless home-net nodes in 2000, 802.11b is expected to account for at least 71 percent of wireless nodes shipped this year, up from 42 percent in 2000.

"The reversal of fortune for HomeRF has been remarkable and sudden," said Navin Sabharwal, ABI's vice president of residential and networking technologies. "The data-rate gap, aggressive 802.11b vendors and Intel's defection to 802.11b have all exacted a heavy toll on HomeRF." The successful launch of 10-Mbit/s HomeRF 2.0 solutions "will be critical in determining whether HomeRF can survive," he said.

Comparable prices

That's the market Proxim is attacking with the Symphony HomeRF line, which is available now through U.S. distributors and online stores and scheduled for retail shelves beginning in mid-October. The USB Adapter retails for $99.99, the PC card for $99.99 and the basestation for $199.99 — prices comparable to current 802.11b offerings.

Home networking will be a $243 million market in 2001, up from $123 million last year, ABI said. "By 2006 the global market will be worth $2.4 billion," said Sabharwal. "The immense consumer and OEM interest in WLANs will translate into wireless leading phone-line and power-line solutions in home-networking market adoption."

ABI expects power-line solutions to play a growing role, as HomePlug-compliant products arrive late this year. By 2006, power-line is expected to account for 27 percent of nodes.

Silicon Wave's SiW1602 Bluetooth radio modem and baseband ICs will find their way into Toshiba Corp.'s Tecra and Portege notebooks via prequalified modules from Taiyo Yuden.

Sharp's AN-SS700 wireless transmitter and receiver, equipped with the Prism chips, uses Sharp's media-access control technology and an MPEG-2 encoder/decoder to handle compressed audio and video. The transmitter connects to a VCR, DVD player or satellite tuner and transmits video wirelessly for viewing on an LCD TV.