Alereon Wireless USB PCI-E mini-Card Goes After Notebooks

Not long ago the now-defunct WiQuest was bragging about its market leadership in Wireless USB shipment, and its solution was chosen by most notebook manufacturers, like Dell, Lenovo, and Toshiba. Now is never a better time for someone else to fill in the void with WiQuest closing door. Alereon has just sent out a message to global laptop makers that its AL5708 PCI-Express half-minicard just got FCC approval.

Essentially, the chip is ready for use in UWB bandgroups one, three and six - meaning it has met worldwide regulatory standards to operate from 3.1 to 10.6Ghz spectrum. Alereon's CEO has high hopes for the embedded notebook solution, with claims it can hit 140Mbps (17.5MBps) when talking to a native device, and being the only solution to support bi-directional, isochronous data transfers - necessary for proper USB speakers and webcam support. The fabless company will commence shipping the AL5708 WUSB mini card in Q1 2009.

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