WIRELESS ETHERNET
At 72 Mbps, this prototype wireless Ethernet card is seven times faster than anything on store shelves today, soaring above the overcrowded 2.5-GHz microwave band into FCC-cleared airspace at 5 GHz. The secret ingredient? A new chip from Atheros Communications in Sunnyvale, California, that packs an 802.11a radio transceiver and other components onto a low-cost, low-power CMOS wafer. It will be mass-produced this summer - beating industry wags' forecasts by 18 months. The only letdown: Current IEEE standards limit communication speeds to 54 Mbps, a cap that hardware makers are protesting.
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