Atheros Enables the Connected Lifestyle With Innovative Wireless and Wired Technologies at COMPUTEX 2009

Market Wire, June, 2009

COMPUTEX -- Atheros Communications, Inc. (NASDAQ: ATHR), a global leader in innovative technologies for wireless and wired communications, is demonstrating its comprehensive portfolio of solutions for the WLAN, mobile WLAN, Bluetooth®, wireless Personal Area Networking (WPAN), GPS and Ethernet markets in its Technology Suites #2428, 2442 and 2445 at the Grand Hyatt Taipei during COMPUTEX 2009, June 2-6.

With the rapid growth of wireless applications that continue to raise the bar in consumers' work, as well as play, anytime connectivity is no longer simply nice to have, it is a must have requirement for vendor products. Atheros' innovative connectivity portfolio enables our customers to meet the expanding demand for "always connected" products that deliver high-performance, reliable experiences. Our COMPUTEX 2009 suites showcase our latest innovations that will enable our customers to differentiate their products and liberate consumers with the always connected lifestyle.

State-of-the-Art Wireless PAN Technologies

The industry's emerging PAN technologies are enabling connectivity to numerous wireless devices, anywhere, and Atheros is leading the way with its new wireless PAN innovations -- ROCm® Bluetooth 3.0 High Speed , and WLAN-based Direct Connect and AP Mode technologies.

The company will demonstrate its ROCm Bluetooth 3.0 High Speed technology based on the new specification that combines the simplicity of Bluetooth's pairing and operation with the speed and energy efficiency of 802.11. The result is a dramatic increase of more than 10 times the user throughput over 'classic' Bluetooth 2.1 EDR for connecting PCs, handsets and consumer electronics (CE) devices in wireless PANs. Atheros' demonstration of Bluetooth 3.0 High Speed, featured at the Bluetooth SIG's recent launch of this technology, will be showcased at COMPUTEX 2009.

The company's AP Mode technology featured in the AR6002 allows handsets to function as virtual hotspots, connecting up to eight WLAN-enabled clients such as laptops, cameras and other smartphones to the Internet without an access point (AP) present. This innovative Atheros mobile WLAN technology significantly expands the functionality of dual-mode handsets by enabling a wide array of new applications for mobile users. Atheros will showcase the world's first handset to embed Atheros AP Mode, the docomo PRIME series(TM) NEC N-06A , in its suite and demonstrate the AP Mode functionality.

Atheros will also showcase its Direct Connect WLAN technology for advanced peer-to-peer networking, which allows client devices such as PCs, cameras, MP3 players, wireless printers and set-top boxes to connect directly to other clients, without an AP. The result is a new class of peer-to-peer networking that is easy-to-use, fast and secure.

Market-Leading Ecosystem of 802.11n Solutions

Atheros continues to lead the WLAN market with its portfolio of 802.11n solutions featuring a comprehensive range of performance and feature design options for PCs, networking equipment and consumer electronics. The company will showcase the growing momentum of its MIMO-based XSPAN ® family, the world's most widely adopted 802.11n solutions, which deliver up to 300 Mbps for advanced multimedia networking in a variety of leading end-products at COMPUTEX. Today, nine of the top 10 PC OEMs, 5 of the top 5 retail networking vendors, and nearly every major enterprise networking provider are shipping products featuring XSPAN.

Atheros XSPAN dual-band technology is prominent in a wide array of consumer electronics devices such as routers, media players, and set-top boxes. Its 802.11n solutions offer dual-concurrent networking in the 2.4 and 5 GHz bands, and will be demonstrated in Cavium Networks' new netHD low-latency, processor platform which delivers high-quality, 1080p60 wireless video transmissions to HD flat panel displays. This platform will be demonstrated in Cavium Network's private suite, #1038, at the Grand Hyatt Taipei.

Targeting value segments, Atheros' Align(TM) solutions , based on the 802.11n single-stream specification, support up to 150 Mbps PHY rates for robust data networking. These designs provide a significant performance upgrade from legacy solutions while enabling enhanced performance and power efficiency. A wide array of products including netbooks and routers using Atheros Align technology will be on display in Atheros' suites at the show.

Atheros ROCm Design Momentum

The Atheros AR6002 high-performance chip is the industry's most energy-efficient mobile WLAN solution, featuring infrastructure-class throughput and AP Mode functionality. It is now being widely deployed in over 50 designs and is shipping in handsets from 4 of the top 5 manufacturers, including the newly launched Samsung Jack and Propel Pro models. The AR6002 is also featured in the world's best-selling portable game system, the Nintendo DSi, which is being demonstrated in the suite.

Atheros will demonstrate the pinpoint-accuracy of its AR1511 high-performance, single-chip GPS receiver and companion ORION 3.1 software. ROCm for GPS solutions have achieved tier-one design wins in several Mio and Magellan personal navigation devices (PNDs) that leverage Atheros' Assisted GPS (AGPS) technology, advanced parallel search and superior tracking sensitivity for unmatched navigation.