Socket introduces new WLAN SDIO cards with broad OS support

Socket Mobile, Inc., provider of mobile productivity products, has announced the availability of new versions of its Wireless LAN 802.11a/b/g SDIO Cards - the Socket Go Wi-Fi! P322 with internal antenna and P322X with external antenna.

Socket and embWiSe continue to partner to provide broad OS support for Socket's P322 products. With Windows Mobile and Windows CE software supplied by Socket, and Linux, Nucleus and ThreadX software supplied by embWiSe, the number of compatible operating systems is expanded; thus, opening up new market opportunities worldwide for Socket's WLAN products.

"We're excited about our latest Go Wi-Fi! P322 and P322X WLAN SDIO cards; they're the smallest a/b/g radios in an industry standard form factor," said Les Lee, vice president of OEM sales at Socket Mobile. "Compared to our previous 802.11b/g only cards that operated at 2.4 GHz on a frequency crowded with miscellaneous activity from a variety of devices, the addition of the 802.11a radio, which runs at a higher frequency of 5 GHz, provides cleaner, more usable channels in the noisy radio environment of the industrial marketplace."

The new products also offer the benefits of an extended operating temperature range, antenna diversity, improved connection range, enhanced receiver sensitivity, high data throughput and excellent power management, all in the same size and form factor as their predecessors -- the Socket Go Wi-Fi! P300 and P320 cards.

"We're able to achieve high throughput performance with our SDIOWorx stack/drivers on the GO Wi-Fi! P322 SDIO WLAN card, even in excess of 20 Mbps on some platforms," said G. Srinivasan, director of business development at embWiSe.

Availability
The Socket Go Wi-Fi! P322 and P322X are currently available to OEM customers that support Windows Mobile 6, Windows CE 5.0 and Windows CE 6.0, and, via embWiSe, that support Linux, Nucleus or ThreadX operating systems. The P322 with Windows Mobile 6 support will also be available through Socket's distribution channels worldwide in Q2 2010. Both the P322 and P322X are being certified under the regulatory domains of the US, Canada and Europe. Socket and embWiSe will be adding a security supplicant, connection and configuration management software and Cisco CCX support in Q2 2010.