SANTA CLARA, Calif., Dec. 7, 2009 - Atheros Communications, Inc. (NASDAQ: ATHR), a global leader in innovative technologies for wireless and wired communications, has announced that Microsoft's new Xbox 360 Wireless N Networking Adapter leverages the high performance of the industry's most widely adopted 11n technology, Atheros XSPAN, to deliver an enhanced wireless experience. Xbox 360 owners will see improvements in speed, range and wireless security features enabled by Atheros' XSPAN 2-stream 11n, dual-band PCIe solution, the AR9280. Additionally, Xbox LIVE members can seamlessly stream HD movies and TV episodes in instant-on 1080p and 5.1 surround sound with Zune video on Xbox LIVE, as well as update their Facebook profile, send tweets via Twitter, download Games on Demand or watch Netflix videos from their console.
With XSPAN, the Xbox 360 Wireless N Networking Adapter delivers up to seven times the TCP/IP throughput and twice the range of 11g-enabled adapters. It also features robust security based on the WPA2 (Wi-Fi Protected Access 2) security protocol to protect your media content and information. The dual-band AR9280 employs the 5GHz band to avoid interference, enabling lag-free network gaming in congested wireless environments such as dense housing or areas with multiple wireless networks. It utilizes the 2.4GHz band for simple data applications such as email, web surfing and social media networking. With the AR9280's 11n speeds, Xbox gamers can enjoy simultaneous applications that enhance the gaming experience such as streaming live video from a webcam to personalize game play, supporting voice for multi-player chat and streaming music from Last.fm - featuring the world's largest online music catalog.
"The gaming console is adding advanced media hub capabilities for delivering on-demand movies, video, and music, as well as connecting users to their favorite social media sites," said Ben Naskar, vice president and general manager of Atheros' networking business unit. "XSPAN delivers the performance to meet the growing user demand for content and applications accessed through the Xbox LIVE community - wirelessly. We are pleased to be working with Microsoft to enable a superior gaming and entertainment experience in the home."