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GainSpan Unveils Low-Power Wi-Fi Sensor Network Solution

October 9, 2007

The new technology leverages existing Wi-Fi infrastructure and extends battery life up to 10 years.


HOUSTON /PRNewswire/ -- GainSpan, an innovator in Wi-Fi sensor network technology, unveiled a wireless sensor network solution that uses the widely deployed Wi-Fi infrastructure while providing years of battery life for sensors and other connected devices. GainSpan's semiconductor and software solutions deliver the security, manageability, and convenience benefits of Wi-Fi (IEEE 802.11), along with 5–10 years of extended battery life needed for applications such as temperature monitoring for energy management, condition monitoring of industrial equipment in manufacturing plants, or streetlights in metro areas.

"Enabling users to leverage Wi-Fi for sensor applications with years of battery life makes GainSpan solutions unique in the market place," said Vijay Parmar, President and CEO of GainSpan. "Our solutions represent a breakthrough in the world of wireless sensor networks, enabling sensors and other devices with up to 10 years of battery life, with all the benefits afforded by a solution based on mature standards."

The GainSpan GS1010 SoC is an ultra-low-power system-on-a-chip (SoC) solution that leverages the widely deployed Wi-Fi network. By using this infrastructure, people can deploy sensor systems using standard tools and knowledge base, and seamlessly integrate with existing management systems, including enterprise network management systems, as well as existing SCADA industrial and building automation systems. Additionally, the chip's power-management feature provides years of battery life and enables a new class of Wi-Fi products that open the door to many new applications and usage models that improve indoor and outdoor air quality, reduce energy consumption, cut costs, and improve operational efficiencies.

"While wireless sensor networks have seen steady growth over the past few years, their market potential has, in fact, been hindered by power-consumption issues and lack of mature standards based solutions," said Harry Forbes, Senior Analyst at ARC Advisory Group. "GainSpan has addressed this issue with a Wi-Fi based solution, enabling Wi-Fi sensor devices with years of battery life. This solution allows users to leverage the global Wi-Fi standard, existing network tools, and knowledge investments. Deploying these in wireless sensor devices would provide the cost, energy savings, and convenience needed to transform this market. In fact, with low-power Wi-Fi, GainSpan has the potential to change the game."

GainSpan semiconductor and software solutions are designed to flexibly support a broad range of applications and enable customers to easily tailor systems to their specific needs at a low total cost of ownership and high return on investment. GainSpan solutions can be incorporated into products that may be used in:

  • Industrial motor monitoring, to save energy and improve efficiencies

     

  • Buildings, to save energy and improve indoor air quality and safety

     

  • Food and drug manufacturers, to monitor the temperature of goods through their supply chain

     

  • Auto-manufacturing plants, to track vehicles during production

     

  • Oil refineries, to locate staff during emergencies

     

  • Utilities, to automatically read meters and monitor infrastructure equipment

     

  • Public metro areas, to monitor street and traffic lights and support emergency-response services

     

  • Bridges, to automatically verify the safety of these structures after an earthquake, allowing city infrastructures to quickly return to normal operation

     

  • Mining, to accurately track real-time movements of miners

     

  • Data centers, to monitor and control temperatures and energy usage

     

  • Hospitals, to track patients, wheelchairs, diagnostic equipment, and staff

About GainSpan Solutions
GainSpan's innovative product line was designed to meet the specific battery life and other requirements of Wi-Fi sensor devices. The GainSpan GS1010 SoC offers flexibility to support a wide range of products and applications with an embedded 802.11b/g radio, two 32-bit ARM7 microcontrollers, a real-time clock (RTC), a power-management unit, FLASH and SRAM memories, multiple I/Os, and support for location awareness. The complete solution provides a suite of easy-to-use development tools for OEMs that makes development less time consuming and complicated, so products can get to market quickly.

GainSpan also offers the GainSpan Management System, a software solution that sits on the network and addresses the specific needs of managing Wi-Fi sensors and other connected devices.

Pricing and Availability
The GS1010 is sampling now, with production quantities available in December 2007, and is priced at $15.00 in 10,000 unit quantities.

About GainSpan
GainSpan is a technology innovator and leader in Wi-Fi semiconductor and software solutions that provide years of battery life for sensors and other connected devices. GainSpan brings Wi-Fi sensor networks to life with breakthrough technology that leverages the ubiquitous Wi-Fi infrastructure and enables Wi-Fi devices to run up to 10 years on a AA battery. GainSpan solutions enable people to save money, save energy, and work smarter. For more information, visit the company's Web site.

GainSpan is a trademark of GainSpan Corp. Other marks are property of their respective owners.






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