Santa Ana, CA-based TROY Wireless, makers of 802.11 and Bluetooth connectivity products, have announced a new board-level product for embedding 802.11 connectivity into products for original equipment manufacturers (OEMs).
The EtherWind-Plus is a 2.6 x 3.8 inch modular board that the company claims will fit many OEM devices. The design factors in the processor, memory, and interfaces for parallel, serial, and 10Base-T Ethernet, all of which go through a single 50-pin header to integrate with the device in which the EtherWind-Plus is embedded. The 802.11 functions are an option built into the motherboard. The board can fit a number of different types of antenna using the standard diversity MMCX connectors built in.
In the product announcement, the chairman and CEO of TROY, Patrick Dirk, said, “The EtherWind-Plus is the simplest way for OEMs to add 802.11b wireless networking capabilities into their devices.”
The company plans to target printer manufacturers as perfect candidates for EtherWind-Plus customers, but also says the product can adding 802.11 or Ethernet to other devices such as medical instruments, signage, and others. Basically any product that already has RS-232 serial ports can take advantage of building in EtherWind-Plus.
EtherWind-Plus is available now in a developer’s kit (which includes EtherWind-Plus 802.11b board, daughtercard with DB25 and DB9 connectors, cables, and software) for $500, or the board only with MMCX connectors for $175 in quantities of 1000. Prices for international customers may be higher.
Finished products will work with Windows, Macintosh, Linux, Unix, NetWare and other operating systems. It will support 128-bit wired equivalent privacy (WEP) encryption, plus have read/write passwords and TCP/IP filtering built in.
TROY Wireless is a division of TROY Group, a company that provides electronic payment systems.
Eric Griffith is the managing editor of 802.11 Planet.
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