Broadcom wins Wi-fi gong

IT'S NICE to get a gong every now and then, so Broadcom is trumpeting the fact that it came first in the newly released Wi-fi IC vendor matrix put together by ABI Research.

Those who may be a little surprised by this might well find the comments from principal analyst, Philip Solis, somewhat enlightening.

"Broadcom may not provide the smallest or lowest power chipsets, but they are innovative across everything we looked at, and have executed well across the board," Solis said.

Hmm. To find out who was best at innovation ABI Research looked at single chip 802.11g solutions; single chip 802.11n solutions; plus size, power consumption, and the ability to integrate with other technologies.

To assess implementation, ABI looked at overall market share; embedded market share; key customer wins; and speed to market with Draft 11n products.

Consequently Broadcom came first followed by Atheros, with Marvell Semiconductor in third place. The UK's CSR (Cambridge Silicon Radio) was last out of the Top Ten.

Curiously Qualcomm was up there in eighth place. Which is strange considering how hostile the company normally is to things starting with 802.

The matrix is available online for free here. µ

L'INQ
ABI Research