National Semiconductor, Proxim in home wireless deal

NEW YORK: Chipmaker National Semiconductor Corp. and wireless products

company Proxim Inc. on Thursday said they formed a partnership to develop

wireless home networking products.

The partnership follows last week's Federal Communications Commission

decision to increase bandwidth for frequency-hopping, spread-spectrum wireless

technology, the companies said.

This will allow the companies to create new wireless modem products that

allow fast, secure Internet access, multimedia, gaming and wireless telephony

and work over distances of up to 150 feet, they said.

They will be able to accelerate wireless home networking from the current

speeds of 1.6 megabits a second to more than 10 megabits a second, National

Semiconductor and Proxim added in a statement.

Financial details of the partnership and the timing of the launch were not

disclosed in the statement.

Shares of Santa Clara, Calif.-based National Semiconductor closed at $44-3/16

on Wednesday on the New York Stock Exchange. Shares of Sunnyvale, Calif.-based

Proxim closed at $59-7/8 on the Nasdaq stock market.

(C) Reuters Limited 2000.