DALLAS, - February 24, 2003 - As a strategic silicon provider in the Cisco Compatible Extensions program, Texas Instruments Incorporated's (TI) (NYSE: TXN) wireless local area network (LAN) technology will offer Cisco Compatible Extensions support for emerging IEEE 802.11 applications in the embedded mobile space such as smartphones and PDAs, as well as traditional home and small/medium enterprise (SME) devices, notebooks and desktops. The Cisco Compatible Extensions program, announced today by Cisco,, helps provide benchmarks so end users can determine that their 802.11-enabled devices have been tested for interoperability with Cisco Aironet wireless LAN network systems.
"TI has been instrumental in driving the Cisco Compatible Extensions program into the emerging 802.11-enabled mobile space to deliver business class features such as security and management to smart phones and PDAs," said Bill Rossi, vice president and general manager of Cisco's Wireless Networking Business Unit. "Working with wireless leaders like TI, the Cisco Compatibility Extensions program will provide crucial support for voice and data services to enable the next generation of wireless LAN devices to leverage the Cisco Aironet wireless LAN network."
TI is extending its relationship with Cisco in the wireless LAN market beyond the IEEE 802.1X Extensible Authentication Protocol (EAP)-based Cisco LEAP support the company already provides its customers for enhanced enterprise-class security. TI's current and future high-performance 802.11 solutions will be Cisco Compatible. This will enhance the security and management to increase IT managers' confidence in deploying TI wireless LAN-enabled laptops, desktops, PDAs, smartphones and SME devices in the enterprise.
"Cisco and TI share the same vision in driving the Cisco Compatible Extensions program to the emerging 802.11-enabled mobile space to deliver features such as enhanced security to smart phones and PDAs," said Marc Cetto, general manager of TI's Wireless Networking Business Unit. "For embedded mobile applications, being Cisco Compatible will enable smart phones to utilize Voice over WLAN (VoWLAN) through the corporate network allowing IT managers to realize the full potential of their 802.11 network."
For more details, please refer to today's press release entitled, "Cisco Leads the Way in Building an Ecosystem for Enterprise Wireless LANs with Launch of Cisco Compatible Extensions Program." More information on the Cisco Compatible Extensions program and a list of "Cisco Compatible" branded mobile devices can be found at www.cisco.com/go/ciscocompatible/wireless.