IEEE 802.11 COMMITTEE APPROVES PROXIM'S HIGH-SPEED WIRELESS LAN PROPOSAL

Proxim Leads Effort to Establish High-Speed Data Rate Standard for
Frequency Hopping Wireless Communications

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif -- March 15, 1994 -- On March 9, 1994, at its plenary
meeting in Vancouver, B.C., the IEEE 802.11 Standards Committee approved a
high speed physical layer (PHY) option for frequency hopping spread
spectrum wireless LANs based on a proposal submitted by Proxim, Inc. in
January 1994. Proxim's proposal called for four-level Gaussian Frequency
Shift Keying (4GFSK) modulation to achieve highspeed data transmission in
frequency hopping wireless LAN environments with a fallback to two-level
GSFK (2GSFK) for communications with lower speed frequency hopping
systems.

This dual mode approach, which does not cause interference between higher
and lower speed wireless LAN environments, has been implemented in
Proxim's RangeLAN2 product family that begins shipping later this month.
As such, RangeLAN2 will be the first FCC-approved 2.4 GHz frequency
hopping spread spectrum wireless LAN product line commercially available
and the only wireless LAN family to utilize this high-speed dual rate
option among those offerings announced to date.

In evaluating potential high-speed PHY layer implementations, the 802.11
Committee ratified a 2.0 Mbps/1.0 Mbps dual data rate standard for both
frequency hopping and direct sequence spread spectrum systems. This
decision comes on the heels of the Carrier Sense Multiple Access with
Collision Avoidance (CSMA/CA) Media Access Control (MAC) layer foundation
protocol approved at the last plenary meeting in November 1993, and a 1.0
Mbps 2GFSK frequency hopping base data rate proposal passed in July 1993.
With the specification of this new high-speed PHY layer modulation and
data rate standard now decided, the path is cleared for the 802.11
Committee to meet its aggressive target of completing a Draft Standard
document by late 1994.

Proxim's high speed frequency hopping PHY layer proposal was presented by
Juan Grau, vice president of Engineering at Proxim. After prevailing over
several other modulation techniques and data rate options at the High
Speed PHY Working Group, the Proxim proposal received extensive support at
both the PHY Layer Committee where it achieved 90 percent majority
approval, and the full 802.11 Plenary Session where it was passed with an
80 percent majority vote.

Proxim's proposal was bolstered by a paper submitted by LANNAIR, Ltd., that
documented both the feasibility and merits of a 4GFSK/2GFSK modulation
approach. The establishment of a high-speed dual rate standard ultimately
received widespread support from a broad base of 802.11 members, including
representatives from companies with both frequency hopping and direct
sequence spread spectrum products.

"We are gratified that the 802.11 Committee has recognized the benefits of
a higher data rate option for frequency hopping spread spectrum wireless
LANs," Grau commented. "The intent of our proposal was to demonstrate that
higher speeds can be achieved without encumbering the lower data rate
standard already approved."

Proxim's RangeLAN2 wireless LAN product family utilizes this 4GFSK/2GFSK
modulation technique and is the only spread spectrum wireless LAN product
line implementing a high-speed frequency hopping option. While the initial
RangeLAN2 version features a 1.6 Mbps raw data rate across each of 15
independent channels, the fastest frequency hopping design offered by any
vendor, the product line will be tuned to conform to the 2.0 Mbps/1.0 Mbps
proposed standard as the IEEE 802.11 standard gets nearer to completion
and ratification.

"A 2.0 Mbps data rate is a minor adjustment to our initial RangeLAN2
implementation since we have already accomplished the fundamental
technical breakthrough of developing a dual mode 4GFSK/2GFSK frequency
hopping system," said David King, president and CEO of Proxim. "We are
extremely pleased that both the market and the standards committees are
validating the four key architectural judgments made by our engineers
almost three years ago: the 2.4 GHz frequency band, frequency hopping
spread spectrum technology, our CSMA/CA-based MAC layer protocol which
closely resembles the 802.11 proposed standard, and now a high-speed
4GFSK/2GFSK modulation approach," continued King.

Proxim, Inc., headquartered in Mountain View, Calif, is a public company
which was founded in 1984 to develop and market wireless networking
solutions and has shipped over 60,000 spread spectrum radio products to
date. Proxim's shares are traded in the NASDAQ National Market System
under the symbol PROX.

Proxim, Inc.
295 North Bernardo Ave, Mountain View, CA 94043
(415) 960-1630 Fax: (415) 964-5181

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