U.S. Robotics' wireless products' Middle East revenue grows by over 100 per cent in 2004

In Y2004, growth for its wireless solutions portfolio in the Middle East alone exceeds 100 per cent. In global markets, the overall growth rate for the company's wireless products in the same year stands at more than 70 per cent.

"Worldwide, Y2004 saw phenomenal growth in the rate of adoption of wireless technologies in all three segments of the market, SOHO (Small Office/Home Office), SMB (Small and Medium Business) and the LE (Large Enterprise) segments. With the greater mobility, speed and security that the new wireless technology offers, IT managers can immediately see the benefits of this investment," explained Peter Blampied, Director of Sales, Europe, Middle East and Africa, U.S. Robotics.

As a major innovator in the field of connectivity and wireless solutions, U.S. Robotics has announced new wireless products as part of its ambitious marketing plan for 2005. The new MAXg product range is a wireless family that protects networks with a complete in-built set of the latest security measures and provides much greater range.

Key security capabilities delivered by MAXg will include Wi-Fi Protected Access (WPA), WPA2/802.11i, 802.1x Authentication and 64/128-bit WEP encryption. The Wireless MAXg Router will also be equipped with a Stateful Packet Inspection firewall and support for VPN pass through (PPTP, IPSec and L2TP), as well as MAC Address Authentication.

The MAXg product family will provide leading edge receive sensitivity for an 802.11g-compliant product, allowing Wi-Fi users to maintain high-speed connections at greater distances from a wireless access point. Range is expected to increase by more than 50 per cent over standard 802.11g products leading to much better coverage of the home or office.

The 125 Mbps High Speed Mode will boost 802.11g performance, allowing customers to use their Wi-Fi networks for bandwidth-intensive applications, such as sharing digital photos and transferring audio and video files between devices throughout the home.

"This new technology is a natural progression from technological innovations brought by US Robotics to global and regional IT markets in the past year. Significantly, in the Middle East, 2004 has been a landmark year for the company's wireless portfolio. We have increasingly convinced the markets of our value for money and high performance which means an excellent return on investment offered by U.S. Robotics' products," added Blampied.

For U.S. Robotics' wireless solutions, 2004 kicked off with the launch of the company's Sureconnect 9106 Wireless ADSL Gateway (USR 9106), the only product in its category to receive Etisalat approval.

This "All-In-One" product features an integrated 4-port Ethernet Router with built in ADSL interface and a wireless gateway to multiple networks. The high-speed wireless connectivity supports routing, bridging, Virtual Private Networks and remote management features, thus ensuring greater network security. It is localised with a Java-based application called Easy Configurator for setting up UAE's Broadband configuration, allowing easy installation, answering end-users' demands for easy-to-use products.

U.S. Robotics, subsequently, announced development of technology that ensures blazing high 125 Mbps speeds on wireless networks, enabling 802.11g Wireless Turbo solutions to maximise network capacity by placing all the speed on a single channel. This allows for faster file transfers between multiple network users.

October 2004 saw the launch of U.S. Robotics' 2.4GHz antenna (USR5480, USR5481 & USR5482). The new range of antenna met the requirements of end-users and wireless network owners needing to eliminate problems such as dead spots (areas that, although within the network range, have feeble or no connectivity) and improve coverage.

U.S. Robotics closed the year with the launch of its stunningly simple Wireless Network Starter Kit (USR805470), which simplifies the set up of a wireless network for consumers and home office/small office users, by allowing connection anywhere with a simple plug-and-play connectivity.

The kit combines the U.S. Robotics 802.11g Wireless Router and 802.11g USB 2.0 Wireless Adapter with one Ethernet cable to allow network installation in the three simple steps.