Zayante to Demonstrate First Wireless 1394 Bridge

SAN JOSE, CA (Feb. 27, 2001) -- Zayante, Inc. will demonstrate the first wireless 1394 bridge capability with Intel Corporation at the Intel Developers' Forum in San Jose, February 26-March 1 at the San Jose Convention Center.

The demonstration -- which the companies are defining as an initial "proof of concept" -- will show 1394 MPEG-2 digital video content moving between two 1394 buses over a wireless bridge. The bridge connects Zayante's TNF Zbox, an evaluation and development platform for embedded applications that incorporates 1394, with Intel Wireless Access points built on the 802.11b wireless LAN specification. Intel and Zayante also will show Internet Protocol running simultaneously between devices on the two buses via the same bridge.

Establishing a wireless connection between clusters of cabled 1394 devices facilitates the "no new wires" philosophy by wirelessly interconnecting multiple rooms in a home that contain PC equipment and consumer electronic entertainment devices that are cabled together via 1394 in a room.

To be shown in booth 1029 at the IDF, the wireless 1394 bridge demonstration will be hosted by the 1394 Trade Association. In January, the Trade Association announced its sponsorship of the new Wireless Working Group, chaired by Steve Bard of Intel, and charged with developing a wireless 1394 bridge to enable a wide range of home network control capabilities.

"The Wireless Working Group is chartered to facilitate interconnectivity between the 1394 wired domains and wireless domains for computer and consumer electronics equipment," said Steve Bard, Sr. Staff Architect for Intel's Communication & eHome Lab. "This proof of concept demo is a very powerful and exciting first step toward establishing a wireless interoperable convergence between the PC world and the digital Consumer Electronic entertainment device world.

"Combining 1394's bandwidth and reliable transport with wireless technology provides the home network with multi-tasking capability that lets users access the Internet, start printers, activate set-top boxes and other appliances, with highly reliable quality of service," said Zayante President Prashant Kanhere. "Working with Intel and the other members of the new Wireless Group at the 1394 Trade Association, we will make significant progress in combining the high bandwidth of 1394 with the convenience of wireless technology -- to the ultimate benefit of consumers."

How 1394-Wireless Works in the Demonstration
The TNF Zbox incorporates a modular 1394 software stack that provides the transport capabilities of the 400 Megabit/second 1394 bus in a programming interface that includes device discovery and enumeration, configuration ROM building and searching, logical node identification, 1394 bus management and support for isochronous transport. Supported protocols include audio video control (AV/C), IP 1394 and SBP-2, which is used for accessing hard disks, CD-ROMs, printers and other PC peripherals.

Two TNF Zboxes, connected wirelessly, form the two halves of a 1394-1394 bridge. Each Zbox contains service proxies which proxy for the devices that are on the other side of the bridge. The service proxies use the local TNF protocols to communicate to the devices, which are on the local 1394 bus, and communicate with each other via IP packets transmitted via radio waves over the Intel(R) PRO/Wireless 2011 LAN wireless connection. Isochronous (real-time) packets move between the two buses similarly. Each Zbox also routes IP packets directly between 1394 and the wireless connection, providing full Internet protocol transport between devices on the two 1394 buses.

About Zayante, Inc.
Zayante (zayante.com) has been providing the computer and consumer electronics industry with 1394 solutions since 1996.