Wireless Home System Ships

Home networking vendor Netgear, Inc. said Monday it is shipping two wireless products aimed at fostering multimedia in the home.

The company said the products — a PC adapter and a wireless-to-Ethernet bridge — use Sharewave’s Whitecap technology, which uses Time Domain Multiple Access (TDMA) technology. Elements of the technology have been incorporated in the 802.11e standard draft specification.

That company’s products deliver speeds of 11Mbps, the same as 802.11b but also provides more consistent quality of service than existing wireless technologies, according to the companies. That makes it appropriate for wireless delivery of multimedia, they said.

The two parts of the Netgear system are the WA301 PCI adapter for PCs, which costs $149 and the WE102 wireless-to-Ethernet bridge, which costs $199.