Intersil

This page covers the following companies: Digital Ocean → CHOICE Microsystems
→ Harris → Intersil → No Wires Needed → GlobespanVirata → Conexant.

http://www.intersil.com/en.html

Timeline

1995: Digital Ocean starts development of WLAN MAC for AT&T WaveLAN division ^[1]
1996: Digital Ocean starts development of WLAN MAC for Aironet (later Cisco) ^[2]
1996: Digital Ocean becomes CHOICE Microsystems ^[3]
1996: Harris first Wi-Fi chip (HSP3824 802.11 Baseband PHY) ^[4]
1999: Harris acquires CHOICE Microsystems (CW10 802.11b MAC) ^[5]
1999: Harris rebrands its semi. division to Intersil ^[6]
2000: Intersil acquires No Wires Needed B.V. ^[7]
2003: Intersil sells its WLAN division to GlobespanVirata ^[8]
2003: Conexant and GlobespanVirata merge ^[9]

For later chipsets, see Conexant.

Wireless chipsets

See also: Intersil reference design

b

Chipset	MAC	BB	RFIC	Interface	PHY modes	Notes	First seen (FCC)	Adapters	ESystems	pdf
PRISM I	AMD Am79C930	HFA3824 (HSP3824)	HFA3624 / HFA3724	PCMCIA (16-bit)	legacy (DSSS)	1996, ^[10] 802.11- 1997 (2Mbps) ^[11]		5 devices	3 devices	DS All
PRISM I	AMD and others	HFA3824 (HSP3825)	HFA3624	ISA / PC104	legacy (DSSS)	+ ISA/PC104 IF		2 devices
PRISM II	HFA3841	HFA3861	HFA3683	PCMCIA (16-bit)	b	Superhet radio, + CF IF, HFA3841 (HERMES I)	1999-11-09	65 devices	33 devices	Doc
PRISM II	HFA3841	HFA3861	HFA3683	USB 1.1 (PCI)	b	Superhet radio, + USB 1.1/PCI IF	1999-11-09	14 devices		Doc
PRISM II	HFA3845	HFA3861	HFA3683	PCMCIA (16-bit)	b	Superhet radio	2000-07-25	2 devices	0 devices	PCB
PRISM 2.5	HFA3842	HFA3863	HFA3683	PCMCIA (16-bit)	b	Superhet radio	2000-05-08	3 devices	0 devices	Doc
PRISM 2.5	ISL3873 (A/B)	"	ISL3685	PCMCIA (16-bit)	b	Superhet radio, + CompactFlash IF	2001-06-04	72 devices	43 devices	Doc
PRISM 2.5	ISL3873 (B)	"	ISL3685	USB 1.1	b	Superhet radio, + USB 1.1 IF	2001-06-04	16 devices		Doc
PRISM 2.5	ISL3874	"	ISL3685	PCI	b	Superhet radio, + PCI IF	2001-06-05	42 devices	16 devices	Doc
PRISM 3	ISL3871	"	ISL3684	PCMCIA (16-bit)	b	Zero-IF (DCR) radio, + CompactFlash IF	2002-01-23	54 devices	20 devices	Doc
PRISM 3	ISL3871	"	ISL3684	USB 1.1 (PCI)	b	Zero-IF (DCR) radio, + USB 1.1/PCI/MS IF	2002-01-23	38 devices		Doc
PRISM 3	ISL3872	"	ISL3684	PCI	b	Zero-IF (DCR) radio, ISL3871 w/ PCI IF	2002-12-21	4 devices	1 devices	Doc

(a)bg

Chipset	MAC / BB	RFIC	Interface	PHY modes	Notes	First seen (FCC)	Adapters	ESystems	pdf
PRISM Indigo	ISL3877	ISL3687	PCI	a	.	2002-10-22	4 devices	1 devices
PRISM Frisbee	ISL3880	ISL3680 / ISL3686	PCI	bg	addition of ISL3980 PA and ISL3090 10GHz VCO	2003-01-10	32 devices	35 devices	DS
PRISM Javelin	ISL3886	ISL3686	PCI	bg		2003-09-10	16 devices	5 devices
PRISM Xbow	ISL3886	ISL3692	PCI	abg		2003-12-09	6 devices	3 devices
PRISM Duette	ISL3890	ISL3690 / ISL3692	PCI	abg	.	2003-08-21	7 devices	1 devices
PRISM GT	ISL3890	ISL3690	PCI	bg	.	2002-12-20	9 devices	1 devices
PRISM Frisbee	ISL3880 netchip net2280 (PCI/USB bridge)	ISL3686	USB 2.0	bg	ISL3686A directly interfaces with ISL3865A (BBP) and ISL3880 (MAC) with BBP	2003-09-10	21 devices		DS
PRISM Javelin	ISL3886 netchip net2280 (PCI/USB bridge)	ISL3686	USB 2.0	bg		2003-10-23	17 devices
PRISM Cohiba ?	ISL3887	ISL3686	USB 2.0	bg	maybe Globespan Virata or Conexant branded (GW3887)	2004-03-30	40 devices	0 devices
PRISM Cohiba ?	ISL3887	ISL3692	USB 2.0	abg		2004-09-10	2 devices	0 devices

See also: Intersil/p54/usb/windows and Intersil/prism2/usb/windows

SoC

WiSoC

Chip	RFIC	Arch.	PHY modes	Reference designs	First seen (FCC)	Notes	ESystems	External links
ISL3856	PRISM 2 RF	ARM940	b	ISL36356A	2002-10-09	Rebranded NWN Poldhu .	3 devices	DS
ISL3893	ISL3686	ARM946E	bg	ISL39300A	2003-07-16	ISL3893 on AppelWiki	23 devices	Wiki (SF)
ISL3893	ISL3690	ARM946E	abg	ISL39300A	2003-09-08	ISL3893 on AppelWiki	1 devices	Wiki (SF)

Harris chipsets

PRISM I

HFA3824 - BBP (DSSS)

HFA3724 - QAM

HFA3624 - RFIC

HFA3524 - DS

HFA3424 - LNA

HFA3925 - PA

PRISM II

HFA3841 - MAC • DS

HFA3861 - BBP • DS

HFA3861A - BBP • DS

HFA3861B - BBP • DS

HFA3783 - QAM • DS

HFA3683(A) - RFIC • DS

HFA3983 - PA • DS

PRISM 2.5

HFA3842 - MAC • DS
HFA3842A - MAC • DS
HFA3842B - MAC • DS

HFA3863 - BPP • DS

ISL3873 - MAC/BBP (PCMCIA/USB) • DS
ISL3873A - MAC/BBP (PCMCIA/USB) • DS
ISL3874 - MAC/BBP (PCI) • DS
ISL3874A - MAC/BBP (PCI) • DS

ISL3783 - QUAD IF (QAM) • DS

ISL3685 - RF/IF (CONV) • DS

ISL3984 - PA (RMPA-2455) • DS

ISL3183 - VCO (GEN 748MHz)

PRISM 3

ISL3871 - MAC/BBP (PCMCIA) • DS
ISL3871A - MAC/BBP (PCMCIA) • DS
ISL3872 - MAC/BBP (PCI) • DS

ISL3684 - QAM/DS/RFIC (CONV) • DS

ISL3684A - QAM/DS/RFIC (CONV) • DS

ISL3984 - PA • DS

ISL3985 - PA • DS

ISL3084 - VCO

Relevant links

Digital Ocean

Detailed timeline in this court document: [3]
http://www.digocean.com - former WWW home of Digital Ocean

(via archive.org, Nov. 1996)

All pages captured by archive.org on the digocean.com domain

Digital Ocean's High-Speed Craft for 802.11 Voyages - SETH

Chip MAC in 128-pin TQFP chip pkg. (same as HFA3841 / HERMES)

NOTE: At the time of this article the MAC controller was called SETH,
it has since been renamed "PROTEUS" (block diagram)

Choice Microsystems

http://www.choicemicro.com - presumably the former and short lived
WWW home of Choice Microsystems (via archive.org, Sep. 1999)

Press release regarding acquisition by Harris

No Wires Needed (NWN)

Intersil acquires No Wires Needed B.V. on May 2000

NWN Poldhu - Intersil ISL3856 (rebranded)

NWN Swallow - Swallow 550/1100 (Parrot 1100)

Conexant

WLAN chipsets history:

PRISM chipset developed by Harris Semiconductor
PRISM2 chipset by Intersil unveiled on August 24, 1999
Harris Semiconductor changed its name to Intersil Corporation on July 16, 1999
Intersil's Wireless Networking was bought by GlobespanVirata on August 28, 2003
Conexant (formerly Rockwell) merged with GlobespanVirata on November 3, 2003

Patents

US 5371734 A: Medium access control protocol for wireless network

(Published Dec. 6, 1994, Digital Ocean Inc. (Michael A. Fischer))

The microcontroller, in its presently preferred form, is a Motorola 68HC16 microprocessor.

CA 2154897 C: Medium access control protocol for wireless network

(Published Sep. 21, 1999, Choice Technology Inc. (Michael A. Fischer) and others)

External Links

References

↑ On February 21, 1995, AT&T and Digital Ocean entered into a JDA [1]
↑ LUCENT TECHNOLOGIES, AIRONET CORPORATION AND DIGITAL OCEAN ANNOUNCE IEEE-COMPLIANT WIRELESS MULTI-VENDOR INTEROPERABILITY PROTOCOL
↑ As of February 21, 1996, Choice Microsystems succeedded to the business of Digital Ocean [2]
↑ Harris Corp. Introduces the HSP3824 Baseband Processor
↑ 1999-02-22 - Harris Corporation acquires CHOICE Microsystems
↑ 1999-07-16 - Harris Corporation rebrands its semi. division to Intersil
↑ 2000-05 - Intersil acquires No Wires Needed B.V.
↑ 2003-07-15 - Intersil sells its WLAN division to GlobespanVirata
↑ 2003-11-11 - Conexant and GlobespanVirata merge
↑ Harris Corp. Introduces the HSP3824 Baseband Processor
↑ PRISM I and PRISM II chipsets

[1] On February 21, 1995, AT&T and Digital Ocean entered into a JDA [1]

[2] LUCENT TECHNOLOGIES, AIRONET CORPORATION AND DIGITAL OCEAN ANNOUNCE IEEE-COMPLIANT WIRELESS MULTI-VENDOR INTEROPERABILITY PROTOCOL

[3] As of February 21, 1996, Choice Microsystems succeedded to the business of Digital Ocean [2]

[4] Harris Corp. Introduces the HSP3824 Baseband Processor

[5] 1999-02-22 - Harris Corporation acquires CHOICE Microsystems

[6] 1999-07-16 - Harris Corporation rebrands its semi. division to Intersil

[7] 2000-05 - Intersil acquires No Wires Needed B.V.

[8] 2003-07-15 - Intersil sells its WLAN division to GlobespanVirata

[9] 2003-11-11 - Conexant and GlobespanVirata merge

[10] Harris Corp. Introduces the HSP3824 Baseband Processor

[11] PRISM I and PRISM II chipsets

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]

[6]

[7]

[8]

[9]

[10]

[11]