GainSpan Unveils Wi-Fi(R) Sensor Network Solution With Years of Battery Life

    HOUSTON, Oct. 3 /PRNewswire/ -- ISA EXPO Booth# 1978 -- GainSpan, an
 innovator in Wi-Fi sensor network technology, today unveiled a wireless
 sensor network solution that utilizes the widely deployed Wi-Fi
 infrastructure while providing years of battery life for sensors and other
 connected devices. GainSpan's semiconductor and software solutions deliver
 the security, manageability, and convenience benefits of Wi-Fi along with
 5-10 years of extended battery life needed for applications such as
 temperature monitoring for energy management, condition monitoring of
 industrial equipment in manufacturing plants or streetlights in metro
 areas.
     "Enabling users to leverage Wi-Fi for sensor applications with years of
 battery life makes GainSpan solutions unique in the market place," said
 Vijay Parmar, President and CEO of GainSpan. "Our solutions represent a
 breakthrough in the world of wireless sensor networks, enabling sensors and
 other devices with up to 10 years of battery life with all the benefits
 afforded by a solution based on mature standards."
     The GainSpan GS1010 SoC is an ultra low-power System-on-a-Chip (SoC)
 solution that leverages the widely deployed Wi-Fi (IEEE(R) 802.11) network.
 By utilizing this infrastructure, people can deploy sensor systems using
 standard tools and knowledge base, and seamlessly integrate with existing
 management systems, including enterprise network management systems, as
 well as existing SCADA industrial and building automation systems.
 Additionally, the chip's power management feature provides years of battery
 life and enables a new class of Wi-Fi products that open the door to many
 new applications and usage models that improve indoor and outdoor air
 quality, reduce energy consumption, cut costs and improve operational
 efficiencies.
     "While wireless sensor networks have seen steady growth over the past
 few years, their market potential has, in fact, been hindered by power
 consumption issues and lack of mature standards based solutions," said
 Harry Forbes, senior analyst at ARC Advisory Group. "GainSpan has addressed
 this issue with a Wi-Fi based solution enabling Wi-Fi sensor devices with
 years of battery life. This solution allows users to leverage the global
 Wi-Fi standard, existing network tools and knowledge investments. Deploying
 these in wireless sensor devices would provide the cost, energy savings and
 convenience needed to transform this market. In fact, with low-power Wi-Fi,
 GainSpan has the potential to 'change the game'."
     GainSpan semiconductor and software solutions are designed to flexibly
 support a broad range of applications and enable customers to easily tailor
 systems to their specific needs at a low total cost of ownership and high
 return on investment. GainSpan solutions can be incorporated into products
 that may be used in:
     -- Industrial motor monitoring, to save energy and improve efficiencies
     -- Buildings, to save energy, improve indoor air quality and safety
     -- Food and drug manufacturers, to monitor temperature of goods through
        their supply chain
     -- Auto-manufacturing plants, to track vehicles during production
     -- Oil refineries, to locate staff during emergencies
     -- Utilities, to automatically read meters and monitor infrastructure
        equipment
     -- Public metro areas, to monitor street and traffic lights, and support
        emergency response services
     -- Bridges, to automatically verify the safety of these structures after
        an earthquake, allowing city infrastructures to quickly return to
        normal operation
     -- Mining, to accurately track real-time movements of miners
     -- Data centers, to monitor and control temperatures and energy usage
     -- Hospitals, to track patients, wheelchairs, diagnostic equipment, and
        staff
     About GainSpan Solutions
     GainSpan's innovative product line was designed to meet the specific
 battery life and other requirements of Wi-Fi sensor devices. The GainSpan
 GS1010 SoC offers flexibility to support a wide range of products and
 applications with an embedded 802.11b/g radio, two 32-bit ARM7
 microcontrollers, real-time clock (RTC) and power management unit, FLASH
 and SRAM memories along with multiple I/Os, and support for location
 awareness. The complete solution provides a suite of easy-to-use
 development tools for OEMs that makes development less time consuming and
 complicated, so products can get to market quickly.
     GainSpan also offers the GainSpan Management System (GMS), a software
 solution that sits in the network and addresses specific needs of managing
 Wi-Fi sensors and other connected devices.
     Pricing and Availability
     The GS1010 is sampling now, with production quantities available in
 December 2007, and is priced at $15.00 in 10,000 unit quantities.
     About GainSpan
     GainSpan is a technology innovator and leader in Wi-Fi semiconductor
 and software solutions that provide years of battery life for sensors and
 other connected devices. GainSpan brings Wi-Fi sensor networks to life with
 breakthrough technology that leverages the ubiquitous Wi-Fi infrastructure
 and enables Wi-Fi devices to run up to 10 years on an AA battery. GainSpan
 solutions enable people to save money, save energy and work smarter. For
 more information, visit http://www.gainspan.com.
     GainSpan is a trademark of GainSpan Corporation. Other marks are
 property of their respective owners.
     Note to editors: Quote Sheet Follows
     Listed in alphabetical order of company names:
     Aginova
     "For the past three years, we've been working with Zigbee based
 solutions for our infrastructure applications. But installing a stable
 wireless sensor network has always been a major -- and costly --
 undertaking," said Ashok Sabata, Ph.d, Aginova, Inc., a provider of
 wireless sensor networks for condition based maintenance and storage
 monitoring. "Using GainSpan's low power Wi-Fi based solutions we found that
 the almost ubiquitous nature of Wi-Fi reduced total system cost and the
 'off the shelf' tools made development easy. In just two months, we've
 developed a complete Wi-Fi temperature monitoring solution for storage
 spaces (from warehouses to refrigerators). In fact, our customer demos have
 gone so well that we expect to start installations in Q4."
     Aginova PR contact:
     Ashok Sabata, CEO
     732-780-7065
     info@aginova.com
     http://www.aginova.com
     Apprion
     "We have been working closely with GainSpan and look forward to taking
 advantage of their unique Wi-Fi sensor technology in Apprion's Industrial
 Wireless Applications Network System - the ION system," said Stephen
 Lambright, Apprion's CEO.
     Apprion PR contact:
     Sarah Prinster
     650-934-5700 x727
     sarah.prinster@apprion.com
     http://www.apprion.com
     MicroStrain
     "We have been working closely with GainSpan and look forward to
 incorporating their unique Wi-Fi sensor technology in our next-generation
 wireless monitoring systems," said Chris Townsend, Executive Vice President
 of Engineering at MicroStrain, Inc., a leader in low power sensor networks
 used in test and measurement applications.
     MicroStrain PR contact:
     Mike Robinson
     802-862-6629
     mirobinson@microstrain.com
     http://www.microstrain.com
     Nivis
     "GainSpan's much anticipated low-power 802.11 solution is rapidly
 becoming a building block in Nivis' industrial and commercial wireless
 platforms. By merging an 802.11 transceiver and powerful processing into an
 unprecedented low-power SoC, the GainSpan solution opens new markets in
 which existing 802.11 infrastructures are leveraged. Applicability of the
 technology ranges from low-power sensor networks deployed in industrial
 environments to Electronic Price Signage in the commercial sector."
     Nivis PR contact:
     Joe Bost
     678-202-6860
     http://www.nivis.com
     Oceana Sensor
     "GainSpan's innovative products provide the basis for a low power
 solution to a single point-sensing device. The ability to incorporate the
 GS1010 into our product line allows our customers to utilize their existing
 Wi-Fi network to deploy and redeploy vital sensors," said Alex Kalasinsky,
 President and CEO. "With our Wireless Sensor Module (WSeM(TM)) customers
 can implement effective wireless sensor networks while achieving
 bottom-line benefits. GainSpan products are the heart of the WSeM(TM)."
     Oceana Sensor PR contact:
     757-426-3678
     http://www.oceanasensor.com
     Sensicast
     "Gainspan is the first company to meet our stringent requirements for
 battery-operated Wi-Fi sensor networks," said Gary Ambrosino, CEO of
 Sensicast, an industry-leading vendor of turnkey wireless sensor networking
 systems. "We are delighted to partner with GainSpan to integrate its
 low-power Wi-Fi system into a solid platform for rapid development of Wi-Fi
 SensiNet systems from Sensicast."
     Sensicast PR contact:
     Patrick Rafter
     prafter@sensicast.com
     617-901-2697 mobile
     http://www.sensicast.com
 
 

SOURCE GainSpan Corporation