Netgear launches MIMO gear in Japan

Netgear became the latest WLAN equipment vendor to launch a line of equipment using Multiple Input-Multiple Output (MIMO) technology.

However, the company is only selling the gear — so far — in Japan. Other vendors, including Linksys and Belkin already have launched MIMO equipment in the U.S. The Netgear equipment being sold in Japan uses the same underlying MIMO technology from Airgo Networks. As with the other vendors, Netgear is claiming data throughput increases of up to eight times using the new equipment.

MIMO uses multiple antennas and multiple radios to intelligently send and receive data within a fixed channel. It will eventually be part of the 802.11n standard, which is being considered by the IEEE.

Netgear's MIMO equipment will be available in Japan later this month, according to company. It has previously said it will release MIMO equipment in the U.S., but hasn't announced a release date.

- TechWeb.com

Mobile Pipeline Staff