ZeroG Wireless Teams With Microchip Technology to Introduce ZeroG Wi-Fi Development Kits for PIC Microcontrollers

SUNNYVALE, Calif., Feb. 16 /PRNewswire/ — ZeroG Wireless, Inc., an innovator in low-power embedded Wi-Fi design, today announced the ZeroG “Wi-Fi I/O” development kits for Microchip Technology Inc.’s (Nasdaq: [1] MCHP) PIC microcontrollers. The ZeroG development kits are based on the standard Microchip PICtail(TM) and PICtail Plus daughter-board connectors, which allows a designer to easily plug Wi-Fi connectivity into a variety of Microchip [2] development kits. The [3] Wi-Fi I/O kits are now available to select customers as part of an early-access program, with general availability expected in April. Interested customers can register on the ZeroG Web site at [4] http://www.zerogwireless.com.

“We needed to develop a solution that would enable customers to easily and seamlessly add Wi-Fi to their existing designs,” said David Friedman, vice president of Business Development for ZeroG. “Teaming with Microchip to develop a tightly integrated PICtail daughter board approach ensures that there is no need to buy a lot of additional hardware or software, or do a lot of re-engineering to make it work. Customers can begin prototyping with Wi-Fi the very same day they receive their ZeroG Wi-Fi PICtail Daughter Board.”

The PICtail daughter board-based kits contain a [5] ZeroG Wi-Fi module mounted to a PICtail daughter board, along with software drivers. As a result of the joint development by ZeroG and Microchip, the ZeroG software stack runs on the 8-bit PIC18, 16-bit PIC24 and 32-bit PIC32 microcontrollers as well as the dsPIC digital signal controller families, requiring little additional system resource to add Wi-Fi connectivity. The driver is highly integrated with Microchip’s royalty-free TCP/IP networking stack, so customers that have used the stack can easily migrate from wired Ethernet to Wi-Fi communication. The module is being FCC certified and has an onboard antenna, with options for several external antennas for production.

“We have seen a growing interest in Wi-Fi from our customers, over the last two years,” said Rodger Richey, director of applications for Microchip’s Advanced Microcontroller Architecture Division. “Working with ZeroG, we are jointly engineering a solution that leverages our customers’ existing investments in hardware and software. Their PICtail daughter board and module is an easy-to-use Wi-Fi prototyping system with a fast path to production.”

The ZeroG development kits are currently available to customers as part of an early-access program. General availability is expected to follow at the beginning of April 2009. Development kit pricing ranges from $219 to $595 (U.S.), and is dependent on the configuration of the kit. Interested customers can register on the ZeroG Web site at [4] http://www.zerogwireless.com.

The kits will be on display at ZeroG’s Booth #541, at the Embedded Systems Conference in San Jose, March 31-April 3.