Mac upgrade maker Sonnet Technologies Inc. announced Thursday plans to release the Aria Extreme, an 802.11g networking card compatible with Cardbus-equipped PowerBooks.
IEEE 802.11g is the official nomenclature for the wireless networking technology Apple calls AirPort Extreme. It enables computers to transfer data at up to 54Mbps. Apple introduced support for the new standard with its release of AirPort Extreme-equipped Macs this past January.
More recently, Apple offered a driver update to its AirPort drivers — v3.1 — that enables Macs to support wireless networking cards made by third parties. Sonnet’s Aria Extreme would appear to be such a device.
A PCMCIA card, Sonnet’s Aria Extreme is designed to work with PowerBooks equipped with Cardbus-compatible expansion slots — more specifically, PowerBook G3 systems and 15-inch PowerBook G4s. It supports 64-bit and 128-bit Wired Equivalent Privacy (WEP) encryption.
Sonnet notes that the card requires Mac OS X v10.2.6 or later with AirPort v3.1 drivers or later to work. The card also works with Windows-equipped PCs — drivers for Windows are available for download from the Sonnet Web site.
The Aria Extreme carries a suggested retail price of US$79.95 and will be available in mid-September. More details are available online.
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