Microsoft gets Federal approval for Xbox wireless adapter

August 30, 2003

Microsoft has won federal
approval for a wireless adapter to help enhance its Xbox video game
console. This will allow players with the new device to connect to the
Internet without cabling, according to a posting on a regulatory Web site. The site for
the Office of Engineering and Technology of the U.S. Federal Communications
Commission showed that approval for the unit was granted late Thursday. However,
Microsoft was none too happy about the disclosure which apparently had a bit too
much info about the new hardware and the headline seems to have been pulled
from the site.

A
Microsoft spokeswoman said the FCC posted the information about the device
in error, but she confirmed the adapter had been approved. She said the
government office agreed to a request to keep product details confidential
ahead of a planned product launch.

Microsoft declined to say when the launch would be.

The approval on the federal office's site includes a number
of exhibits, among them internal and external photographs of the device,
as well as the user's manual that would presumably ship with the product.

However, the spokeswoman said the photos on the FCC Web site
are not pictures of the final product.

The unit that is shown is black, with an antenna on the right
side and the green "XBOX" logo stamped on its top. It also has a stamp
that says "54Mbps," a common reference to the wireless standard for speeds
of 54 megabits per second.

The C|net
article goes on to say: "The documents did not list any pricing details, and
the Microsoft spokeswoman did not disclose them".

Of course, other companies, such as the Linksys
unit of Cisco Systems, produce and sell wireless adapters for online capable
game consoles. They can be found for about 100 dollars
US.

Source: news.com