It moves atheros into the entire smart grid sector and smart meters to compliment the netbook and wireless business. All those smart gadgets is the market that atheros is targeting thats why the move made sense. Most of the real growth is still in front of the company. But near term smartphone data traffic and the need to stream increasing amounts of data wirelessly doesnt hurt the companies prospects going forward.

Intellon makes the chips that transmit data over utility lines so thats is one solution for smart meters and smart appliances as they begin to roll out in larger numbers next year when those stimulus projects begin.