Leading Developer of 4G LTE Chipsets Leverages MIPS in Worldwide Deployments; Demonstrates Solutions at Mobile World Congress
SUNNYVALE, Calif., February 9, 2011 — MIPS Technologies, Inc. (Nasdaq:MIPS), a leading provider of industry-standard processor architectures and cores for digital consumer, home networking, wireless, communications and business applications, announced today that Altair Semiconductor, the world’s leading developer of ultra-low power, small footprint and high-performance 4G LTE chipsets, licensed MIPS Technologies’ multi-threaded synthesizable processor IP for next-generation chipsets targeting mobile broadband baseband and modem applications for mobile devices. Altair is a long-time MIPS licensee, leveraging the MIPS® architecture across its entire line of LTE chipsets.
“We are pleased to work closely with MIPS Technologies as we continue to build on our worldwide leadership position in commercializing 4G LTE chipsets for use in a wide range of products, including USB modems, customer premises equipment, smartphones and handheld devices,” said Eran Eshed, co-founder and VP of marketing and business development at Altair Semiconductor. “The multi-threading in MIPS cores provides high performance, quality of service (QoS), low power, real-time scheduling and other benefits that will further enhance our product line, providing Altair with a significant competitive advantage as we begin the rollout of our technology to hundreds of millions of consumers around the world.”
Altair’s commercially-ready FourGee™ LTE chipsets are based on a novel software defined radio (SDR) architecture. The chipsets have recently been selected by Polish service provider Mobyland to power the first commercial-grade deployment available on an 1800MHz LTE network, while AVM, one of the largest manufacturers of DSL Integrated Access Devices in Europe, selected Altair’s chipsets to power the AVM FRITZ!Box LTE being used during O2’s upcoming digital dividend and 2.6GHz friendly user trials in Germany. Additionally, Altair’s FourGee chipsets are currently deployed in numerous service provider field trials worldwide.
“As data traffic and HD content continue to drive up internet bandwidth requirements, the world will increasingly move to 4G technologies. Altair is aggressively introducing its high-performance, ultra low-power devices based on the MIPS architecture into markets across the globe that can benefit from our combined technologies. MIPS Technologies’ multi-threading capability is a strong competitive differentiator for MIPS licensees in applications such as LTE baseband, where it significantly adds to increased performance and decreased power consumption,” said Art Swift, vice president of marketing and business development, MIPS Technologies.
Demonstrations at Mobile World Congress
Altair will feature demonstrations of its FourGee technology in its hospitality suite, number 4.6HS63, and at various customer and partner stands at Mobile World Congress, being held February 14 – 17, 2011 in Barcelona, Spain. As part of the demonstrations, various terminal form factors such an USB dongles, fixed and portable routers and embedded modules will operate against live LTE base stations for both FDD and TDD modes. MIPS will also feature Altair’s FourGee-3100/6202-based USB dongles and an embedded mPCIe module in its demo suite at the show, number 4.6HS57.
About Altair Semiconductor
Altair Semiconductor is the world’s leading developer of ultra-low power, small footprint and high performance 4G semiconductors. The company’s products provide device manufacturers integrating 4G LTE technology into their products with a highly power-optimized, robust and cost-effective solution. Altair’s comprehensive product portfolio includes baseband processors, multi-band RF transceivers for both FDD and TDD bands, and a range of reference hardware and product level protocol stack software. Based on a novel, proprietary Software Defined Radio (SDR) processor, codenamed “O2P™”, Altair’s products are the smallest and most highly power optimized in the industry, offering an unmatched combination of flexibility and performance. For more information, visit the company’s website at altair-semi.com. Follow Altair on Twitter: @AltairSemi
About MIPS Technologies, Inc.
MIPS Technologies, Inc. (Nasdaq:MIPS) is a leading provider of industry-standard processor architectures and cores that power some of the world’s most popular products for the home entertainment, communications, networking and portable multimedia markets. These include broadband devices from Linksys, DTVs and digital consumer devices from Sony, DVD recordable devices from Pioneer, digital set-top boxes from Motorola, network routers from Cisco, 32-bit microcontrollers from Microchip Technology and laser printers from Hewlett-Packard. Founded in 1998, MIPS Technologies is headquartered in Sunnyvale, California, with offices worldwide. For more information, contact (408) 530-5000 or visit www.mips.com.