If chips are the brains inside mobile devices, the software embedded in those chips is like neurons firing faster than thought. “The chip is managed by software,” said Jonathan Langley, who directs IT sales and recruiting at telecom talent search firm Kineticom. Langley works...
Imagination Technologies wants to control your smartphone, Qualcomm says today's LTE speeds are set to double, and Broadcom is making inroads in a key market for set-top boxes.
Imagination Technologies ready to challenge ARM
The ARM cores found in most smartphone processors will face competition in...
As service providers struggle to cope with capacity issues in their networks, Broadcom is launching a new high-capacity network switch to support 10 Gigabit Ethernet connectivity in mobile backhaul networks.
The StrataXGS switch is aimed at the network equipment OEM market, and is designed to...
Six chipmakers have already won certification for 5G Wi-Fi designs. This week the Wi-Fi Alliance announced its certification program for 802.11ac, also known as 5G Wi-Fi because it uses the 5 Ghz spectrum band. 5G Wi-Fi delivers data speeds up to three times as...
Broadcom launches new processor for entry-level smartphones
Broadcom is targetting the fastest-growing part of the smartphone market with its new HSPA+ mobile processor. The BCM23550 is powered by a quad-core 1.2 GHz processor and integrates an HSPA+ baseband.
HSPA+ offers the fastest network speed available to...
Broadcom extends "5G" Wi-Fi portfolio to home entertainment market
Broadcom (BRCM) launched a new "5G" Wi-Fi chipset aimed at the tablet, PC, TV, set-top box and home router market. The new line of 2x2 MIMO Wi-Fi solutions support 866 megabit per second wireless local area...
Intel is charting a course for its move into mobile, adding GPS capabilities with the purchase of ST-Ericsson's GNSS (global navigation satellite system) unit. ST-Ericsson is the ill-fated chipmaking venture formed by Ericsson and STMicroelectronics; the two companies decided several months ago to dissolve...
Smartphone and tablet users will connect to Wi-Fi without even realizing it as new technologies enable Wi-Fi access points to communicate directly with the cellular networks. Samsung's redhot Galaxy S4 smartphone ships with the latest Wi-Fi connectivity solutions, and component makers say more handsets...
The semiconductor market is expected to improve in 2013, and first quarter results from leading mobile chipmakers support that forecast. Intel showed continued weakness, but chipmakers that primarily supply mobile device makers did very well.
Intel
The world's largest chipmaker is working hard to break...
Intel makes its move in SDN
Intel is courting the carriers with hardware and software to enable software-defined networking (SDN). The company's reference designs use standard x86 servers and programmable switches to virtualize networks. "SDN and NFV are critical elements of Intel's vision to transform...
Semiconductor startup Quantance has raised another $12 million from investors including DoCoMo Capital, TD Fund, Granite Ventures, InterWest Partners and DoCoMo Capital. The company makes power supply chips that use envelope tracking technology. Envelope tracking regulates power in LTE phones by matching radio power...
Gartner estimates worldwide chip sales at $300 billion for 2012, and IHS iSuppli puts the number at $304 billion. Both firms agree that worldwide semiconductor sales were down more than 2% last year, with sales falling at most of the major chip companies.
IHS...
Welcome to this week's news on Wi-Fi, DAS, and small cell deployments.
Qualcomm has been named an official technology partner of Major League Baseball, and is partnering with the league's interactive media and Internet company to improve wireless coverage within MLB stadiums.
Qualcomm engineers will provide...
40 years after Motorola's Marty Cooper made the world's first cell phone call, the race to bring new mobile phones to market has never been more intense. Chipsets that integrate mobile processors, modems, graphics processors and connectivity solutions are speeding time-to-market for manufacturers. Broadcom...
A new partnership helps enterprise IT departments do some of their own radio frequency testing to find interference sources in corporate WLANs. Bandspeed announced this week that its AirMaestro radio frequency spectrum analysis software is being integrated with some of Broadcom's solutions to allow...
From wireless chipsets to core networks to devices, software is a key differentiator for OEMs today, and for carriers as well. The right software solutions require the right skill sets. RCR Wireless looks at specific software development, design and engineering skill sets that companies...
The Samsung Galaxy S4 is already generating an almost iPhone-like buzz, and the hype is likely to accelerate next month as carriers prepare to sell the phone. But while Samsung has been trumpeting the smartphone's features it has had less to say about the...
With less than three months to go until graduation, many college students are hard at work fine tuning their resumes and scheduling job interviews. And companies from across the mobile ecosystem are busy recruiting.
"We hire a lot of people right out of college,"...
Small cells were a major focus last week at Mobile World Congress, with several semiconductor companies launching new products to power and connect everything from femtocells to enterprise small cell networks. Silicon vendors are increasingly focused on software, particularly when it comes to small...
The LTE modem market is about to get a bit more crowded. Broadcom (BRCM) and Nvidia (NVDA) have both announced LTE modem solutions to compete with chip giant Qualcomm (QCOM), which has dominated the market so far.
Both solutions are significantly smaller that Qualcomm's...
Device demos from CES 2013 were our top videos for January. Google's Nexus 4, Samsung's Galaxy Note 10.1, ZTE's Grand S, and Broadcom's LTE modem were among the most popular, as was Broadcom's demonstration of consumer products that use its NFC technology.
1. Samsung Galaxy...
Voice-over-LTE uses spectrum more efficiently than does 3G, so the nation's largest carriers are working hard to roll out VoLTE in order to get more use from their spectrum. Chipmakers see demand for LTE modems that support VoLTE, but these modems require rigorous testing...
Near field communications has been around for a while, but at this year's Consumer Electronics Show it was clear that the technology has made it out of the technical journals and into the products that consumers are buying. From smart TVs to mobile devices...
Broadcom (BRCM) says it will license two ARM chip architectures, meaning that the California chipmaker will be able to design its own microprocessor cores based on ARM code, rather than just using ARM's pre-designed cores. Broadcom has a long history of designing chipsets based...
