Qualcomm got a lot of attention at Small Cells World Summit 2014 with its talk about "inside out" connectivity enabled by small cells. The mobile chip giant wants operators to consider super powerful indoor small cells as a way to connect entire neighborhoods. Indoor...
As an acronym, C-RAN has less name recognition than its more popular cousins, SDN and NFV, though if you are in the wireless business it is equally important as we look at the future of the wireless network and its continued evolution over the next five to 10 years.
Editor’s Note: Welcome to our weekly Reader Forum section. In an attempt to broaden our interaction with our readers we have created this forum for those with something meaningful to say to the wireless industry. We want to keep this as open as possible,...
Intel's new CMO: from razors to chips
Intel has a very strong history of promoting from within, but the chip giant has looked beyond its Santa Clara, Calif., campus for its new chief marketing officer. Steve Fund comes most recently from Staples, where he led...
Altera FPGA solution speeds up test and measurement
Altera (ALTR) says its Stratix 10 FPGAs (field-programmable gate arrays) and SoCs are delivering 2X core performance gain in their designs compared to previous generation high-performance programmable devices. Built on Intel’s 14 nanometer Tri-Gate process, the chips...
In mobile chip news this week, Qualcomm has unveiled its newest Snapdragon chipset, Broadcom has teamed up with Amazon, and Freescale has agreed to buy Mindspeed's ARM processor business.
Qualcomm has made good on its promise to challenge Apple's 64-bit processor with a high-end solution...
Freescale has agreed to purchase Mindspeed's communications processor unit for an undisclosed amount. Mindspeed was acquired by MACOM last year, and at the time the RF and microwave specialist said that it would try to sell Mindspeed's Comcerto communications processor business, or wind it...
For network operators, key themes at this year's MWC included faster networks, densification through small cells, and monetization through software.
The need for speed
Some carriers are just beginning LTE deployments, and others are starting to look at VoLTE and LTE-Advanced, but already operators are hearing...
Suppliers of small cells and the components that differentiate them are heading into Mobile World Congress with confidence, as their solutions finally start to gain traction in the market. AT&T says it has now added small cells to its network in 18 states, and...
Intel is buying the wireless assets of small cell expert Mindspeed, which agreed last month to be acquired by MACOM. Mindspeed said at that time that it would find a buyer for its wireless assets.
Mindspeed, which bought Picochip last year, brings to Intel...
Editor’s Note: The RCR Wireless News Time Machine is a way to take advantage of our extensive history in covering the wireless space to fire up the DeLorean and take a trip back in time to re-visit some of the more interesting headlines from...
More than three quarters for mobile operators say they want multimode capability when deploying small cells. Multimode does not just mean 3G/LTE; operators also want solutions that integrate Wi-Fi. AT&T, which is in the process of deploying 40,000 small cells as part of its...
ZTE has tapped Freescale (FSL) to power LTE small cell base stations to be deployed throughout China and Japan. Freescale's QorIQ Qonverge BSC9132 base station on a chip will provide embedded intelligence for a new line of TD-LTE femtocell products.
TD-LTE is the 4G wireless...
Qualcomm gets Lenovo's Vibe
Qualcomm has scored a victory with Lenovo, landing the processor in the new Vibe Z smartphone and replacing Intel, which supplied the processor for the Vibe Z's predecessor. The Vibe Z, also called the K910, is powered by Qualcomm's ARM-based quad-core...
Small cell deployments and Wi-Fi offload are two of the most important ways that mobile operators increase network capacity and coverage, but until recently they have been seen as separate solutions. Now carriers are looking for small cells that integrate Wi-Fi connectivity. These so-called...
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...
Sensors are a small but growing part of the worldwide semiconductor market, expected to grow faster than any market segment except memory chips, according to the Semiconductor Industry Association. Sensor chips record physical input like temperature, pressure or light, and convert the input to...
Third-generation and "4G" wireless networks are facing a severe capacity crunch caused by massive data demand created by smart phones and tablet devices. Deployment of macrocells will not solve the problem since most of the demand is generated indoors. Service providers are moving towards heterogeneous solutions...
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...
Great Britain's TTP is making use of unused TV broadcast spectrum to deliver high-speed broadband service in rural areas. The so-called "white space" is license-exempt radio spectrum that exists between licensed broadcast spectrum. TTP says that more than 100 MHz of prime UHF white...
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...
As carriers race to build next generation wireless networks, they must also race to hire the best and the brightest to design and deploy these networks. The ripple effect of their investments is impacting other industries, including
wireless infrastructure, mobile software and test and measurement...
