Peregrine, Symbol to develop Bluetooth RF chips, platforms
Source Url: ebnonline.com
Semiconductor Business News
(03/14/00, 02:44:43 PM EST)
Peregrine Semiconductor Corp. and Symbol Technologies
Inc. today struck an alliance to jointly develop products for
Bluetooth wireless connections, including RF ICs and a
reference design kit with software support.
"Bluetooth applications will include virtually every digital
communications or control device found in the home, office,
or factory within the next five years," said Stav Prodromou,
president and chief executive of San Diego-based Peregrine
Semiconductor. "This will happen because the cost will
become affordable, and connectivity to the information
infrastructure and Internet will be available through the
cellular-phone network."
Peregine plans to use its Ultra-Thin Silicon (UTSi)
silicon-on-insulator CMOS technology to produce RF chips
for 2.4-GHz frequency links in Bluetooth applications. Initially
these wireless connections will support data networking over
distances of 10 meters, but Peregrine said it also plans to
offer future Bluetooth products for distances up to 30 meters.
Symbol, of Holtsville, N.Y., said it will integrate the jointly
developed Bluetooth components into application-specific
information appliances, data and voice wireless networks,
bar-code and data-capture scanner products, and Bluetooth
radio solutions for OEMs.
As Bluetooth networking features become cheaper, the
market for wireless personal area networks (PANs) could
reach $2 billion by 2005, according to analyst estimates.
"Symbol and Peregrine began preliminary work in mid-1999,
and we've each contributed substantial development
manpower to the project," said Tomo Razmilovic, president
and chief operating officer at Symbol. "Combining Symbol's
leading wireless LAN technology with Peregrine's CMOS
silicon-on-insulator process and design expertise will
accelerate widespread availability of the high-speed,
low-cost wireless chipsets that will be needed to make
wireless Internet connectivity truly ubiquitous." |
