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Aug. 20, 1999 (Electronic Buyers News - CMP via COMTEX) -- Morphics Technology Inc. plans to be right in the middle of the major changes currently roiling the
cellular-phone industry.
Preparing to introduce its products next year, Morphics has raised a second round of capital and offered a preview of its software architecture aimed at providing salve for the
troubled world of next-generation, or 3G, digital-cellular devices.
Morphics-in the midst of moving its headquarters from Cupertino to Campbell, Calif.-has raised $13.5 million in second-round funding, bringing total capitalization to $16.1
million.
The funds will be used to complete development of the company's line of intellectual-property cores designed for 3G handsets and base stations, according to Colin Macnab,
president and chief executive.
Morphics and other start-ups are pushing a technology called software-defined radio, which enables a handset to support various digital- cellular protocols via software
downloads on a programmable IP core.
"Software-defined radios run on powerful DSPs," said Will Strauss, president of Forward Concepts Co. in Tempe, Ariz. "Software radios can support various protocols in a
system without dealing with several types of different circuits inside the handset."
Morphics' IP cores are based on the company's software-configurable architecture, Dynamically Reconfigurable Logic, which offers the possibility of integrating today's three
major 3G digital- cellular protocols-CDMA, GSM, and TDMA-in the same handset or base station.
DRL is basically an algorithmic processor that will come in various forms, including separate sublayer IP building blocks called a "CDMA Engine" and a "TDMA Engine." But
Morphics also plans to roll out what it calls a "Multi-Standard Engine," a software-programmable IP building block that can support the three major 3G protocols in the same
device.
3G, which could be deployed in some global regions as early as 2001, is supposed to unite CDMA, GSM, and TDMA under one technology umbrella.
To date, however, 3G has been anything but a unifier, as three camps compete fiercely for dominance: wideband-CDMA (W-CDMA), cdma2000, and UWC-136. Qualcomm is
leading the charge for cdma2000, while Ericsson, Motorola, Nokia, NTT, and others are pushing W-CDMA. The UWC-136 standard is essentially an upgraded version of
today's TDMA digital-cellular wireless networks.
"3G is evolving into three separate modes, all of which are mutually exclusive," said Macnab, a longtime veteran of the wireless-chip industry who founded Morphics in 1997.
"What we're trying to do is develop IP cores that would prevent a company like Nokia from having to develop eight different phones. In other words, we're developing a [software]
technology that can support multiple standards in one handset."
Other chip makers are rushing to develop similar software products for 3G-enabled systems, and for good reason: Worldwide sales of 3G handsets are expected to grow from
$1.5 billion in 2001 to $9.2 billion in 2005, according to Forward Concepts.
At the same time, some wireless-chip makers, including DSP Communications, Qualcomm, and Texas Instruments, are introducing baseband controllers for 3G handsets.
These ICs, which handle the voice processing and other functions, consist of several elements, including a DSP, a RISC processor core, memory, and a digital hard-wired
ASIC.
Morphics doesn't intend to displace baseband processors; instead, its IP cores will replace only one part of the processor-the hard-wired ASIC-in order to provide multiprotocol
capabilities, according to Macnab.
"We're not trying to compete with DSP Communications, Qualcomm, TI, and others by making the entire baseband processor," he said. "Our business model is to license IP
cores, and in effect, these companies could be our customers by licensing our technology."
Morphics also plans to license its IP cores to OEMs and carriers, Macnab said.
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