Communications

Mobile operating system firm Symbian has joined with Freescale Semiconductor and Nokia to create the first 3G mobile phone reference design based on the chip firm’s single core modem

Technologies and techniques for the dynamic distribution and regulation of radio spectrum are to be developed in Ireland, following the allocation of 50MHz for experimental work by ComReg, the country’s regulator. The multi-university Centre for Telecommunications Value-chain Research (CTVR) has been given 25MHz centred at 2.08GHz, and another 25MHz at 2.35GHz. “We are at liberty to experiment very broadly within ...

Analogue and mixed signal chip developer Phyworks has appointed a Korean distributor to handle its physical layer components for optical networking. The Bristol-based firm said MJL Technology will distribute its physical layer products for WAN, LAN, SAN and FTTH applications. An existing network of distributors in China, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Japan has already reaped dividends for the firm, it ...

Swiss GPS chipset developer Nemerix is set to double the size of its Cambridge team as the market for GPS-enabled handheld devices continues to expand. The company, founded in 2002 to develop low-power GPS explicitly for portable applications, sold three million chipsets last year. “We are going to expand significantly in Cambridge with some software and digital people,” said Vincent ...

IDT (Integrated Device Technology) has unveiled a network co-processing device that aims to offload statistics tracking from network processors, FPGAs and Asics. Described as the industry’s first off-the-shelf statistics engine, the device targets edge routers, broadband access equipment and multi-service provisioning platforms. The device connects to the main processing units via a look-aside (LA-1) interface to the Network Processor Forum ...

Standardisation processes are notoriously long-winded affairs, often characterised by factions seeking to embed their own IP in the developing standard, or derive some other direct benefit from the result. In the case of the now-abandoned three-year old effort at the IEEE to decide between the direct sequence and multiband OFDM approaches to ultra wideband (UWB), the significant differences between the ...

Tsinghua Bitway Networking Technology has chosen to use a network search engine from communications IC firm IDT (Integrated Device Technology) in its latest core router. IDT’s 75K62100 enables the router to support IPv6, the next generation Internet protocol, with data rates up to 320Gbit/s, said the firms. “Momentum is growing for a transition to IPv6 in China driven by millions ...

Contrary to popular belief, the year 2001 is not inscribed on the tombstone of UK telecoms R&D since, despite being seriously ill, it survived. In fact, according to telecoms entrepreneur David Cleevely, the UK spends more than its fair share on telecoms R&D. Globally “there is a lot more telecoms research than people think – $30-40bn/year”, he said. The average national ...

Speed-enhanced GSM mobile phone technology, known as EDGE, is expected to continue to be a major market for chipset suppliers despite the steady rollout of 3G handsets based on W-CDMA technology. EDGE with a theoretical data rate of 384kbit/s is being designed into dual mode 3G handsets which will support high speed services across the network even when W-CDMA technology ...

Nortel and Orange said they have completed UMTS and HSDPA calls in the 900MHz band, a spectrum capable of delivering wireless broadband such as mobile TV, video-on-demand, video telephony and DSL-like services to rural areas The firms said W-CDMA (UMTS) in the 900MHz band is a cost effective way to deliver nationwide high-speed wireless coverage. It achieves a 60 per ...