Beceem builds dual-mode WiMax-LTE chipset
13-02-2010
"Customers have already expressed interest in this capability"
WiMax chipmaker Beceem Communications is set to announce its first LTE product at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona next week. VP of business development Lars Johnsson says the company is producing a dual-mode WiMax-LTE chipset targeting device makers looking to encapsulate all 4G connectivity in a single device.
The chipset will also support both time-division duplexing (TDD) and frequency division duplexing (FDD), channel sizes up to 20 MHz, seamless hand-off between radio technologies and the plethora of different 4G bands available globally. Combined, those capabilities make it the chipset for any flavor of 4G, Johnsson said. A TDD user on a WiMax network could roam seamlessly on to a FDD LTE network. "We view this is a way of uniting the two technologies"
Johnsson acknowledged that dual-mode WiMax-LTE will be a much smaller market than the market for LTE only, but he said Beceem's customers have already expressed interest in that capability. Many countries have both WiMAX and LTE networks either running or planned. Some operators will be interested in supporting roaming between the two types of networks, and some device vendors will be interested in building a single product that works on both standards for those markets, Johnsson said. He also pointed out that many WiMax operators like Clearwire haven't ruled out migrating to LTE in the future.
But Beceem's ultimate goal is to break into the lucrative LTE market, which would pit the small chipset maker against some of the largest silicon companies in the world, Johnsson said. Considering the size of that task, Beceem is starting slow, putting a stake in the ground with a dual-mode offering, where the competition is primarily with other small vendors such as Sequans Communications and Wavesat. If it can prove successful in that niche market, Beceem can take a stab at the larger LTE-only silicon market, Johnsson said.
"We're not thinking now about competing with Sequans or GCT, but about taking market share from ST-Ericsson and Qualcomm" Johnsson said.
Beceem hasn't revealed its total WiMax shipments for 2009, but in September it said it had shipped 2 million chipsets in the first three quarters of the year and was on target to reach 3 million by year end. Beceem estimated at that time it had 65% to 75% of the mobile WiMax (based on the IEEE 802.16e standard) device chip market.
Source: based on story in connectedplanetonline.com
WiMax chipmaker Beceem Communications is set to announce its first LTE product at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona next week. VP of business development Lars Johnsson says the company is producing a dual-mode WiMax-LTE chipset targeting device makers looking to encapsulate all 4G connectivity in a single device.
The chipset will also support both time-division duplexing (TDD) and frequency division duplexing (FDD), channel sizes up to 20 MHz, seamless hand-off between radio technologies and the plethora of different 4G bands available globally. Combined, those capabilities make it the chipset for any flavor of 4G, Johnsson said. A TDD user on a WiMax network could roam seamlessly on to a FDD LTE network. "We view this is a way of uniting the two technologies"
Johnsson acknowledged that dual-mode WiMax-LTE will be a much smaller market than the market for LTE only, but he said Beceem's customers have already expressed interest in that capability. Many countries have both WiMAX and LTE networks either running or planned. Some operators will be interested in supporting roaming between the two types of networks, and some device vendors will be interested in building a single product that works on both standards for those markets, Johnsson said. He also pointed out that many WiMax operators like Clearwire haven't ruled out migrating to LTE in the future.
But Beceem's ultimate goal is to break into the lucrative LTE market, which would pit the small chipset maker against some of the largest silicon companies in the world, Johnsson said. Considering the size of that task, Beceem is starting slow, putting a stake in the ground with a dual-mode offering, where the competition is primarily with other small vendors such as Sequans Communications and Wavesat. If it can prove successful in that niche market, Beceem can take a stab at the larger LTE-only silicon market, Johnsson said.
"We're not thinking now about competing with Sequans or GCT, but about taking market share from ST-Ericsson and Qualcomm" Johnsson said.
Beceem hasn't revealed its total WiMax shipments for 2009, but in September it said it had shipped 2 million chipsets in the first three quarters of the year and was on target to reach 3 million by year end. Beceem estimated at that time it had 65% to 75% of the mobile WiMax (based on the IEEE 802.16e standard) device chip market.
Source: based on story in connectedplanetonline.com
