CSR's BlueCore in New Agere Systems GSM/GPRS Platform for Multimedia Phones
CAMBRIDGE, England—(BUSINESS WIRE)—Oct. 19, 2004—
CSR (LSE:CSR) today announced that BlueCore has been
selected by Agere Systems for its latest EDGE/GPRS reference platform
for feature rich multimedia mobile phones. CSR's BlueCore will provide
the Bluetooth wireless connectivity to the Agere handset design, which
offers time-to-market savings of up to 3 months. Agere is
demonstrating the new platform at PT Expo Comm China in Beijing
(October 26-30th).
Agere's EDGE reference platform is based on the company's
Sceptre(TM) HPE chip set, which is the industry's fastest and smallest
Class 12 capable EDGE chip set. At 164mm(2), the overall footprint
(including power management) is 20 percent smaller than competing
solutions. Agere was keen to ensure the Bluetooth solution selected
for the platform met the requirements of offering handset makers a
fast time-to-market and suited the solution's small footprint. CSR's
market leading BlueCore devices are in use in over 60 percent of
Bluetooth designs on the market today - mobile handset makers
including Nokia select BlueCore because of its market leading
specification and performance.
Agere is providing a broad range of pre-integrated and tested
third-party applications so that handset makers can easily deliver a
host of advanced features that consumers expect including Bluetooth
wireless connectivity, Java(TM), multimedia messaging service (MMS),
polyphonic sound, and push-to-talk.
In addition to Bluetooth, the Agere platform offers advanced
features and connectivity options for new mobile phones including
40-note polyphonic sound in software, MP3(R) music capabilities, up to
20 frames-per-second video playback, on-chip USB, infrared (IrDA)
capability, removable secure digital (SD) and multimedia memory cards
(MMC).
John Halksworth, product marketing manager at CSR commented,
"BlueCore offers the fastest time-to-market of any Bluetooth solution
on the market. Combining this with the industry leading Agere EDGE
reference platform and Sceptre HPE chipset, handset manufacturers now
have a fast and easy route to manufacturing highly featured multimedia
phones with Bluetooth wireless connectivity."
About CSR
CSR PLC (LSE:CSR) is a leading provider of single-chip radio
devices for Bluetooth wireless communication. CSR offers developed
hardware/software packages based around BlueCore, a fully integrated
2.4 GHz radio, baseband and microcontroller. BlueCore features in 60
percent of all Bluetooth qualified end products and modules with
international names such as Nokia, Dell, Panasonic, Audi, NEC, Toshiba
and Sony already using BlueCore in their range of Bluetooth products.
In June 2003, CSR launched the third generation BlueCore devices
with full support for v1.2 of the Bluetooth specification. In February
2004, CSR floated on the London Stock Exchange in the largest UK
technology floatation in three years. CSR was the first company to
launch Bluetooth enhanced data rate silicon when, in June 2004, CSR
launched BlueCore4.
CSR is headquartered in Cambridge, UK, with offices in Richardson,
Texas, USA; Tokyo, Japan; Seoul, Korea; Taipei, Taiwan and Aalborg,
Denmark.
More information can be found at www.csr.com and the partner web
site www.btdesigner.com.
More information about Bluetooth can be found on the SIG web site
at www.bluetooth.com.
Contact:
CSR
Alan Woolhouse, +44 1223 692 689
aw@csr.com
or
EML
David Marsden/Richard Parker, +44 208 408 8000
csr@eml.com
or
Precision Communications
Al Haun, +1 508 876 9400
al_haun@comcast.net
