Lenovo Adopts Broadcom® CellAirity(TM) Platform for Multimedia GPRS Handset with Stereo Bluetooth® Technology
BARCELONA, Spain, 3GSM World Congress, Feb. 13 // - Broadcom Corporation (NASDAQ:BRCM), a global leader in semiconductors for wired and wireless communications, today announced that its Broadcom(R) CellAirity(TM) platform for mobile phone designs has been adopted by Lenovo for its recently introduced P768 multimedia GPRS handset. The Lenovo P768 leverages Broadcom's field proven silicon, a complete software suite and development and test tools, which helped Lenovo deliver the thin, innovative bar phone to the market quickly. As the leading phone maker in China, Lenovo's adoption of the CellAirity platform provides a tremendous market opportunity for Broadcom.
The Asia-Pacific handset market, which includes China, is among the fastest growing in the world and is expected to achieve over 461 million handsets in 2011 according to ABI Research, making this a strong market for affordable handsets. With this opportunity, the makers of cellular phones require key differentiated features to set them apart from the competition and a complete reference platform that simplifies product design and helps accelerate the time-to-market for these innovative phones.
To assist phone makers during the design process, Broadcom introduced the CellAirity mobile platform that enables the design of advanced next-generation cellular handsets. CellAirity is a modular hardware and software design platform that provides best-in-class solutions for all of the critical components required for today's advanced mobile devices, including a feature-rich user experience, 2G and 3G cellular connectivity, multimedia acceleration and support for both Bluetooth(R) and Wi-Fi(R) protocols. By developing products that incorporate the CellAirity platform, manufacturers of next-generation connected devices can bring their products to market quickly and with the assurance that the platform solutions implemented are among the most advanced in the industry.
"Lenovo constantly strives to produce solutions that offer the latest features, competitive pricing and appealing form factors," said Eric Zhao, Director of Product Department of Lenovo. "Broadcom's CellAirity platform provides a mature platform with the key features that enabled us to bring this new GPRS phone to market in a timely fashion. We are very pleased with the result and anticipate an outstanding user experience for our customers."
"With the rapid pace of innovation in the cellular industry, being able to provide fast time-to-market can be the key factor in delivering a successful cutting-edge handset product," said David Foos, Senior Marketing Manager for Broadcom's Mobile Communications line of business. "The Lenovo GPRS mobile handset is a solid validation that our CellAirity platform approach enables top tier handset makers to leverage our mobile technology and bring compelling new products to market."
Lenovo P768 GPRS Phone
The Lenovo P768 multimedia handset features 2.5G GPRS connectivity, integrated 2 megapixel camera, and USB and T-Flash interfaces packaged in an attractive bar type form factor. The handset also provides high-performance multimedia functionality built in, including MPEG4 and H.263 video, support for MP3 and other digital audio formats, and Bluetooth 2.0 with EDR capabilities, for high-quality streaming of stereo music. To deliver an improved voice experience, the P768 also includes Broadcom's M-Stream technology, which significantly improves voice quality on cell phones, especially in areas with poor signal quality.
Technical Information
The CellAirity hardware is based on Broadcom GPRS, EDGE, WEDGE or HSDPA baseband processors, with the Lenovo P768 handset featuring the Broadcom BCM2124 GPRS baseband processor. The BCM2124 contains all of the analog and digital GSM and multi-slot GPRS processing functions for connecting to a cellular network in a small, single-chip footprint. The new Lenovo phone also includes Broadcom's BCM2045 single-chip Bluetooth solution, which enables short range wireless functionality in the handset, including the ability to use wireless mono headsets and stereo headphones to enhance the user experience when employing the phone's multimedia features.
The CellAirity platform also includes multimedia hardware accelerators, an extensive array of audio and video codecs, and a scalable and modular applications software framework designed specifically for devices with limited bandwidth and memory. In addition to offering an internationalized platform with localizable text and multi-language support, the framework enables designers to take advantage of pre-integrated clients and also allows for rapid, independent development of new applications.
CellAirity software consists of a common carrier approved communications protocol stack that has been field and carrier tested across multiple 2G and 3G networks, a modular applications framework, and a set of pre-integrated applications for messaging, web access, games, multimedia and connectivity. The ability to easily add peripheral hardware functionality and software applications provides enhanced versatility, enabling handset designers to adopt a modular platform approach to create a family of handsets spanning features and price points, all developed on a common, field proven platform.
Broadcom is a major technology innovator in the global communications industry, with over 1,950 issued U.S. and 750 issued foreign patents, over 5,900 additional pending patent applications, and one of the broadest intellectual property portfolios addressing both wired and wireless transmission of voice, video and data.
About Broadcom
Broadcom Corporation is a global leader in semiconductors for wired and wireless communications. Our products enable the delivery of voice, video, data and multimedia to and throughout the home, the office and the mobile environment. Broadcom provides the industry's broadest portfolio of state-of-the-art system-on-a-chip and software solutions to manufacturers of computing and networking equipment, digital entertainment and broadband access products, and mobile devices. These solutions support our core mission: Connecting everything(R).
Broadcom, one of the world's largest fabless semiconductor companies with unaudited annual 2006 revenue of $3.67 billion, is headquartered in Irvine, Calif., and has offices and research facilities in North America, Asia and Europe. Broadcom may be contacted at +1.949.926.5000 or at www.broadcom.com.
Broadcom(R), the pulse logo, Connecting everything(R), the Connecting everything logo and CellAirity(TM) and M-Stream are among the trademarks of Broadcom Corporation and/or its affiliates in the United States, certain other countries and/or the EU. Bluetooth(R) is a trademark of the Bluetooth SIG. Wi-Fi(R) is a trademark of the Wi-Fi Alliance. Any other trademarks or trade names mentioned are the property of their respective owners.
Broadcom Technical Contacts
David Foos
Senior Marketing Manager
858-521-5346
Source: Broadcom Corporation; BRCM Mobile & Wireless
Web site: www.broadcom.com/
