Parthus Launch the Ultra Small and Ultra Low Power Bluestream Bluetooth™ Platform
Monte Carlo - June 14, 2000 - Parthus Technologies (Nasdaq:
PRTH; LSE: PRH), a leading supplier of semiconductor Intellectual Property
for the Mobile-Internet market, today launched the Parthus BlueStream
Platform - an ultra small and ultra low power Bluetooth silicon
platform enabling mobile phone and electronics manufacturers to produce a
'single chip' Bluetooth solution today as well as a roadmap to
develop a 'zero chip' to achieve the lowest possible cost Bluetooth
product.
Bluetooth, named after a medieval Danish King, is a
specification for wireless communication between notebook PCs, handheld
computers, mobile phones and an endless array of other electronic devices.
Its promise is absolute: no cables to trip over, no plugs to jam or break,
and the potential of seamless compatibility. Bluetooth also allows
ad hoc networking between these devices and a wide variety of peripheral
devices from cameras to printers and wireless headsets. The technology is
based on the proposition that while it is becoming increasingly easy to
send information from one side of the world to the other, moving data just
a few feet is a far more troublesome matter. Ericsson, IBM, Intel, Nokia,
and Toshiba formed the Bluetooth SIG, the specification's guiding
body, in 1994. The SIG now has over 1,400 members and includes just about
every major technology and telecommunications company.
The Parthus BlueStream Intellectual Property (IP) Platform is one of
the industry's most comprehensive IP offerings containing all the
requisite technology for our customers to rapidly integrate
Bluetooth into their product offerings. The solution encompasses a
comprehensive radio offering (including a Silicon Germanium BICMOS RF and
CMOS 0.18um RF); digital Baseband (offered both in Baseband IP and full
system-on-a-chip) and finally complete software stacks for baseband and
host interface.
"When we commenced the design and development of BlueStream two years
ago, we had a very clear vision of ultra small size and low power,
enabling true integration of Bluetooth into mobile devices." said
Kevin Fielding, Chief Operating Officer of Parthus. "In terms of memory,
processor requirements, power consumption, form factor and software size,
our BlueStream Platform leads the industry. We offer not only single and
integrated chip platforms that enable our customers to deliver the
commercial goal of a Bluetooth chip for $5 today, but also, our
architecture has pioneered the development of true 'zero chip'
Bluetooth, and the goal of near zero manufacturing costs to our
customers."
Although Bluetooth is primarily focused on mobile systems, the
technology will also be incorporated into an array of stationary devices
such as PCs, printers and so forth. Fundamentally, no individual
Bluetooth solution will fit all these market requirements. For
example, mobile phone manufacturers will pursue a 'zero chip' strategy to
achieve zero manufacturing costs to implement Bluetooth whilst
other market segments will seek the simplicity of the 'single chip'
approach. Quite uniquely Parthus BlueStream IP spans both 'zero chip' and
'single chip' Bluetooth deployment.
Zero Chip Bluetooth:
For mobile phone
manufactures, critical design considerations are size, power consumption,
RF performance and above all, cost. For the mobile phone players,
Bluetooth is only truly viable when its manufacturing costs
approach $0, mandating the zero incremental chip approach. Zero Chip
Bluetooth is enabled by developing multi-mode radios (e.g. GSM,
WCDMA, GPS, Bluetooth) and an integrated baseband. "Two factors
enable Parthus to develop zero incremental chip Bluetooth" says
Kevin Fielding. "Firstly our ultra small and low power Platform enables
integration into the existing chip infrastructure of the mobile device.
Secondly, Parthus strategy is to converge our portfolio of wireless
platforms, which includes 3G, GPRS and GPS, creating both multi-mode
radios and multi-mode basebands. Our end goal is for our customers'
Bluetooth manufacturing costs to hit under $1."
Single Chip Bluetooth:
In segments
where a device solely requires Bluetooth connectivity, a single
chip Bluetooth approach may be the best strategy in terms of
simplicity, ease of integration and cost. Parthus strategy of developing
separate RF (in 0.25 SiGe and 0.18um CMOS) and BB (0.18um CMOS)
facilitates the provision of proven IP blocks and thus the development of
single chip implementation and deployment. Parthus single chip utilizes
0.18 CMOS to aggressively hit the initial Bluetooth commercial
target of $5.
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Notes to the editor:
BlueStream Platform:
Parthus delivers the complete Bluetooth Platform comprising:
Radio ICs (SiGe, CMOS and mult-mode RF)
RF-to-DSP
Interface IP
Lower Link
Controller IP
Software
Protocol Stack
Optional Audio
Codec
RF Strategy
The Parthus RF roadmap
encompasses both single mode Bluetooth RF, and multi-mode RF plans
combining Bluetooth, GPS and/or GSM functionality. This strategy is
critical to achieve the lowest possible Bluetooth from mobile phone
manufacturers. Parthus has developed a comprehensive RF strategy for
Bluetooth encompassing a variety of reference Radio IC designs
targeted to both BiCMOS (including SiGe) and CMOS processes.
RF-SiGe:
Chip 120 SiGe: The Parthus
Bluetooth Chip 120 is a Silicon Germanium BiCMOS device used for
high performance, ultra low power (35ma in connect mode and 300ma in page
mode) Bluetooth systems. Chip 120 contains all the necessary RF
circuitry with a minimum of external components to implement
Bluetooth Class II systems. Bluestream Chip 12O provides all the
signal processing and interface logic necessary to support the BlueRF Mode
2 Interface. The solution employs novel architectural features
RF-CMOS:
CMOS equally offers an effective
RF compromise between cost, performance and integration capability - be
that single chip Bluetooth or integration of the RFCMOS into the BB
of the host device. Parthus RFCMOS is targeted at 0.18um.
Baseband Controller IP
The BlueStream 1000
baseband controller IP solution provides the radio and lower link
controller for the Bluetooth specification 1.0b. The Parthus
Platform leads the industry in form factor, MIPS requirements and software
ROM size. The fundamental architecture advantage of the Parthus Platform
translates into dramatic performance advantage for the end mobile device.
The Parthus BB is targeted at 0.18 CMOS. The proposed Parthus partitioning
is a digital 1Mbps interface with low-voltage signaling.
Protocol Software Architecture &
Deliverables
The Parthus software protocol stack software has
been written in ANSI C using object oriented techniques, and has been
architected to be modular and easily extended. The software can support
both L2CAP variants, with L2CAP either residing on a host above the HCI or
below the HCI in an deeply embedded ASIC implementation. The stack extends
all the way to the RFCOMM and SDP layer and comes with a fully documented
API for applications developers. Again, with a baseband protocol stack
requiring less than 40k, the solution is optimized for integration.
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statements" within The meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of
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forward-looking statements. Important factors that could cause actual
results to differ from those indicated by such forward-looking statements
include uncertainties relating to the acceptance of semiconductor
intellectual property offerings, expansion of our business, quarterly
variations in results, and other uncertainties that are discussed in the
"Risk Factors" section of our final prospectus dated May 19, 2000, which
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