Sandbridge pledges to cut handset makers' costs by 15%
Published: 11 November, 2008
READ MORE: Handset
Semiconductor companies in the handset arena have been working for years to fulfil the dream of the programmable baseband - supporting multiple wireless standards with no change in hardware, and offering significant cost cuts in creating multi-radio devices. Sandbridge has been one of the most prominent start-ups focusing on this challenge, and is now shipping its first cellphone baseband processor, the SB3500.
The processor is entirely reprogrammable and software-based, and points to the vision of a fully cognitive radio in future, which can move intelligently between different networks, according to parameters such as cost or signal strength.
Because the platform is programmable, cellphone makers can use a single architecture to support phones with different combinations of radios, reducing their costs. Sandbridge's technology will also reduce the number of chips needed in a phone, which should cut cost, time to market and complexity. The company claims the cost savings can amount to 15% across design and production, and the figure could grow as consumers look for more and more functions to be packed into one low power unit.
The software-based processor is likely to catch the attention of larger handset chip players, especially those, like Qualcomm, that have been in the forefront of squeezing multiple radios into a single chip in hardware. ST-NXP Wireless has some advanced software defined technology, from the NXP side of the group, but most of the majors are nowhere near to market readiness with programmable basebands yet.
Another advantage that Sandbridge claims for its technology is that handset makers can respond more quickly to standards changes, testing and adding new functions rapidly in software rather than waiting for the chipmaker to deliver upgraded hardware. Changes in standards can also be easily accommodated, so operators could move to new networks even before standards are finalized, with reduced risk.
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