Ericsson shrinks HSPA modules for new breed of connected devices

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Ericsson shrinks HSPA modules for new breed of connected devices

By CAROLINE GABRIEL

Published: 23 September, 2009

READ MORE: Ericsson | HSDPA | LTE | WiMAX

Dazzled by the vision of a world where every conceivable gadget has a wireless connection embedded, the vendors are chasing the dream of supplying billions of devices, and in the process, firms like Motorola and Ericsson are getting closer to the chip business again. Motorola announced a new business in wireless broadband modules in June, looking to embed HSPA, WiMAX or LTE in consumer electronics products and eventually monitoring machines and sensor systems. Now Ericsson has unveiled its smallest mobile broadband module to date, taking it beyond its traditional laptop/netbook heartland into emerging wireless gadgets like ebook readers and digital picture frames.

The C3607w HSPA module was unveiled at the Intel Developer Forum in San Francisco - the Swedish giant is working closely with Intel on modules, which in itself is potentially a game-changing combination as wireless spreads everywhere. The partners work to optimize a combination of Ericsson wireless modules and Intel processors - mainly for netbooks, but Intel, of course, is also looking to push its Atom low power range ever deeper into phones, CE products and eventually sensors. Ericsson concentrates only on the radio portion, and partners with processor makers, unlike the vendors of all-in-one solutions like Qualcomm.

Intel is an important ally in some of the strategies with which Ericsson aims to make its modules attractive by reducing vendor time to market - such as pre-certification programs for key operator networks and integrated IPR protection and security.

The new Ericsson product is targeted at MIDs based on the Intel Morristown platform, as well as a broader range of ebook readers, personal navigation devices, picture frames, gaming consoles and other portable consumer electronics, said the firm. Its director of marketing for mobile broadband modules, Jan Backman, said: "We believe all devices that can have an internet connection will have one. Everything will be connected."

The C3607w is one-third the size of previous Ericsson modules and will be commercially available in the first quarter of 2010. It uses a chipset from ST-Ericsson, the joint venture into which the Ericsson Mobile Platforms silicon business was placed last year, with extra components added by Ericsson. It comes with a wake-on wireless feature, which can activate the connection with certain alerts, such as a news item to an ereader.

There are still limits to the devices that can be wireless-enabled, though, it seems. In a recent presentation by Haringkan Djuphammar, VP of systems architecture at Ericsson, he was asked about a cellular toothbrush. "We're not there yet," he said, blaming the cost of components.