Top 10 telecom trends for 2009 -- more of the same!

Friends, I had written a post on TelecomYou way back on December 30, 2008. Interestingly, nothing really has changed as far as these top 10 telecom trends are concerned.…

I've been thoroughly bored with developments in telecom... and 2009 promises to be boring -- actually, steady, with more of the same!

Don't look around for too much of innovations though!

1. WiMAX vs. LTE -- when will this debate get over and done with?

2. Growth of 3G services in places where it hasn't taken off or started!

3. IPTV -- well, it needs to catch up and grow substantially.

4. More of GPS enabled devices as mobile navigation attempts to grow stronger.

5. Near field communications. A report elsewhere on the web talks also about NFC phones starting to roll out in Taiwan.

6. Further adoption of femtocells... hope the Forum does much, much more in 2009.

7. Embedded Internet devices.

8. Carrier Ethernet should gain steam.

9. More of mobile VAS and mobile Web

10. More of mobile OS wars.

Now, I wonder, what happened to the following, or what's the status! These were supposed to be hot not so long back!

1. OFDM
2. VCSELs
3. TD-SCDMA
4. MIMO

Well, do any of you, my friends, see anything different happen? Would be glad to hear about those!

NI LabVIEW 2009 targets emerging apps with new technologies

USA: National Instruments announced LabVIEW 2009, the latest version of the graphical system design software platform for control, test and embedded system development.

LabVIEW 2009 simplifies the development challenges of parallel hardware architectures with new virtualization technology that takes advantage of multicore systems as well as by offering new compiler improvements and IP that enhance FPGA design.

The latest version of LabVIEW makes it possible to deploy code to wireless sensor networks to help engineers and scientists build smarter industrial measurement and monitoring systems and features new solutions for testing multiple wireless standards such as WLAN, WiMAX, GPS and MIMO systems on a single hardware platform. In addition, LabVIEW 2009 simplifies real-time math by streamlining mathematical algorithm design and deployment to real-time hardware.

“In today’s challenging economic climate, engineers and scientists are being asked to complete their projects with fewer resources and in less time,” said Dr. James Truchard, president, CEO and cofounder of National Instruments.

“With new opportunities emerging from investments in infrastructure, environmental monitoring, medical research and device design and test, we focused our LabVIEW 2009 development to harness key technologies such as multicore, FPGA design, wireless platforms and real-time math to empower innovation in these areas.”

Improve Parallel System Design
Virtualization technology makes it possible to run multiple operating systems side by side on the same multicore processing hardware to build more efficient systems. New NI Real-Time Hypervisor software combines the power of the LabVIEW Real-Time Module with general-purpose OS capabilities to reduce overall system cost and size.

Using this software, engineers and scientists can run Windows XP and LabVIEW Real-Time side by side on the same controller, partitioning the processor cores among the two operating systems for more efficient use of system resources. The Real-Time Hypervisor works with dual- and quad-core NI PXI controllers as well as the NI Industrial Controller.

While virtualization provides a new way to design parallel systems, LabVIEW 2009 also delivers enhancements for existing parallel design technology including multicore programming and FPGA development. LabVIEW 2009 features a new parallel for-loop structure, which automatically divides iterations of loops across multiple processors to increase the execution speed of the process.

LabVIEW also further simplifies FPGA programming by offering early compile feedback and critical path highlighting to make early estimates on FPGA resource usage and better debug timing violations. Additionally, new streamlined FPGA IP delivers higher-throughput math and signal processing performance.

Create Smart Wireless Sensor Networks
Wireless sensor networks (WSNs) make it possible to deploy distributed measurements across vast physical hardware systems. With WSNs, engineers and scientists can analyze more effectively everything from rain forests and river deltas to the health and safety of buildings and bridges.

LabVIEW provides the ability to configure the new NI WSN platform with a drag-and-drop programming environment for performing analysis as well as extracting and presenting measurement data.

Using the new LabVIEW Wireless Sensor Network Module Pioneer, engineers and scientists can program the individual NI WSN measurement nodes to extend node battery life, increase acquisition performance and create custom sensor interfaces.

Test More Wireless Devices and Standards
With software-defined instrumentation using LabVIEW, engineers and scientists can implement the same measurement platform to acquire and analyze any modulation scheme or protocol standard rather than using dedicated box instruments for specific protocols.

The new NI WLAN Measurement Suite for LabVIEW guarantees compliance with IEEE 802.11 a/b/g standards and performs measurements more than five times faster than traditional box instruments. In addition to the WLAN Measurement Suite, the WiMAX, GPS and MIMO solutions for LabVIEW provide the ability to test more wireless standards with NI modular instruments.

Deploy Real-Time Math
LabVIEW features built-in math libraries that contain more than 1,000 functions ranging from low-level, point-by-point signal processing to high-level, configuration-based implementations, all of which easily can be deployed to real-time embedded devices.

With the LabVIEW MathScript RT Module, LabVIEW 2009 further expands access to real-time math, which is the implementation and deployment of mathematical algorithms to deterministic operating systems, for engineers and scientists using text-based math tools.

The module also provides engineers and scientists the ability to incorporate their own existing .m files using interactive user interfaces and real-world I/O and easily deploy them to real-time hardware for faster system prototyping.

By simplifying the process of deploying mathematical algorithms to real-time embedded hardware, LabVIEW 2009 can help medical device designers, machine builders and autonomous system designers shorten product time to market.

Additionally, NI is adopting an annual release cycle for LabVIEW, with version names based on the year of release. The annual release cycle solidifies the schedule, stability and feature scope of each new release to provide an easy upgrade process for customers.

Readers interested in learning more about LabVIEW 2009 and downloading the evaluation software can visit www.ni.com/labview/whatsnew. Members of the LabVIEW service maintenance and support program will receive LabVIEW 2009 automatically in the mail or can download the new version from the NI Services Resource Center at www.ni.com/src.

Readers whose software is part of a company-wide Volume License Agreement (VLA) should contact their VLA administrators for special installation instructions.

Microsemi's continued design wins in multiple WLAN, WiMAX and WiBro reference platforms

IRVINE, USA: Microsemi Corp., a leading manufacturer of high performance analog/mixed signal integrated circuits and high reliability semiconductors, announced today that it has shipped a cumulative 100 million units of its WLAN RF power amplifiers.

"Microsemi's RF power amplifiers continue to be designed into the world's leading WLAN platforms by customers and reference design partners who have grown to expect our superior performance and best-in-class power efficiency," said Steve Litchfield, Microsemi Executive Vice President and General Manager of the Analog Mixed Signal Group.

"Our portfolio of RF power amplifiers enables the development of high-performance WLAN solutions that provide extended range, superior reception, and reduced power consumption for various WLAN standards including 802.11a/b/g and 802.11n."

Microsemi RF power amplifiers are used in a variety of applications ranging from mobile handsets to wireless access points and half mini-cards for notebooks and netbooks. Reference designs with market-leading WLAN chipset manufacturers are available for many of Microsemi's power amplifiers.

Beceem, GCT, UQ, Sequans expand 4G WiMAX by joining OPA

SANTA CLARA, USA: Building on worldwide 4G WiMAX technology momentum, Beceem Communications, GCT Semiconductor, Sequans Communications and UQ Communications have joined the Open Patent Alliance (OPA).

Formed in June 2008, the OPA is dedicated to offering intellectual property rights (IPR) solutions that support the development and widespread adoption of WiMAX around the globe, further boosting the open industry standard approach to 4G wireless broadband.

Beceem, GCT Semiconductor, Sequans and UQ come in as associate (non-board-level) members, joining current OPA members Acer, Alcatel-Lucent, Alvarion, Cisco, Clearwire, Huawei Technologies, Intel Corporation and Samsung Electronics.

“It’s been an exciting month for the Open Patent Alliance and WiMAX 4G momentum, in general,” said OPA President Yung Hahn. “The OPA ecosystem remains focused on broader choice and competitive equipment and service costs for WiMAX technology, devices and applications globally. With a critical mass of silicon providers now as members, the OPA can continue facilitating the formation of a singular, cohesive WiMAX patent pool to assist participating companies in obtaining access to patent licenses from patent owners at a more predictable cost.”

The most recent additions to the OPA span silicon providers to wireless carriers around the world, continuing to strengthen the open ecosystem and provide a fair, transparent and balanced IPR licensing structure.

“Proving the industry-leading performance of our Mobile WiMAX chips in terms of throughput and hand-off capabilities with top WiMAX operators and infrastructure providers has made Beceem the primary supplier of WiMAX terminal chips, especially in the Clearwire and UQ networks,” said Lars Johnsson, vice president, marketing and business development of Beceem Communications. “Beceem has a long-standing history of supporting efforts to accelerate development and adoption of WiMAX, and joining the OPA extends our commitment to innovation and the advancement of the open WiMAX ecosystem.”

“Having empowered WiMAX deployments globally for major operators such as UQ Communications, KT, SKT and Packet One, we are pleased to play a key role in the OPA, and contribute our extensive industry experience,” said Dr. Kyeongho Lee, president and CEO of GCT Semiconductor. “As the largest-volume shipper and design-win leader for advanced single-chip WiMAX mobile solutions, GCT is the leading provider of proven WiMAX solutions for USB, CPE, module, VoIP phone, Femto AP and more. We look forward to working with the OPA and using our worldwide leadership position to further advance the WiMAX ecosystem.”

“Sequans chips power more WiMAX devices than any other chipmaker and we are fully focused on driving the widespread adoption of WiMAX around the world,” said Georges Karam, Sequans CEO. “We fully support the open intellectual property rights model and look forward to working with our alliance partners to advance WiMAX technology development.”

“Having collaborated with OPA members in the past to offer mobile WiMAX in Japan, UQ Communications looks forward to further collaborations through the Open Patent Alliance,” said T. Tanaka, president of UQ Communications. “By creating the WiMAX patent pool within the OPA, we can accelerate efforts to develop and deliver new mobile WiMAX eco-services to consumers.”

Avago's new series of miniature WiFi and WiMAX linear amplifier modules

BOSTON, USA, 2009 International Microwave Symposium: Avago Technologies, a leading supplier of analog interface components for communications, industrial and consumer applications, announced a new series of miniature fully matched WiMAX and WiFi power amplifier modules for mobile and fixed wireless data applications.

Avago’s new MGA-2xx03 series of PA modules feature a compact 3 mm by 3mm by 1 mm package and are ideal for manufacturers of portable and mobile devices containing WiMAX or high power WiFi links.

The MGA-2xx03 series consists of three high gain, fully matched (with no external matching components) PA modules that are cost effective, provide high efficiency over a broad frequency bandwidth and meet industry-standard Spectral Emission Mask (SEM) tests operating at 3.3V.

These features allow designers to achieve standards-compliant performance in space constrained designs with low current and help reduce time to market in designing fixed or portable WiMAX or WiFi devices used in laptop computers, dongles and wireless access points. Avago’s MGA-2xx03 linear amplifier modules cover frequency ranges of 2.3 to 2.7GHz (MGA-22003), 3.1 to 3.8GHz (MGA-23003), and 5.1 to 5.9GHz (MGA-25203).

The high gain, low current use, and high linear power over a broad frequency range of Avago’s 2xx03 series gives industry designers the option to use a single part to cover the entire band of interest. Previously, multiple narrow band parts were required to achieve performance goals. These fully matched PA modules are designed with a biasing circuit that accounts for manufacturing variation, allowing designers to plan less added system margin, which can reduce costs.

Designed using Avago’s proprietary GaAs enhancement-mode pHEMT technology, the MGA-2xx03 series can be used for most high linearity applications. Moreover, they provide superior performance across a range of voltage and temperature levels. These PA modules exhibit flat gain and good matching while providing linear power efficiency to meet stringent mask conditions.

Avago’s MGA-22003 and MGA-23003 are part of a complete RF front end solution for WiMAX applications. These two parts can be paired with a new Avago Single-Pole Four-Throw (SP4T) switch detector module to include all the front end RF functionality.

The MGA-22003 meets the WiMAX forum 802.16 mask at over 25 dBm power, and the MGA-23003 meets the ETSI 802.16 mask at over 25 dBm power. Both have high gain greater than 34 dB across the bands. Additionally, a low power mode allows operation at approximately 100 mA when only low power is required. The MGA-25203 generates a full 23 dBm power at -34 dB EVM with 30 dB gain at 5.4 GHz.

Avago’s MGA-2xx03 series of WiFi and WiMAX power amplifiers are sampling now to early customers and will be available for sampling broadly in the third quarter of this year. Pricing will be under $2.

Intel's Project Blue brings WiMAX to affordable computing: Made for India

BANGALORE, INDIA: In his keynote at Computex 2009 at Taipei today, Sean Maloney, Executive Vice President and Chief Sales and Marketing Officer, Intel Corp. discussed the ambitious efforts called Project Blue undertaken by Intel to bridge the digital divide.

Through this program Intel is addressing the digital divide problem with the help of affordable computing and broadband combined with the various usages of the Internet which create strong desirability to own a PC.

"This is a very exciting time for India," said R. Sivakumar, MD, sales and marketing, Intel South Asia. "We believe Intel’s Project Blue is going to help us end the digital divide in India by increasing PC penetration in the country ten-fold by 2012. The initiatives we are introducing offer compelling and unique value propositions for our customers in India."

Connectivity in India
In May 2008 at the World Congress of IT at Kuala Lumpur, the government laid out a bold vision of 500 million Internet users, (a ten-fold growth from current 49 million users), 100 million broadband connections (a thirty-fold growth from current 3.6 million) and 100 million connected devices all by 2012. Referred to as the 511 vision, it has today led to national consensus that broadband penetration will be the next big driver of economic growth.

Despite all this, today we have a 2 percent broadband and a 3 percent PC penetration rate across households in India. Project Blue is an effort to address this in a manner which resolves issues of both cost and connectivity.

Project Blue: 10x PC penetration by 2012
Under the aegis of Project Blue, Intel India is undertaking a number of efforts to bridge the digital divide.

To address these issues, Intel is developing Internet centric computing devices: Nettops that are WiMAX enabled. Integrating WiMAX connectivity into Nettops makes not only access affordable but also makes them easy to use and to deploy.

At Computex today, Intel showcased concepts from HCL Infosystems of nettops integrated with WiMAX, designed specifically for first-time PC users in markets like India.

HCL Infosystems' chairman Ajai Choudhary, said: “We are pleased to work with Intel to bring these solutions to the Indian market. The WiMax–enabled nettops from HCL Infosystems, based on the Intel Atom processor will provide the next billion users in India with their first experience of computing and the Internet and we look forward to supporting all efforts in bridging the digital divide.”

Intel expects these nettops to be available in India from OEMs in the second half of 2009 at very attractive price points. Additional information on specific devices will be announced in the coming months.

Qualcomm to pay $891 million to Broadcom

USA: Qualcomm Inc. and Broadcom Corp. have entered into a settlement and multi-year patent agreement. The agreement will result in the dismissal with prejudice of all litigation between the companies, including all patent infringement claims in the International Trade Commission and US District Court in Santa Ana, as well as the withdrawal by Broadcom of its complaints to the European Commission and the Korea Fair Trade Commission.

Under the agreement, the companies have granted certain rights to each other under their respective patent portfolios. Qualcomm will pay Broadcom $891 million over a four-year period. The terms of this agreement will not result in any change to Qualcomm's 3G (e.g., CDMA2000, WCDMA and TD-SCDMA) and 4G (e.g., LTE and WiMAX) licensing revenue model.

The terms of the agreement include, among other elements:
* Broadcom and Qualcomm agree not to assert patents against each other for their respective integrated circuit products and certain other products and services;
* Broadcom agrees not to assert its patents against Qualcomm's customers for Qualcomm's integrated circuit products incorporated into cellular products;
* Qualcomm's customers do not receive rights to any of Broadcom's patents with respect to Qualcomm integrated circuit products incorporated into non-cellular products and equipment;
* Qualcomm agrees not to assert its patents against Broadcom's customers for Broadcom's integrated circuit products incorporated in non-cellular products;
* Broadcom customers do not receive rights to any of Qualcomm's patents with respect to Broadcom integrated circuit products incorporated into cellular products and equipment;

Qualcomm will pay Broadcom $891 million in cash over a period of four years, of which $200 million will be paid in the quarter ending June 30, 2009. The agreement does not provide for any other scheduled payments between the parties.

Other terms of the agreement are confidential.
"We believe that this resolution is positive for both Qualcomm and Broadcom, our customers, our partners and the overall industry," said Dr. Paul E. Jacobs, chairman and CEO of Qualcomm, and Scott A. McGregor, president and CEO of Broadcom.

"The settlement will allow us to direct our full attention and resources to continuing to innovate, improving our competitive position in this economic downturn, and growing demand for wireless products and services," Jacobs said. "I am pleased that we have achieved this important settlement. At a time when the wireless industry should be focused on moving forward, the agreement removes uncertainty for Qualcomm and its customers."

"Today's settlement allows both companies to move on with their business and compete in the semiconductor sector as two of its innovation leaders," McGregor said. "We have set aside our differences while addressing the needs of our customers, our shareholders and the industry. In addition, the companies have worked together to achieve their mutual goals of improving the competitive dynamics of the industry."

NXP India's Rajeev Mehtani on top trends in global/Indian electronics and semicon!

When a new year approaches, we start analyzing the year gone by and try to gauge what could happen in the coming year. This really holds true, as far as the technology industry is concerned.

It's been a week since I've been mulling over these myself, especially, pondering over developments in the global semiconductor and electronics industries, as well as what could happen in India during 2009. Well, lots will happen, and I can't wait for the new year to start!

I caught up with Rajeev Mehtani, vice president and managing director, NXP Semiconductors, India, and discussed in depth about the trends for 2009. Here's a look at that discussion.

INDIA -- ELECTRONICS & SEMICONDUCTORS

1. The DTH story will continue to increase in India with companies such as Tata Sky, DISH TV, BIG TV, etc., gaining market share. Owing to these challenges, there would be significant consolidation among the cable operators. Digitalization will also be seen in 2009.

2. The slowdown will affect growth across all sectors. Our view is that LCD TVs as well as STBs will continue to grow.

3. The year 2009 will witness e-commerce revolution and the RFID sector will grow at a 40-50 percent clip. The government has been sponsoring a lot of projects, which include RFID in the metros, e-passport cards and national ID cards. By mid-2009, we can expect a mass deployment of these projects as well as micro payments.

4. Manufacturing in India will continue to grow; EMS or OEMs, such as Samsung, Nokia, Flextronics, etc.

5. There could be a move from services to products in electronics and semiconductor spaces. The number of funded startups has grown significantly over the last years and more and more ideas are coming on the table.

6. The solar/PV sector will grow in India. High entry cost of capital for panels will be a barrier for this sector. Government enhancement is necessary. India will be different than other countries as people won't push energy back into the grid; it will be used more for household consumption. The India grid is unstable. Tracking it requires a lot of expensive electronic switching. Solar deployment could be at the micro level, and also community level, where it makes more sense.

7. The startups in India are mostly Web 2.0 based, although there aren't many hardware startups.

GLOBAL -- ELECTRONICS & SEMICONDUCTORS

1. The semiconductor industry is truly global, That is mostly because it is a very expensive industry.

2. Things are a bit murky in the semiconductor industry. It would probably be dipping 10-15 percent next year.

3. Globally, energy management and home automation will start to take off in 2009. Satellite broadcasters will also continue to gain more strength.

4. On a worldwide scale, 3G will win. You will have 3G phones, and you'd add LTE to those. India is slightly different. Only 20 percent of Indian households are ready for broadband access. In India, WiMAX could be a way to have wireless broadband at home.

5. Industries moving to 300mm fabs will be making up only 20-25pc of the market. Not many need 45nm or 40nm chips. People will question any major capex, until there's a big return and wait for recession to end. The bright spot is solar!

6. The fabless strategy would be the only way to go forward. While MNCs with fabless strategy are present in India, Indian startups in this space are quite few.

Altera strategy to partner with Indian design services firms

Turning my attention to the programmable logic market, I took advantage of my recent meeting with Jordan Plofsky, Senior Vice President Market, Altera Corp., during the Altera SOPC conference.

Programmable logic consumption in India has been estimated at between $20-$25 million in 2008, largely driven by strong growth in communications infrastructure and increased spending in the military sector. The Indian programmable logic market is likely to grow at a CAGR of 25 percent over the next three years.

Altera's India strategy
In this context, it will be interesting to note Altera's strategy within the Indian semiconductor industry.

Plofsky says that as multinational companies are transferring more design work to their R&D teams in India, local companies are expanding their range of products, and independent design service companies are capturing a bigger piece of the outsourced design pie, Altera forecasts the increased need for high quality application support.

He says: "Unlike other companies who have design services operations in India, which compete with the local independent design services, our strategy is to partner with the local India design services industry. We are expanding our direct and indirect support channels to provide higher quality services to our customers here."

Altera is also supporting the development of the education sector in India, which is modernizing to turn out well trained engineers to satisfy the appetite of the industry. "We also run industrial workshops and seminars, like the recent SOPC World in Bangalore and New Delhi, to educate the design community on the direction of semiconductor technology," adds Plofsky.

Altera has also set up Altera Joint Laboratories in leading universities across India to provide a better platform for undergraduates to grasp basics of programmability.

Role in solar?
With investments in solar/PV happening, is there a role for Altera and other FPGA companies? This is a question that I invariably ask everyone in the semiconductor industry!

According to Plofsky, one of the promising applications is smart metering. It is the practice of getting the users and the infrastructure to be power aware and then using different usage patterns to lower energy usage and energy costs by applying smart algorithms.

Addressing low-power design
Power consumption has always been a big concern for designers in all markets and Altera has a number of different solutions.

In the CPLD area, Altera announced its zero power MAX IIZ devices in late 2007. Offering the highest density and I/O count in packages as small as 5x5mm, compared to macrocell-based CPLDs, MAX IIZ devices allow designers to meet changing functional requirements and lower power while saving board space.

Consuming 75 percent less power than competing FPGAs, the Altera Cyclone III devices are the industry's first and only 65-nm low-cost FPGA family, and offer digital system designers an unprecedented combination of density, power and cost.

To address the low-power demands of high density customers, the Stratix III and Stratix IV family members feature Altera's patented Programmable Power Technology. This power-saving technology optimizes logic, DSP and memory blocks to maximize performance where needed while delivering the lowest power elsewhere in the design. And in addition these designs can be converted to HardCopy ASIC devices that can reduce power consumption by 50-70 percent.

As for new products in the LTE, TD-SCDMA and NFC spaces, Plofsky says that with the new 40-nm devices, Altera is uniquely positioned to deliver solutions that provide the density, performance and power for these emerging applications. The combination of DSP blocks, memory and transceivers was optimized for these communication applications.

Roadmap beyond
Altera just announced its 40nm devices in May and it is said to be on target to deliver those devices by the end of 2008.

Adds Plofsky: "We have already started development work on smaller process geometries with test chips in fab now, but it is too early to go into any family detail at this time."