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Wireless Coexistence...
on a Single IC
June 13, 2007
The wireless communications industry continues to converge and "wireless
coexistence" is now vital to the future success of the majority of companies in this industry.
In the near
future, there will be little merit in considering a single wireless technology when analyzing any one application; whereas
once the argument was about which technology might win in which applications, recent announcements, from companies now combining
multiple radios on a single IC, suggest the industry has progressed beyond this.
Reduction of space, of power consumption,
reducing interference and increasing performance are driving the combination of multiple technologies onto a single IC. However,
reduction in cost is the biggest factor driving manufacturers down this route.
Taking Bluetooth/WLAN as example,
the price of these technologies implemented separately would currently be around $10, best case. Such a price would not be
viable, the cost of adding separate IC prices together being far more than manufacturers would ever be willing to pay. However,
most IC vendors have said they are able to combine multiple technologies at a fraction of the price that it would cost manufacturers
to purchase the ICs separately. According to a recent report from IMS Research, which considers 12 combination ICs, the market
for these ICs is expected to exceed $2 billion by 2010.
To date, Bluetooth has been the single most successful
short range wireless technology (shipment volumes speak for themselves); therefore Bluetooth is central to this research report.
IMS Research predicts that Bluetooth/FM will be first combination to market; with competition between Broadcom, CSR and TI,
the cost of a Bluetooth/FM IC compared with a Bluetooth IC is likely to be negligible soon enough. Therefore, this combination
IC is predicted to account for the majority of combination shipments into handsets, accounting for 100% of the market in 2007
and just over 30% in 2011.
Fiona Thomson, Senior Market Research Analyst with IMS Research commented, "It
was interesting to consider Bluetooth ICs (single technology solution) versus Bluetooth combined ICs in handsets. In 2006,
Bluetooth (as a single technology IC) penetration into handsets was at around 40%, as a worldwide average." She added,
"IMS Research predicts that Bluetooth as a standalone solution will decrease in importance through-out the next five
years as Bluetooth combination ICs such as Bluetooth/FM, Bluetooth/WLAN and Bluetooth/UWB (Bluetooth 3.0) make an impact on
the market."
Source: Cellular - news
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