Comsys Names Four Leading RF Vendors Joining ComMAX Ecosystem

Business Wire, Oct 23, 2007

WiMAX RF transceivers from NXP and Maxim and GSM/EDGE transceivers from RFMD and Skyworks are first to be supported in Comsys converged Cellular/Mobile WiMAX reference design platforms

TAIPEI, Taiwan -- Comsys Communication and Signal Processing, a leader in wireless baseband solutions, today announced at the WiMAX Forum Member Conference in Taipei that four leading vendors of RF transceivers have joined the ComMAX Ecosystem[TM], a network of partners dedicated to providing ready-to-use system solutions for converged cellular/mobile WiMAX terminals.

The recently announced ComMAX[TM] Evaluation Board (EVB) and ComMAX Reference Design Platform will support both NXP's WiMAX transceiver family UXA234xx and the Maxim MAX2839 WiMAX 802.16e radio transceivers for mobile WiMAX, and both the POLARIS[TM] 3 Total Radio[TM] Silver GSM/EDGE radio transceiver from RFMD and the Helios[TM] 3 GSM/EDGE RF transceiver subsystem from Skyworks for GSM/EDGE.

ComMAX Reference Design Platforms are built around Comsys' award-winning ComMAX multimode baseband processors. The ComMAX EVB is a modular platform that allows maximum flexibility, enabling development teams to utilize the full capabilities of the ComMAX processor by integration with various RF and application processors as well as to develop software applications. The ComMAX Reference Design Platform is designed to provide handset vendors, OEMs and ODMs with the most rapid development path and a fast time to market with a fully operational multimode mobile WiMAX/cellular form factor reference design solution.

The ComMAX Ecosystem is a network of companies whose products and systems are compatible with Comsys baseband processors. In addition to the RF transceiver vendors, ecosystem members include leading vendors of components such as: RF PA, PMIC, memories, application processors and software applications, who are keen to use the ComMAX platform for realising their solutions.

"Comsys is the only vendor to have designed a solution that supports coexistence of GSM with WiMAX," said Avi Sharon, Product Manager at Comsys. "Our customers now have the opportunity to be among the first to market with a converged mobile WiMAX handset that combines the ComMAX processor with a choice of RF chipsets and takes away the hassle involved with coexistence. Over the coming months we will be announcing further members in the ComMAX Ecosystem, and invite other chipset and software vendors for handset and mobile terminals to join us".

The current members of the ComMAX Ecosystem

NXP: The WiMAX transceiver family UXA234xx delivers leading performance in low power consumption (around 150mW less than other solutions in industry), small 6 x 6mm2 footprint and ease of architecture re-use across all WiMAX frequency domains (1.3 - 3.5GHz). On top of Wave2 WiMAX support, NXP's WiMAX transceiver family also currently features full 2x2 MIMO solutions.

MAXIM: MAX2839ETN is a low power, high performance single-chip 2.3 - 2.7GHz WiMAX 1x2 MIMO RF transceiver. The MIMO receiver performance includes 2.4dB noise figure and -11dBm input IP3, and the highly linear transmitter offers 0dBm linear output while meeting -70dBr spectral mask, and factory calibrated IQ error achieving -37dB EVM.

RFMD: POLARIS[TM] features a highly integrated radio transceiver module that incorporates a single-chip CMOS EDGE transceiver, the full crystal oscillator and all necessary receive filter functionality. The solution also features RFMD's industry-leading front end technology, including the power amplifier and transmit/receive switch, as well as benefiting from RFMD's patent-pending integrated RF shielding technology.

Skyworks: Helios[TM] 3, the latest in the Helios[TM] family of radio solutions, is a small, highly efficient EDGE RF subsystem based on Skyworks' Polar Loop[TM] technology and contains a digital RF (DigRF) interface. Its architecture has been designed to reduce the complexity, cost and power requirements of the RF section of next-generation EDGE platforms.

About NXP Semiconductors

NXP is a top semiconductor company founded by Philips more than 50 years ago. Headquartered in Europe, the company has 37,000 employees working in more than 20 countries and posted sales of EUR 5 billion in 2006. NXP creates semiconductors, system solutions and software that deliver better sensory experiences in mobile phones, personal media players, TVs, set-top boxes, identification applications, cars and a wide range of other electronic devices. News from NXP is located at http://www.nxp.com/.> About Maxim

Maxim Integrated Products was established in 1983. Its mission is to continuously invent high-quality analog and mixed-signal engineering solutions that add value to our worldwide customers' microprocessor-based electronics. Maxim consistently served both its customers and its stockholders by meeting cost and performance goals, minimizing time-to-market, and maximizing engineering productivity. For more information please see http://www.maxim-ic.com/.>