CSR's BlueCore2 Passes Final Set of Product Certifications; Loopback Testing to Final RF Specification and USB Certification Makes Embedding Bluetooth Simpler.

Business Editors, High-Tech Writers

RICHARDSON, Texas--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Feb. 18, 2002

CSR (Cambridge Silicon Radio) today announced that its BlueCore2-based class 2 reference design is now qualified to the final RF Bluetooth v1.1 specification.

The qualification was achieved with the full RF test specification rather than the provisional 'convergence RF' specification commonly used. Loopback testing, suitable for production environments, was used, demonstrating that the reference will simplify the process of embedding Class 2 Bluetooth designs into production devices and also enable category 'A' Bluetooth qualification to further reduce the time-to-market for Bluetooth enabled devices.

The full RF specification has been achieved before it was mandated by the Bluetooth SIG to come into force within 3 years of the publication of the first Bluetooth specification. The provisional 'convergence' RF specification commonly used by other suppliers today is less stringent and therefore doesn't guarantee the higher level performance offered by CSR's compliance to the full RF specification. CSR has also achieved full speed (12Mbit/s) USB 1.1 certification for the same BlueCore2 reference design built into its Microsira Bluetooth Development System.

Eric Janson, vice president North America, CSR commented, "CSR is again leading the way with these new product certifications which will help our customers launch Bluetooth enabled products more quickly."

BlueCore2 is the second generation of CSR's successful single-chip solution, BlueCore01 and CSR has been taking orders since its launch in Q3, 2001. BlueCore2 offers twice the output power, eliminating the requirement for an external switch, balun and LNA to achieve the 10m range required for Class 2 Bluetooth operation. It is half the size of BlueCore01, available in a 6mm x 6mm BGA package. It is fabricated on a 0.18 micron CMOS process and exhibits approximately half the power consumption of its predecessor. BlueCore2 combines CSR's proven silicon with software designed to accelerate Bluetooth adoption in key markets.

About CSR

CSR (Cambridge Silicon Radio) specializes in providing single-chip radio devices to the global market for short-range wireless communications, including Bluetooth(TM). The company's mission is to create the most highly integrated radio devices available, fabricated using standard CMOS technology, to provide its customers with the lowest cost of ownership of high quality digital radio.

CSR was the first company in the world to offer a true single-chip Bluetooth solution with BlueCore, a fully integrated 2.4 GHz radio, baseband and microcontroller. In Q4 2001 CSR released BlueCore2, its second generation family, and offer developed hardware/software bundles for each of the fastest growing Bluetooth applications markets. Users can combine the chips with the CSR Bluetooth software stack to provide a fully compliant solution for data and voice communications or, used with an upper layer host software stack, CSR is able to offer a complete Bluetooth end-to-end solution.

CSR has a growing list of major international companies including Sony, Compaq, IBM, Fujitsu, LG, ALPS, TDK, 3Com, Mitsumi, Siemens and Motorola, who have already used CSR's BlueCore in the development of a range of Bluetooth products. In fact, up to the end of 2001, 70% of available pre-qualified modules, as listed on the qualified products page of the Bluetooth Special Interest Group (SIG) web site, feature BlueCore01 and it is in 60% of all qualified Bluetooth v 1.1 enabled end product designs.

CSR is headquartered in Cambridge, UK, with offices in Richardson, Texas; Tokyo, Japan; Singapore and Aalborg, Denmark.

More information about CSR can be found on the web site at www.csr.com