CSR's Bluetooth Integration on Standard CMOS Gives Manufacturers Lowest Cost Advantage; Latest Single-Chip Silicon Supports Both USB and Point to Multipoint Bluetooth.

Business Editors/High Tech Writers

CAMBRIDGE, England--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sept. 25, 2000

CSR (Cambridge Silicon Radio), the world leader in radio on CMOS, has hit the mark on lowering the cost and size of Bluetooth silicon with their first-to-market, true single-chip Bluetooth solution.

Today CSR announced its product rollout plan and availability of its latest revision of silicon, BlueCoreTM01b. BlueCore01b silicon is already shipping in CSR's development kit, CASIRATM (available ex-stock directly from the company's web site) and for pre-production to lead customers. With this design, CSR is able to deliver a highly integrated solution soon to be certified by a leading independent industry test house and at a low enough price to enable a whole host of Bluetooth devices due out by Christmas.

For manufacturers eager to add wireless connectivity to their consumer electronics products, Bluetooth has the potential to create a low-power and low-cost solution for networking mobile phones, PDAs, laptops, and printers. This potential will soon be tapped with BlueCore01 as CSR achieves industry certification and begins shipping to manufacturers. CSR's true single-chip solution includes the industry's first integrated CMOS based radio, baseband and microcontroller with a fully integrated Bluetooth software stack and CSR's highly sensitive CMOS radio frequency (RF) transceiver complete with support for USB connection to a PC.

CSR is well positioned to integrate its Bluetooth solution into a variety of applications, across a wide range of consumer electronics devices. From working with Alcatel on integrating Bluetooth in GSM technology, to offering chipsets to premier Far Eastern electronics suppliers, Alps and Mitsumi, CSR is soon to supply its BlueCore01 to device manufacturers hoping to be early to market. Recent design wins include a set of PC flash cards from Fujitsu for a burgeoning market to connect existing laptops with shared printing and synchronization features. Recent demonstrations of interoperability with other Bluetooth solutions from Ericsson and Digianswer further demonstrates the maturity of CSR's offering and point to multi-point applications to be shown in Tokyo, Japan this week prove BlueCore01's functionality is market-ready.

According to the latest reports from top analyst firm, Cahner's In-Stat, Bluetooth chip shipments will pick up going into the fourth quarter of 2000, with an explosive escalation in 2001. By 2005, the silicon market opportunity for all classes of Bluetooth solutions will approach $5 billion.

"First-mover silicon vendors such as CSR will lead the field in delivering the credible road map to the $5 solution this market needs to see by early 2001," says Joyce Putscher, Director at In-Stat. "CSR has passed some of the toughest integration hurdles in their radio IC's and their soon to market pure-CMOS chips will help to get things started in a world hungry for Bluetooth," added Putscher.

A recent study by market analysts at Allied Business Intelligence (ABI) finds the largest silicon opportunities will lie in mobile phones, notebooks, desktops and printers as well as other mobile electronics. ABI analysts estimate Bluetooth semiconductor revenues for 2001 at $967 million. They predict annual shipments of Bluetooth-enabled devices to reach over 1.4 billion nodes in 2005, up from over 56 million nodes in 2001.

"Lack of inexpensive silicon could serve to dampen these market expectations," offered Navin Sabharwal, Director of Residential and Networking Technologies at ABI. "CMOS process appears to be the path to lowest cost, and CSR is a leader in this space."

An absolute minimum of external components (none of these active), pinpoint RF and high performance system integration are all a part of the BlueCore01 offering. CSR's advanced CMOS process offers a single-chip CMOS-based Bluetooth baseband controller as well as a fully integrated Bluetooth software stack up to the HCI level. The revolutionary BlueCore01 and now BlueCore01b are true single chip Bluetooth ICs using standard pure CMOS processes in their implementation and combining 2.4GHz radio, baseband, microcontroller and the RAM needed to power products achieving the certified Bluetooth logo from the Bluetooth SIG. CSR's has achieved the smallest, lowest-cost Bluetooth system now available -- ready for manufacturers to implement easy to use interconnectivity solutions.

Lack of stability in the Bluetooth specification means that ROM based solutions are not yet possible but CSR's second version of silicon, BlueCore02 samples in Q101 and is positioned to enable immediate implementation of an integrated mask ROM solution as soon as the standard matures to BT1.1 (expected in 2001). BlueCore02 will ship next year in a single, BGA 64 pin package measuring just 6mm x 6mm.

"We are overwhelmed by the success that CSR's new design iteration has brought to BlueCore01 achieving a price point which enables volume silicon shipments," said Glenn Collinson, Marketing Director and co-founder of CSR. "Cambridge Silicon Radio confirms this successful silicon revision will ship single-chip Bluetooth silicon in volumes of tens of thousands to leading manufacturers before the turn of the year," added Collinson.

Phil O'Donovan, Managing Director of CSR, said: "CSR has been able to achieve an overwhelming early success in this market through a combination of an exceptionally talented design team and a focused ambition to pioneer the CMOS approach from day one. The announcement today vindicates the confidence we have always had in the innovative design approach we've taken." This design approach has also yielded wholly owned IP allowing CSR to deliver zero royalty solutions to customers.

The implications of this announcement are far reaching according to James Collier, CSR Technical Director. "The use of RF-CMOS at 2.4GHz is critical to reaching the cost targets through the elimination of specialized, expensive RF technology," Collier said. "Replacing this with the world's mainstream standard CMOS IC processes combined with the high level of integration and the minimization of external components that CSR is demonstrating is the only implementation that can facilitate the widely accepted Bluetooth cost target. BlueCore02 is unique in this respect and the Bluetooth system cost will fall to the magic $5 mark next year." (BlueCore01 is shipping today at around $8).

About CSR

CSR (Cambridge Silicon Radio) specializes in providing single chip radio devices to the global market for short-range radio communications, including Bluetooth. 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 low cost of ownership of high quality digital radio.

CSR was the first company to offer a fully integrated 2.4GHz radio, baseband and microcontroller Bluetooth solution on one CMOS chip, with its BlueCore(TM)01. CSR's BlueCore01 is the world's first true single chip Bluetooth solution. Together with the Flash ROM containing the CSR Bluetooth software stack, it provides a fully compliant Bluetooth solution for data and voice communications. The design is optimised to require very few external RF components to facilitate a rapid design of the motherboard, and therefore the fastest time to market and lower overall cost.

More information about CSR can be found on the web site at www.csr.com and a selection of royalty free images are available for download from www.csr.com/pr.htm.

About Bluetooth

Bluetooth is the codename for a technology specification for low-cost, short-range radio links between mobile PCs, mobile phones and other portable devices. The Bluetooth specification marks the first time that major players in the converging communications and computer industries have defined a radio standard that allows mobile phones, hand-held computers and PCs to communicate wirelessly with each other without manual intervention from the user. The specification's ability to meet cost/performance needs for a whole raft of applications will be a significant factor in its adoption. Bluetooth is lower in cost than alternative wireless standards and will also often allow a lower cost replacement for cables and connectors, in particularly when accounting for installation and maintenance.

More information about Bluetooth can be found on the web site at www.bluetooth.com.