2013-06-24

Altair attacks Qualcomm, Wi-Fi with low-cost LTE

Altair attacks Qualcomm, Wi-Fi with low-cost LTE

SAN JOSE, Calif. – Altair Semiconductor aims to drive LTE this year down into the penny-pinching budget of Wi-Fi for mobile devices and the Internet of Things. Its effort involves next-generation chips and new module suppliers such as Taiwan’s Quanta to go up against archrival Qualcomm and others.

“We want to drive LTE to Wi-Fi levels--today to add Wi-Fi to a product costs about $10 but for LTE it’s about $150-200” to the consumer, said Eran Eshed, co-founder and vice president of marketing at Altair. “Once LTE gets down to a $20-40 increment over Wi-Fi, we’ll see an inflection point,” he said, echoing the old marketing mantra of former Intel chief Andy Grove.

Altair is one of a handful of former WiMax startups encouraged by the initiative Intel had—and subsequently dropped--on that wireless alternative several years ago. Like rival Sequans, Altair now pushes an LTE-only agenda, but due to its heritage it lacks 3G cellular technology.

Altair aims to make its lack of 3G an asset. Eshed claims its LTE-only chip is smaller and cheaper and modules using it are smaller with a lower bill of materials because they do not need to support 3G bands and features.

3G filters and other components cost $3-$6 at the board level. 3G patent licenses cost even more--$5-$10, he estimates.

Altair is working on a next-gen LTE-only chip that has a smaller die thanks to a process shrink. It will mark the start of a family of LTE chips the company plans, segmented for low-end IoT to high-end, tablet devices supporting LTE Release 9+ features such as carrier aggregation.

Taiwan’s Quanta has already certified with Verizon a low-cost LTE module using Altair’s current chip. “We have big design wins you will see in late 2013 with modules for tablets and ultrabooks at new low price points,” Eshed said.

Archrival Qualcomm is the 800-pound gorilla in the cellular module market. Sierra Wireless, Novotel and others use its chips in modules Ershed claims have high margins that Quanta and other Altair contract manufacturers will undercut.

In addition to Qualcomm, Altair faces an array of formidable competitors. Broadcom, Marvell, Mediatek, Texas Instruments and GTC of Korea all have eyes on this market and the emerging IoT space. Getting an edge with low-cost LTE-only modules will not be easy—but the heated competition may spark some interesting design wins in the next year.

Related stories:
Slideshow: Ten things to see in the rise of LTE

Verizon pre-certifies Altair LTE chip

New versions of Wi-Fi expected to boost tablets

Welcome to SUV System Ltd!

SUV System Ltd is ISO 90012008 Certified electronics distributor with 10 years of experiences.

We have built up long term business relationship with about many companies which are stockers and authorized agents. we have a steady and reliable supply to meet customer's demands to the greatest extent .Confidently, we are able to lower your cost and support your business with our years of professional service.

SUV System Ltd is Electronic Components Distributor Supplies,Find Quality Electronic Components Supplies Products IC(Integrated Circuits),Connectors,Capacitor,Resistors,Diodes,Transistors,LED at Suvsystem.com. Sourcing Other Energy, Environment, Excess Inventory Products from Manufacturers and Suppliers at Suvsystem.com

Electronic Components distributor:http://www.suvsystem.com

Connectors Distributor:http://www.suvsystem.com/l/Connectors-1.html

IC Distributor:http://www.suvsystem.com/l/IC(Integrated-Circuits)-1.html

LED Distributor:http://www.suvsystem.com/l/LED-1.html

Capacitor Distributor:http://www.suvsystem.com/l/Capacitor-1.html

Transistor Distributor:http://www.suvsystem.com/l/Transistors-1.html

Resistor Distributor:http://www.suvsystem.com/l/Resistors-1.html

Diode Distributor:http://www.suvsystem.com/l/Diodes-1.html

SUV System Ltd insists on the managing faith ofsincereness,speciality,foresight, win-win,so we build up stable-relationship customers located all over the world, including the States, Europe, Argentina, UAE, Malaysia, Australia,and India etc

we are focus on the following fields,and hope we can help you.


B41560A8689M B41560A8688M000 B41560A8688M B41560A8479M3 B41560A8479M003 B41560A8479M B41560A8478M B41560A8339M3 B41560A8339M003 B41570E5229Q B41570E5159Q000 B41570E5159Q B41570E5109Q000 B41570E5109Q B41570E5100Q000 B41570E5100Q B41570E4689Q000 B41570E4689Q B41570E4479Q000 B41570E4479Q B41570E4339Q000 B41570E4339Q B41570E4229Q000 B41570E4229Q B41570E4159Q000 B41570E4159Q B41570E4150Q000 B41570E4150Q B41570E4109Q000 B41570E4109Q B41570E4100Q000 B41570E4100Q B41570A9339Q B41570A9229Q B41570A9158Q000 B41570A8479Q B41570A7688Q000 B41570A7688Q B41570A7100Q B41570A5688Q000
http://www.suvsystem.com/a/3159.aspx

No comments:

Post a Comment