SiRF Technology Inc. and Motorola's Semiconductor Products Sector (SPS), the world's largest producer of imbedded processors and a leading supplier into the mobile phone market, have announced an agreement to integrate SiRF's market-leading SiRFstar Global Positioning System (GPS) core technology with Motorola wireless baseband and applications processors to location-enable a line of Motorola's SPS chipsets for mobile devices. This is SiRF's third announced agreement with Motorola.
Motorola plans to incorporate SiRF's advanced GPS technology into a line of location-aware wireless baseband and applications processor chipsets that will broaden the market for devices used for location-based services, as well as to address accuracy and availability requirements contained in the United States' FCC Enhanced 911 (E-911) mandate for wireless carriers. SiRFLoc multimode technology is being used by Nextel for E-911 emergency location and location-based services. SiRF and Motorola plan to develop and jointly market a series of wireless/GPS chipsets for use in the GSM, GPRS and 3G cellular markets, as well as for PDAs. The companies are already developing joint reference designs for next-generation handsets using SiRF GPS and Motorola wireless chipsets for customers needing speedy market entry. The first anticipated jointly developed chip from this agreement is expected to be a GPS RF receiver IC, which will interface to an embedded GPS baseband processor in Motorola cellular platforms or to a SiRF baseband processor. Currently in the sampling stage, these products are expected to be available from SPS beginning in the second quarter of 2003.
"SiRF was founded with the intent of developing location technology that could be used in a wide range of consumer devices," says Kanwar Chadha, vice-president of business development and founder of SiRF Technology. "SiRF's location technology combined with Motorola's semiconductor technology and worldwide presence is a major step toward that objective. We believe that the products that result from this agreement will bring the level of integration, cost and performance needed to accelerate the mainstream market acceptance of location technology in markets like wireless handsets and PDAs."