Skyworks Solutions, Inc. an innovator of high performance analog and mixed signal semiconductors enabling mobile connectivity and Ember, a leader in ZigBee® technology, today announced that they are partnering to develop the industry’s first portfolio of ZigBee front-end modules (FEM) targeting applications such as smart meters in energy management, home area networks (HAN), and industrial automation. ZigBee is a wireless network standard that solves the unique needs of remote monitoring and control, and sensor-network applications.
“Skyworks’ partnership with Ember accelerates our efforts in the energy management industry by more than doubling our addressable market for front-end modules,” said Stan Swearingen, Skyworks’ vice president and general manager of Linear Products. “By integrating our front-end modules with Ember’s ZigBee silicon, we are offering our customers a high performance plug-and-play solution that is truly unmatched worldwide.”
“Ember and Skyworks are teaming together to create the industry’s first ZigBee FEM that dramatically reduces component size, cost and power consumption,” said Bob Gohn, Ember’s vice president of marketing. “We are making it easier than ever for our customers to deliver exceptional performance in their products across a wide range of ZigBee-based applications.”
West Technology Research Solutions (WTRS) is forecasting the ZigBee/IEEE 802.15.4 market to grow at an annual rate of over 117 percent ─ from approximately 8.4 million units shipped in 2007 to as many as 516 million in 2012.
About the EM250 & EM260
Ember’s EM250 system-on-chip (SoC) along with the EmberZNet PRO networking stack is the industry’s only true SoC platform supporting the ZigBee PRO Feature Set. The EM250 integrates an IEEE 802.15.4 radio, a 16-bit microprocessor, flash, random access memory (RAM) and peripherals delivering excellent performance at a low system cost.
Ember’s EM260 is the industry’s first ZigBee network co-processor that combines a 2.4 gigahertz (GHz) IEEE 802.15.4 compliant radio transceiver with a flash-based microprocessor running the EmberZNet PRO ZigBee stack. The EM260 delivers unparalleled flexibility allowing developers to easily add ZigBee networking to their preferred application microprocessor via a fast SPI/UART interface.
The EM250 and EM260 chips are tightly integrated with EmberZNet PRO – Ember’s “ZigBee Golden Unit” platform – and are optimized for designs requiring long battery life, low external component count, and a reliable, proven, industry-standard networking solution. Innovative on-chip debugging combined with Ember’s InSight tools provide developers with the most advanced views into their application and network available in the industry.
About the SKY65336 and SKY65337
The SKY65336 is a high efficiency 8 x 8 millimeter (mm) multi-chip module (MCM) FEM for ZigBee and other 2.4 GHz industrial, scientific and medical (ISM) band applications. The FEM is comprised of a selectable transmit and receive (Tx/Rx) path. The Tx path incorporates a harmonic filter and high efficiency PA which delivers 20 dBm at the module’s output port. The Rx path includes a low noise amplifier (LNA) which boasts a total Rx path noise figure of 1.9 dB, including switch loss. Both Tx and Rx paths integrate baluns to provide differential ports to Ember’s EM250 and EM260 transceivers.
The SKY65337 is a FEM that is footprint compatible with the SKY65336, with the LNA removed for applications which require lower cost. The Tx path delivers 20 dBm of high efficiency output power, while balanced input and outputs ports have been provided to connect to the EM250 and EM260.
Pricing
The ZigBee Alliance is an association of companies working together to enable reliable, cost-effective, low-power, wirelessly networked, monitoring and control products based on an open global standard. The goal of the alliance is to provide the consumer with ultimate flexibility, mobility, and ease of use by building wireless intelligence and capabilities into everyday devices. ZigBee technology will be embedded in a wide range of products and applications across consumer, commercial, industrial and government markets worldwide. For the first time, companies will have a standards-based wireless platform optimized for the unique needs of remote monitoring and control applications, including simplicity, reliability, low-cost and low-power.
Ember and Skyworks will be showcasing their ZigBee solution in Booth 931 at Autovation 2008, being held Sept. 7-10 in Atlanta at the Georgia World Congress Center.
Ember Corporation develops ZigBee wireless networking technology that enables companies involved in energy technologies – enertech – to help make buildings and homes smarter, consume less energy, operate more efficiently, and keep people comfortable and safe. Ember’s low-power wireless technology can be embedded into a wide variety of devices to be part of a self-organizing mesh network. Ember is headquartered in Boston and has its radio development center in Cambridge, England, and distributors worldwide. The company is a promoter and Board member of the ZigBee Alliance and its platform is the “Golden Suite” for 802.15.4/ZigBee interoperability testing. For more information, please visit http://www.ember.com.
Skyworks Solutions, Inc. is an innovator of high performance analog and mixed signal semiconductors enabling mobile connectivity. The company’s power amplifiers, front-end modules and direct conversion radios are at the heart of many of today’s leading-edge multimedia handsets. Leveraging core technologies, Skyworks also offers a diverse portfolio of linear products that support automotive, broadband, cellular infrastructure, industrial and medical applications.
Headquartered in Woburn, Mass., Skyworks is worldwide with engineering, manufacturing, sales and service facilities throughout Asia, Europe and North America. For more information, please visit Skyworks’ Web site at: www.skyworksinc.com.
This news release includes “forward-looking statements” intended to qualify for the safe harbor from liability established by the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements include information relating to future results and expectations of Skyworks (including certain projections and business trends). Forward-looking statements can often be identified by words such as “anticipates,” “expects,” “intends,” “believes,” “plans,” “may,” “will,” “continue,” similar expressions, and variations or negatives of these words. All such statements are subject to certain risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially and adversely from those projected, and may affect our future operating results, financial position and cash flows.
These risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to: uncertainty regarding global economic and financial market conditions; the cyclical nature of the semiconductor industry and the markets addressed by our, and our customers’, products; our ability to develop, manufacture and market innovative products in a highly price competitive and rapidly changing technological environment; fluctuations in our manufacturing yields due to our complex and specialized manufacturing processes; delays or disruptions in production due to equipment maintenance, repairs and/or upgrades; our reliance on several key customers for a large percentage of our sales; fluctuations in the manufacturing yields of our third party semiconductor foundries and other problems or delays in the fabrication, assembly, testing or delivery of our products; the availability and pricing of third party semiconductor foundry, assembly and test capacity and raw materials; our ability to timely and accurately predict market requirements and evolving industry standards, and to identify opportunities in new markets; the timing, rescheduling or cancellation of significant customer orders and our ability, as well as the ability of our customers, to manage inventory; losses or curtailments of purchases or payments from key customers, or the timing of customer inventory adjustments; our ability to rapidly develop new products and avoid product obsolescence; our ability to retain, recruit and hire key executives, technical personnel and other employees in the positions and numbers, with the experience and capabilities, and at the compensation levels needed to implement our business and product plans; lengthy product development cycles that impact the timing of new product introductions; unfavorable changes in product mix; the quality of our products and any remediation costs; shorter than expected product life cycles; problems or delays that we may face in shifting our products to smaller geometry process technologies and in achieving higher levels of design integration; economic, social and political conditions in the countries in which we, our customers or our suppliers operate, including security and health risks, possible disruptions in transportation networks and fluctuations in foreign currency exchange rates; our ability to continue to grow and maintain an intellectual property portfolio and obtain needed licenses from third parties; and the uncertainties of litigation, including disputes over intellectual property, as well as other risks and uncertainties, including but not limited to those detailed from time to time in our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
These forward-looking statements are made only as of the date hereof, and we undertake no obligation to update or revise the forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.
Note to Editors: Skyworks and Skyworks Solutions are trademarks or registered trademarks of Skyworks Solutions, Inc. or its subsidiaries in the United States and in other countries. Ember, Ember Enabled, EmberZNet, InSight and the Ember logo are trademarks of Ember Corporation. ZigBee is a trademark of the ZigBee Alliance. All other brands and names listed are trademarks of their respective companies.
