BusinessWire
February 09, 2006 03:55 AM US Pacific Timezone

Fractus Antennas Enable CSR Wi-Fi/Bluetooth Combo Card For Handsets

3GSM World Congress 2006 BARCELONA, Spain--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Feb. 9, 2006--CSR (LSE:CSR):
Fractus, the fractal antenna technology pioneer, has worked with CSR, the wireless technology provider and world leader in Bluetooth connectivity, to develop an example design of a Bluetooth/Wi-Fi combo card that provides VoIP and Bluetooth calls running at the same time inside a mobile handset device.

The Bluetooth/Wi-Fi combo card design brings together two Fractus Slim Reach Xtend(TM)antennas and CSR's UniFi-1 Portable Wi-Fi chip and BlueCore4-ROM Bluetooth chip on a single card that delivers a very small, high performance co-existent design.

"We evaluated antennas from different developers worldwide and found the Fractus antennas to offer the best value and size for our customers - performance, price and technical support," said CSR VP Strategic Marketing, Simon Finch.

"The CSR combo card highlights the flexibility of Fractus antenna technology to enable a 2.4 GHz diversity system within a handset powered by CSR," said Fractus Short-Range Wireless Division Director Tim Hillison.

CSR is making the Bluetooth/Wi-Fi combo card example design available to key customers on request and will demonstrate this solution during 3GSM World Congress in Barcelona, February 13-16th.

Fractus Slim Reach Xtend antennas ship worldwide in the millions. They are used for a wide range of devices from mobile handsets, to stereo Bluetooth(R) headsets. Fractus offers a variety of solutions for short-range wireless communications within all mobile devices covering the Zigbee, GPS, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi and UMTS standards.

UniFi(TM) is CSR's single-chip solution for all the major Wi-Fi protocols, providing multi-mode 802.11a, b or g operation, extremely low power consumption, built-in antenna diversity processing for extended speed/range, and coexistence with Bluetooth. BlueCore4 implements Bluetooth v2.0+EDR (Enhanced Data Rate) and can deliver data rates up to three times faster than other Bluetooth devices as well as lower power consumption.

Further information about these devices is available from www.fractus.com and www.csr.com.

About CSR

CSR plc is the leading global provider of Bluetooth technology and has developed expertise in other single-chip wireless communication standards such as Wi-Fi (IEEE802.11). CSR offers developed hardware/software solutions for Bluetooth based around BlueCore, a fully integrated 2.4 GHz radio, baseband and microcontroller.

CSR has now launched its fifth generation BlueCore suite and is in volume manufacture of its fourth generation BlueCore devices. BlueCore4 supports the Enhanced Data Rate (EDR) standard, which was ratified at the end of 2004. BlueCore4 remains the only EDR silicon to be shipping in volume today. In November 2004 CSR launched UniFi, the first single chip 802.11a/b/g embedded solution specifically targeting the mobile phone and consumer electronics markets.

BlueCore features in over 50 per cent of all Bluetooth devices shipped and over 60 per cent of all qualified Bluetooth enabled products and modules listed on the Bluetooth website with industry leaders including Nokia, Dell, Panasonic, Sharp, Motorola, IBM, Apple, NEC, Toshiba, RIM and Sony using BlueCore devices in their range of Bluetooth products.

In March 2005, CSR acquired Clarity Technologies Inc., for its Clear Voice Capture (CVC) technology that enhances the audio performance of any voice-based product or system. Applications for CVC include wireless headsets, handsets and automotive hands free systems.

In August 2005, CSR completed the acquisition of UbiNetics' software business, providing a strong R&D team to accelerate its existing software development in Bluetooth, Wi-Fi and UWB. The UbiNetics team gives CSR the capacity to extend its offering to mobile handset customers.

CSR has its headquarters and offices in Cambridge, UK, and offices in Japan, Korea, Taiwan, China, India, France, Denmark, Sweden and both Texas and Detroit in the USA.

More information can be found at www.csr.com and the partner web site www.btdesigner.com

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

About Fractus

Fractus designs and manufactures miniature, multi-band antennas for wireless applications that are easy to integrate, cost-effective and provide high performance. Using the unique space-filling and multi-level properties of fractals, Fractus antennas are used in mobile phones, wireless consumer electronics using Bluetooth(R), WLAN and UWB, and base stations. Fractus has a significant intellectual property with 37 patent families and was named a 2005 Technology Pioneer by the World Economic Forum.

For more information, www.fractus.com