picoChip partners with L&T Infotech for WiMAX and advanced DSP systems

Design centre widens options for multi-core DSP platform integration
Chicago, USA and Bath, England, 27 September 2007: picoChip announced today that it has added Larsen & Toubro Infotech Limited (L&T Infotech) as a partner design centre for its picoArray™ multi-core DSP. Based in Mumbai, and part of the $5bn Larsen & Toubro Limited Corporation, L&T Infotech offers its customers a comprehensive product development service for communications equipment based on the picoArray. The relationship starts with WiMAX, where the two companies are cooperating on customized variants of picoChip’s industry standard reference designs, but extends to other DSP applications.

The agreement will give OEMs, CEMs and operators the ability to bring to market advanced, carrier-class product designs, quickly and with a low total cost of ownership. L&T Infotech has particular expertise in the design of wireless infrastructure, mobile handsets, WiMAX equipment, and advanced signal processing codecs. The picoArray is one of the few semiconductor device architectures able to deliver sufficient signal processing power for advanced designs in these areas.

“picoChip offers uniquely powerful devices that can effectively address the extreme signal processing needs of current- and next-generation wireless,” said Mr. Vijay Kumar Magapu Chief Executive of Larsen & Toubro Infotech and Director & Member of the Board, Larsen & Toubro Limited (L&T). “Designing with such a powerful architecture represents a significant step forward in our quest to offer our customers differentiated product designs, quickly, and at highly competitive price points.”
With 7,200 people overall, L&T Infotech is one of the largest engineering and technology organisations in India. Its team of 1,500 telecom software consultants and solution architects develops software applications and components for mobile handset manufacturers, telecom equipment and product vendors, telecom operators, semiconductor companies and service providers across the globe.

“Working with L&T Infotech extends both the skills base and the global reach of our design center program,” said Guillaume d’Eyssautier, CEO and President at picoChip. “L&T Infotech is a truly substantial player. We see this partnership as an excellent way to support the growing base of picoChip users worldwide: and also to extend that base into new territories and new applications.”
picoArray devices incorporate arrays of digital signal processing (DSP) elements, delivering extremely high performance. Already proven in-use for the computationally-intensive tasks involved in advanced wireless signal processing, they are available in forms suitable for both infrastructure and user terminal applications. They offer a powerful platform to develop products for emerging global wireless communications markets such as WiMAX and 4G.

About picoChip
picoChip, located in Bath, England, is dedicated to providing innovative, flexible wireless solutions to help equipment makers minimize time-to-market, costs, and system power consumption.

The heart of the company’s offering is a scaleable, multi-processor baseband IC that combines the computational density of a dedicated ASIC with the programmability of a traditional high end Digital Signal Processor. This radically reduces both development time and materials cost and enables the strategic goal of the “Software Defined Radio”. The company has the most comprehensive reference designs in the industry, with complete, standard-compliant solutions for both UMTS (including HSxPA) and WiMAX (802.16d upgradeable to 802.16e).

http://www.picochip.com

About L&T Infotech
Larsen & Toubro Infotech Limited (L&T Infotech), one of the fastest growing IT Services companies, is ranked by NASSCOM as the 9th largest software & services exporter from India in the year 2007. It is a part of the $ 5 billion Larsen & Toubro Limited (L&T), India’s largest technology-driven engineering organization. L&T Infotech is differentiated by its unique business to IT connect, which is a result of its rich corporate heritage. A full-services IT firm with a blue-chip client roster, it offers comprehensive, end-to-end software solutions and services in the following industry verticals:

1. Banking & Financial Services
2. Insurance
3. Energy & Petrochemicals
4. Manufacturing
5. Product Engineering Services (Communications & Embedded Systems)

The Product Engineering Services group at L&T Infotech is a provider of high quality, end-to-end software services encompassing small handheld devices on one end to high availability carrier grade servers on the other, covering the entire mobile communications value chain, delivering long-term value to the customer through innovative and flexible business models.
The PES Group has a proven track record of developing and deploying state-of-the –art software components and applications catering to mobile handset vendors, chip vendors, telecom equipment vendors, ISVs, telecom operators and service providers across the globe.

L&T Infotech’s recent acquisition of GDA technologies, a leading Electronic Design Services and Silicon Intellectual Property solution provider, enables it to offer end-to-end design solutions for the embedded, networking and consumer electronics market.

L&T Infotech’s vision is to provide world-class service to clients in its areas of focus, offering solutions that are based on business and technology insights.

http://www.lntinfotech.com