Broadcom to acquire Provigent for $313 mn

On 03.22.11, In Mobile, By Editor

Broadcom has announced that it is buying Provigent, a privately-held provider of mixed signal semiconductors for microwave backhaul systems for approximately $313 million. With the addition of Provigent’s engineering expertise in microwave radio products, the company expands its portfolio to address the US$5 billion microwave backhaul equipment business.

Microwave Backhaul is the most prevalent type of technology used in the multi-billion dollar global mobile backhaul business, representing greater than 50% of all solutions.

According to Rajiv Ramaswami, Executive Vice President and General Manager of Broadcom’s Infrastructure and Networking Group, Provigent is a unique asset with world-class Microwave backhaul technology and strong engineering talent developing innovative and highly integrated semiconductor solutions for the microwave segment. Combining their microwave backhaul solutions with their industry leading network infrastructure and wireless solutions allows them to better serve their customers and expand their addressable market.

The purchase price will be paid in cash, except that a portion attributable to certain unvested employee stock options will be paid in Broadcom restricted stock units. A portion of the cash consideration will be placed into escrow pursuant to the terms of the acquisition agreement. Broadcom expects the acquisition of Provigent to be neutral to earnings in 2011. The boards of directors of the two companies have approved the merger. The transaction is expected to close in Broadcom’s second quarter, 2011, and remains subject to the satisfaction of regulatory requirements and other customary closing conditions.

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CSR settles Broadcom dispute (UK, US)

On 01.12.11, In Mobile, By Editor

British chipmaker CSR has settled its legal battle over technology patents with U.S. rival Broadcom Corp.

According to CSR, it would pay $67.5 million to Broadcom over the next five years, the majority of which would be offset by a reduction in legal costs of at least $50 million, to settle the dispute, which predates its acquisition of GPS chip firm SiRF in 2009.

Shares in CSR had risen 10.3% to a five-month high of 392.5 pence by 0835 GMT, as analysts welcomed the settlement.

Analysts believe that this is a very solid result for CSR from a strategic perspective as it removes the overhang of litigation and fears from some market participants of a big negative charge. Apart from the financial impact, the settlement of patent dispute with Broadcom should remove a distraction for CSR’s management and customers.

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Broadcom acquires Beceem

On 11.25.10, In Mobile, By Editor

Semiconductor developer Broadcom Corp. has acquired privately held Beceem Communications, Inc., a developer of system-on-a-chip solutions for LTE and WiMax 4G connectivity and all of its outstanding shares of capital stock and other equity rights for $316 million in cash.

However, the portion attributable to unvested employee stock options was paid in stock options exercisable for shares of Broadcom’s common stock.

The acquisition is expected to be neutral to earnings in 2011, excluding any purchase accounting related adjustments and fair value measurements.

On Monday, Broadcom had announced an agreement to acquire Gigle Networks Inc., another privately held company, for about $75 million, also in cash with the stock option component.

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Broadcom to buy Gigle Networks

On 11.23.10, In Mobile, By Editor

­Semiconductor giant Broadcom has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Gigle Networks, a privately held company that develops system-on-a-chip solutions for home networking over power-lines.

By adding power-line deal to its technology portfolio, Broadcom will be able to provide additional functionality to its customers in broadband home segments including set-top box, broadband carrier access and wireless router.

According to Dan Marotta, Executive Vice President & General Manager of Broadcom’s Broadband Communications Group, Broadcom’s broadband home platforms span a wide range of segments including set-top box, broadband carrier access and wireless router. With the addition of Gigle Networks’ power-line technology, and their proven ability and extensive experience in supporting the multiple methods to connect devices including Ethernet, WI-Fi, MoCA and DLNA, Broadcom is able to offer service providers and device manufacturers a variety of ways to deploy a whole-home connected environment.

Broadcom expects to pay approximately $75 million to acquire all of the outstanding shares of capital stock and other rights of Gigle Networks.

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Nokia touts low-cost, low-power wireless tech

On 10.05.06, In Mobile, By Editor

Nokia today invited hardware and software makers to join it and implement a new wireless data transfer technology designed to operate over very short distances. Yet the Finnish phone giant insisted the technology, dubbed Wibree, is complementary to Bluetooth.

Like Bluetooth, Wibree operates in the 2.4GHz band of the spectrum. It’s designed to operate within a 10m range and transfer data no more quickly than 1Mbps. According to Nokia, Wibree radio transmission consumes very little power. The devices themselves will be very cheap, it claimed.

The applications it has in mind are links between phones and watches – the kind of thing Sony Ericsson showed off last week with the Bluetooth watch it co-developed with Fossil. Nokia also mentioned sports sensors – again there’s a precedent: Apple’s iPod+Nike pedometer-on-your-music-player gadget.

Nokia’s pitch is that these apps are more suited to the cheaper, lower power Wibree than Bluetooth. Unlike the Zigbee wireless technology – which, given the similarity of the name, appears to have been the inspiration for Wibree – Nokia’s suggestion delivers a higher bandwidth. Zigbee is a 2.4GHz technology that delivers up to 250Kbps at 1-100m.

For the kind of applications Nokia has in mind, Zigbee might seem to be sufficient, particularly since Zigbee is based on a IEEE standard, 802.15.4. It was ratified in December 2004, but hasn’t made a major impact beyond home automation and industrial applications. Still, it’s clear from how Nokia describes Wibree that it’s essentially chasing the same space as Zigbee, but this time hooking everything into the phone.

Nokia has been working on Wibree for five years, it said, but it expects to see initial Wibree devices appearing in early 2007. CSR, Broadcom, Epson and Nordic Semiconductor have all been signed up to develop Wibree and/or Wibree-Bluetooth silicon. ®

Source- http://www.reghardware.co.uk

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