PMC-Sierra's Baseband to Radio Interface Controller (BRIC(TM)) Family Enables Standards-Based Remote Radio Head Network Topologies
SANTA CLARA, Calif.—(BUSINESS WIRE)—Feb. 13, 2006— PMC-Sierra, Inc. (Nasdaq: PMCS) today announced the PM7830 BRIC(TM)-6 and PM7832 BRIC-2, full-featured 6-port and 2-port termination devices that fully support the Common Public Radio Interface (CPRI) specification for wireless base station interconnect. PMC-Sierra's interface solutions make it possible for OEMs and ODMs to offer all defined Remote Radio Head (RRH) network topologies with a standard digital interconnect for distributed base station systems. The BRIC product family:-- Accelerates the adoption of distributed wireless base station architectures, which dramatically reduces capital and operational expenditures for carriers;
-- Supports multiple air interfaces, including WCDMA, CDMA2000, TD-SCDMA, and WiMAX over CPRI with a single interface solution; and
-- Reduces customer development and bill-of-material (BOM) costs as well as qualification cycle.
Data and multimedia capabilities on handsets drive the need for increased coverage and capacity on the cellular networks. In an effort to grow market share, carriers are seeking to cost-effectively address the increasing network demands by adopting distributed base station architectures through Remote Radio Heads.
"Our investments in wireless products and technology has enabled carriers and system vendors to realize major performance improvements and significant capital and operational savings," said Dino Bekis, vice president of marketing and applications for PMC-Sierra's Communication Products Division. "The BRIC product family is enabling a radical shift in the evolution of 3G wireless networks toward ubiquitous coverage through standards-based distributed architectures."
The BRIC product family reduces customer ASIC/FPGA development cost and qualification by providing a complete, fully compliant end-to-end interface solution. It eliminates the need for any external jitter attenuation circuitry to recover a clock that fully meets CPRI specification requirements. Serial link interface performance and quality is guaranteed through the integration of PMC-Sierra's best-in-class SERDES technology as well as PMC-Sierra's compliance testing.
Reducing Cost While Increasing Reliability
Targeting distributed wireless base station architectures, the BRIC's high-level integration of multiple functions into a single device significantly reduces board real estate, BOM size, programmable logic gate count, customer development and qualification cycles, all of which contribute to lower overall system cost. Integration reduces the number of external components prone to failure, thus providing a more reliable solution and reducing field failures.
Leader in Signal Integrity and High-Performance SERDES Technology
The BRIC delivers standards-exceeding jitter performance by leveraging integration of PMC-Sierra's fifth generation SERDES technology. It offers extensive flexibility in optimizing critical system signal integrity parameters by allowing the fine-tuning of transmitter pre-emphasis, receiver equalization and output voltage swing.
Pricing, Availability and Customer Support
The PM7832 BRIC-2 and PM7830 BRIC-6 will be available in early Q2'06 and Q3'06, respectively. For information on pricing for this device, contact a PMC-Sierra sales representative at www.pmc-sierra.com/contactSales/. A comprehensive support package, including datasheets and application notes is available at www.pmc-sierra.com/wireless.
About PMC-Sierra
PMC-Sierra(TM) is a leading provider of broadband communications and storage semiconductors for enterprise, access, metro, storage, wireless infrastructure, laser printers and customer premises equipment. The company offers worldwide technical and sales support, including a network of offices throughout North America, Europe and Asia. The company is publicly traded on the NASDAQ Stock Market under the PMCS symbol and is included in the S&P 500 Index. For more information, visit www.pmc-sierra.com.
Figure 1: BRIC Application: Network Topology Examples
Figure 2: BRIC Application: High-Density BTS Hotel Applications
For figures visit: http://www.pmc-sierra.com/pressRoom/pdf/BRIC_figures.pdf
For product photo visit: http://www.pmc-sierra.com/pressRoom/images/BRIC_family.jpg
Resources to Extend Your Product Knowledge and Understanding
PMC-Sierra Wireless Products www.pmc-sierra.com/wireless
PMC-Sierra New Products www.pmc-sierra.com/products/newProducts.html
PMC-Sierra Networking Webinars www.pmc-sierra.com/webinars
PMC-Sierra White Papers www.pmc-sierra.com/whitepaper
(C) Copyright PMC-Sierra, Inc. 2006. All rights reserved. Multi-Service Processor is a registered trademark of PMC-Sierra, Inc. PMC, PMCS, PMC-Sierra, and "Thinking You can Build On" are trademarks of PMC-Sierra, Inc. All other trademarks are the property of the respective owners.
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