Qualcomm's (NASDAQ:QCOM) latest small-cell system-on-chip (SoC) targets operators that want to extend LTE and Wi-Fi into neighborhoods and small-to-medium-size businesses.
The FSM90xx SoC, unveiled at the Small Cells World Summit in London by the company's Qualcomm Technologies subsidiary, includes the Qualcomm Internet Processor (IPQ), which features a packet-processing engine that handles a variety of networking functions, including Wi-Fi and LTE communications.
"Hardware accelerators have been built into the chipset to speed up data processing for both radio technologies, which allows for significant bill of materials savings, both from a hardware perspective and in terms of reducing overall development time needed for system integration," Qualcomm said.
In addition, the FSM90xx is based on 28-nanometer technology, which offers better power consumption and minimizes the total cost for very high-volume applications. It is designed for easy integration with existing products, including residential broadband gateways and Wi-Fi routers deployed in small and medium-size businesses.
Dan Rabinovitsj, senior vice president of Qualcomm Atheros, characterized the new SoC as a "mass-market solution to enable the deployment of small cells anywhere and everywhere."
Qualcomm noted that the FSM90xx integrates self-organizing network (SON) techniques through Qualcomm UltraSON software, which runs on the company's FSM and DAN chipsets.
The new SoC is a follow-up to the FSM99xx, which was introduced last year and is now commercially available.
The FSM90xx SoC is expected to sample in the second half of 2014.
For more:
- see this Qualcomm release
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