[February 15, 2012]

Mindspeed's Dual-Mode Small Cell SoCs Bring Picochip's Widely Adopted 3G Technology to High-Performance Transcede LTE Platform

Mindspeed Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ: MSPD), the industry leader in technology for small cell base stations, today announced the most advanced system-on-chip (SoC) solution for dual-mode concurrent 3G and long-term evolution (LTE (News - Alert)) operation. Mindspeed's latest additions to its Transcede® family of SoCs are sampling now, and extend the company's small cell product portfolio to include solutions for residential, enterprise and metro infrastructure segments. The products will incorporate widely deployed 3G technology from Picochip, which Mindspeed acquired in January.

Mindspeed®'s Transcede family of processors are complete NodeB and eNodeB SoC solutions that support concurrent 3G and LTE processing in a single device, including time division synchronous code division multiple access (TD-SCDMA), wideband code division multiple access (WCDMA)/ evolved high speed packet access (HSPA+) and both frequency division duplexing LTE (FDD-LTE) and time division duplexing LTE (TDD-LTE), with a roadmap to LTE-Advanced (LTE-A). Combining 3G and LTE processing capabilities into a single chip is more cost effective for original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), and the inclusion of a carrier-class physical-layer (PHY) software solution for both 3G and LTE will accelerate time to market, while simplifying development and reducing risk. The Transcede T22xx series comes in product variants targeting residential, small office/home office (SOHO) and small enterprise applications. Multiple T33xx series options are available for enterprise, metro and pico applications.

"We are moving quickly to combine Mindspeed's and Picochip's expertise and portfolios into an offering that is uniquely positioned to help carriers address the challenge of relentlessly growing data demand," said Raouf Y. Halim, chief executive officer of Mindspeed. "Our new dual-mode solutions will enable operators to support both 3G and LTE in a single unit, dramatically improving their business case by delivering twice the benefit at half the traditional per-node opex and capex costs. The Transcede devices will also enable operators to improve existing 3G network quality, while providing more capacity for their subscriber base without the need for additional investments."

Mindspeed's T22xx and T33xx solutions support all 3GPP standards, combining the company's production-ready LTE PHY software with Picochip's field-proven HSPA software on Mindspeed's optimized LTE platform. Picochip has deployed more than one millon 3G product units with associated PHY software, and Mindspeed has won nearly 30 customer designs for its Transcede platform. By offering the two companies' small cell technologies in a single, market-leading multi-mode platform, Mindspeed will enable wireless carriers to upgrade their 3G networks to support what AT&T (News - Alert) recently estimated has been a 5000 percent increase in data demand over the past three years alone. Small cells are seen as a crucial component for meeting this demand by maximizing use of today's limited available radio spectrum.

"We expect that shipments of semiconductors for femtocells and picocells will grow tenfold by 2017," said Joe Madden, Principal Analyst at Mobile Experts. "Small cells are critical for supporting future mobile data demand, and dual-mode functionality will be essential for the best use of limited spectrum. Mindspeed leads the market in LTE design engagements with its Transcede family, and the addition of Picochip's 3G technology to this platform creates an extremely attractive proposition for OEMs developing multi-mode small cells."

Technical Features

• Highly Integrated Solution: Transcede family devices deliver dual-mode concurrent 3G and LTE processing at the highest possible performance using a combination of the latest ARM (News - Alert)® Cortex A9 multi-core symmetric multiprocessing (SMP) reduced instruction set computer (RISC) processors from ARM, coupled with CEVA (News - Alert)®'s latest CEVA-XC 323 digital signal processors (DSPs). The integrated SoC reduces system latency as compared to solutions that split processing between discrete network processors and DSPs. Transcede devices also include built-in hardware accelerators for important fixed functions, and integrate other key system features to further reduce system costs and provide sufficient processing capacity for value added applications.
• Scalable Platform for API-Compatible Designs Spanning Broad Range of Performance Requirements: Transcede is designed to use the same open software architecture across many product family members, spanning multiple price and performance points. Software developed on one Transcede device can be ported to other family members across the full range of NodeB and eNodeB product platforms. The latest T22xx and T33xx solutions also offer key additional features required for small cell solutions such as secure boot, one time programmable memories, universal subscriber identity module (USIM) interfaces and glueless connectivity to local radio transceivers.

Mindspeed offers the industry's most complete portfolio of small cell SoCs, ranging from cost-effective 3G-only residential solutions, through the new T22xx and T33xx devices, and on up to micro/macro-class solutions supporting hundreds of subscribers. Transcede products are supported by a reference design that includes RF module integration, a real-time Linux board support package and a standards-compliant PHY implementation for LTE and W-CDMA and TD-SCDMA, with associated utilities and test scripts.

Mobile World Congress (News - Alert) 2012

Mindspeed will host demonstrations and meetings for customers, partners, press and analysts at Mobile World Congress 2012 in booth 1E.57 at the Fira Montjuïc in Barcelona, Spain from February 27 to March 1, 2012. The new products will be shown alongside the industry's broadest portfolio of small cell solutions, which includes other members of Mindspeed's award-winning Transcede family plus Picochip's 3G portfolio.

Availability

The Transcede T22xx and T33xx series products are available now in sample quantities, with volume production scheduled to begin in the fourth calendar quarter of 2012. They are packaged in 21x21mm and 31x31mm high-performance flip-chip ball grid array (HFC-BGA).

About Mindspeed Technologies

Mindspeed Technologies (NASDAQ: MSPD) is a leading provider of network infrastructure semiconductor solutions to the communications industry. The company's low-power system-on-chip (SoC) products are helping to drive video, voice and data applications in worldwide fiber-optic networks and enable advanced processing for 3G and long-term evolution (LTE) mobile networks. The company's high-performance analog products are used in a variety of optical, enterprise, industrial and video transport systems. Mindspeed's products are sold to original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) around the globe.

To learn more, please visit www.mindspeed.com. Company news and updates are also posted at www.twitter.com/mindspeed.

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