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picoChip Announces Agreement With CETECOM To Supply WiMAX Solutions Into New Test EquipmentPARIS --(Business Wire)-- Feb. 21, 2006 -- picoChip has announced today that it has signed an agreement to work in partnership with Spanish test laboratory and test systems developer Centro de Tecnologia de las Comunicaciones (CETECOM), which is the WiMAX Forum's sole approved testing laboratory for the certification of WiMAX products. Under the terms of the new contract picoChip will supply CETECOM with its multi-core processor arrays and software that will be incorporated into CETECOM's protocol conformance tester, which is being developed jointly with Aeroflex. This platform will be available in 2006 to allow certification testing of 802.16e devices to start before the end of the year, and will provide both BS and SS test suites and sniffer capabilities. The CETECOM WiMAX test suite incorporates a test basestation (BS) and mobile station (MS) that are used to simulate a complete link when characterising the BS and SS equipment under test. picoChip's PC102 picoArray and PC8530 software stack will be used in the same way in these test stations as they would be in an operating network, and offer the advantages of rapid reconfigurability using only upgrades to the software. Commented Joaquin Torrecilla, Chief Technology Officer of CETECOM, "picoChip's wireless solution provides us with a single, very sophisticated and flexible architecture that can be customised for each standard and protocol. We will be able to upscale or upgrade our platform to meet new requirements, or add capability such as support for MIMO, simply by updating the software." Added Doug Pulley, Chief Technical Officer at picoChip, "We are very proud to have been selected by CETECOM, which is one of the most respected bodies in the field of telecoms conformance as witnessed by their status as the the First WiMAX Forum Certification testing lab. Their endorsement of picoChip's technology will enhance our credibility throughout both WiMAX and 3G communities, and should open up some exciting new opportunities for us. We look forward to working with them, and to a mutual exchange of technical expertise." Lindsay Schroth, Senior Analyst, Broadband Access Technologies with the Yankee Group, observed, "There is considerable pent-up demand for advanced services like WiMAX, and one of the key enablers for satisfying this demand is the availability of fully characterized and certified interoperable equipment. picoChip and CETECOM are both companies that are easing WiMAX equipment towards the marketplace. Their coordination will help bring solutions to market for both the operators who are eager to roll out their networks, and the subscribers who are waiting to be connected." Editor's Note: picoArray is a registered trademark of picoChip. All other trademarks and servicemarks are the property of their respective owners. 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 HSDPA) and WiMAX (802.16d upgradeable to 802.16e). http://www.picochip.com CETECOM Spain Centro de Tecnologia de las Comunicaciones SA (CETECOM Spain) is a global supplier of testing solutions for wired and wireless technologies (GSM/GPRS, EDGE, W-CDMA, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, WiMAX, RFID, DECT and PSTN). It services portfolio ranges from conformance, regulatory and interoperability testing services to test systems development, world-wide compliance services, training and consulting. http://www.cetecom.es Aeroflex Test Solutions, Wireless Division Aeroflex Wireless offers a full range of protocol, physical layer and parametric test solutions for the cellular communications industry. Its products address infrastructure and mobile handset testing and support all stages of mobile phone and radio access network equipment development and deployment. Applications include R&D, conformance, production, installation and commissioning, field service, and network optimization. Aeroflex's wireless products test all key 2G, 2.5G and 3G wireless technologies including UMTS, cdmaOne, CDMA2000, TD-SCDMA, GSM, GPRS, and EDGE worldwide. http://www.aeroflex.com |
