Monday, May 26, 2008

Technology: Altair Semiconductor to provide power efficient chipsets

Altair Semiconductor to provide power efficient chipsets to WILLCOM Inc. for next generation PHS Technology

Hod Hasharon (ANTARA News/PRNewswire-AsiaNet) - Altair Semiconductor (Altair), a fabless chip company developing the world's most advanced 4G mobile semiconductors for handheld devices, today announced it has been selected to supply the chipsets for wireless devices operating on WILLCOM Inc.'s (WILLCOM) next generation Personal Handyphone System ("XG-PHS") in Japan.

WILLCOM, Japan's largest PHS technology operator, chose Altair after an extensive evaluation of chipset solutions from semiconductor suppliers around the world. Under the terms of the agreement between the two companies, Altair will supply its ALTx150 series ultra-low power and high performance chipsets to WILLCOM's authorized ecosystem of mobile handset and handheld device manufacturers.

"WILLCOM is the pioneer of PHS deployment in Japan and has an extraordinary track record for pushing the envelope on performance and service quality," said Oded Melmed, CEO and a co-founder of Altair. "WILLCOM's selection of Altair's chipset validates our development of highly flexible and power-efficient processors that allow us to address different 4G markets and technologies with a single semiconductor platform. We felt a relationship with WILLCOM would be highly strategic in the early stages of our initial feasibility study, conducted with Harel-Hertz Investment House, who we also worked with through the project negotiations."

WILLCOM, one of only two licensees of 2.5GHz mobile broadband spectrum in Japan, will deploy its next generation PHS network using orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing access (OFDMA) technology that is architected to achieve higher capacity and lower cost per bit compared to traditional 3 and 3.5G cellular technologies.

"In order to reach our goal to offer the highest capacity and best performing wireless network in the world, we needed to equip our device manufacturers with a flexible, low-power consumption chipset," said Yoshioki Chika, executive vice president of WILLCOM. "Altair's world-class multi-mode 4G chipset portfolio, and its underlying O2P processor architecture, which is capable of supporting a wide range of OFDMA standards, allow us to benefit from high volume pricing and field proven semiconductors. It is the perfect fit for our needs."

About Altair Semiconductor

Altair is the world's leading developer of ultra-low power, small footprint and high performance mobile semiconductors that take broadband bandwidth beyond notebooks and USB adaptors to un-tethered, battery-operated handheld devices. The company's products provide handheld device manufacturers with a highly power-optimized, robust and cost-effective solution. Altair is privately held and has raised a total of $26M in two rounds of financing.
For more information, visit http://www.altair-semi.com.

Altair's XG-PHS chipset for Willcom will be distributed through its agent in Japan, Internix Inc. For more information, visit http://www.internix.co.jp.

For enquiries on Altair's products please email altair@internix.co.jp.

About WILLCOM, Inc.

WILLCOM, Inc. is a leading mobile data telecommunications company, providing PHS services in Japan. In addition to data telecommunications, WILLCOM introduced the "WILLCOM Flat-Rate Plan" in May 2005, the industry's first fixed-rate voice communication service. WILLCOM has also introduced a series of other new services to the market, and currently has more than 4.60 million cumulative subscribers (as of April 2008). For more information (available in English and Japanese), visit WILLCOM's website at http://www.willcom-inc.com/.

Media Contacts: Todd Barrish / Amanda Lordy Dukas Public Relations 212-704-7385 Todd@dukaspr.com / Amanda@dukaspr.com Reader Contact Information Ha'harash Street, P.O Box 7158, Hod Hasharon 45240 Israel Tel: +972-9-7403045, Fax: +972-9-7403049
info@altair-semi.com http://www.altair-semi.com

SOURCE: Altair Semiconductor
CONTACT: Todd Barrish, Todd@dukaspr.com,
or Amanda Lordy, Amanda@dukaspr.com,
both of Dukas Public Relations, +1-212-704-7385, for Altair Semiconductor
Web site: http://www.altair-semi.com

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