CSR and Realtek partner to deliver Bluetooth v3.0 + HS and 802.11n into PCs and netbooks

CSR's Bluetooth and Realtek's Wi-Fi offer flexible and high-speed wireless design

October 29, 2009 -- CSR (LSE: CSR) today announced that it has partnered with one of Taiwan's leading wireless communication IC design houses, Realtek, to deliver a family of Bluetooth v3.0 + High Speed (HS) and 802.11n module designs for the PC and netbook markets. These CSR PC BlueCore-based designs support the latest Bluetooth SIG specifications to enable high data transfer speeds by using the PC's Wi-Fi radio to cope with larger file sizes. In addition to its implementation of the CSR9000 platform, already driving Bluetooth v3.0+ HS in embedded markets, CSR is now also enabling complete wireless solutions for the PC market using the CSR PC BlueCore in partnership with Realtek.

The PC and netbook markets are a growing opportunity for CSR's Bluetooth silicon. This partnership with Realtek forms an integral part of CSR's ongoing strategy in the PC market and elsewhere to provide the benefits of Bluetooth and other short range wireless technologies to as many customers as possible.

Bluetooth's huge success and high attach rate in mobile devices has been down to its ease-of-use, power-efficiency and flexibility. Bluetooth v3.0 + HS builds on this success with the Alternate MAC/PHY (AMP) specification which combines the best of two technologies; the familiar interface and the option of low-power operation inherent to Bluetooth, and the speed of Wi-Fi. Thanks to the AMP architecture defined by the Bluetooth SIG, these new modules can switch between CSR's PC BlueCore Bluetooth radio and Realtek's Wi-Fi radio seamlessly while transferring small or large files such as word documents or videos from a notebook to a handset. In this way the modules can ensure maximum speed and power efficiency while only presenting one unified interface to the user.

"CSR was amongst the first companies to qualify a Bluetooth v3.0 + HS product and this partnership is the next step in delivering the high-speed, power efficient data transfer rates of Bluetooth v3.0 to the PC and netbook markets," said Anthony Murray, Senior Vice President of CSR's Audio and Consumer Business Unit. "Our strategy through this partnership is to give our customers the flexibility to combine our best-in-class Bluetooth platform with their preferred Wi-Fi supplier."

"Thanks to the partnership with CSR we can offer our customers a low cost and highly effective way to integrate the latest Bluetooth and Wi-Fi technology," said Luke Huang, Vice President of Realtek Communications Network Business Unit. "CSR is a market leader in Bluetooth and its silicon contributes to our module delivering industry-leading connectivity to PC and netbook users."

Realtek's 802.11n single-chip in 65nm LP process technology combines with CSR's PC BlueCore to enable fully designed PCIe half minicards with high speed Bluetooth and Wi-Fi to benefit PC and netbooks users.

More information can be found at http://www.csr.com/