Altair Semiconductor and Aeroflex Announce Joint LTE Collaboration

HOD HASHARON, Israel and STEVENAGE, United Kingdom, Feb. 9 /PRNewswire/ -- Altair Semiconductor, a 4G chip company developing the world's most advanced mobile semiconductors for handheld devices, and Aeroflex, the leading global provider of Long Term Evolution (LTE) test equipment, today announced a joint LTE collaboration.

Through the collaboration, Altair and Aeroflex will perform interoperability testing (IOT) to enable joint customer development and testing on a pre-tested and qualified User Equipment (UE) test setup. Following an intensive evaluation period Altair has ordered multiple 7100 LTE digital radio test sets from Aeroflex, with the first delivery in January 2010.

For several months, Altair and Aeroflex have collaborated on IOT of their respective products -- Aeroflex's 7100 digital radio test set, and Altair's recently announced FourGee™ LTE USB ExpressCard UE. Altair's LTE data card has also undergone extensive IOT with additional partners and vendors and is currently being used in various field activities.

"Altair's collaboration with Aeroflex is not only beneficial for both organizations but, more importantly, brings tremendous value to our customers and partners," said Eran Eshed, co-founder and vice president of marketing and business development for Altair Semiconductor. "Companies developing products based on Altair's LTE chips and software and using Aeroflex test equipment will find using the Aeroflex 7100 extremely useful and easy. We had already done all of the prep work to ensure a seamless integration. As LTE expands on a global scale, we look forward to further expanding our collaboration with Aeroflex."  

Altair's FourGee™ LTE USB ExpressCard UE is one of the industry's first Category-3 data card solutions. Based on Altair's FourGee-3100/6200 baseband/RFIC LTE chipset, the ExpressCard is an ideal test and IOT UE platform for system vendors and carriers involved in the development, trialing, and deployment of LTE systems. The FourGee™ LTE USB ExpressCard UE is also a reference design for terminal manufacturers working to develop commercial products based on the FourGee™ family of LTE chips.  

"Aeroflex is proud to have the endorsement of Altair for our new 7100 LTE digital radio test set. Altair is a technology leader in LTE. We've worked closely together to prove Altair's and Aeroflex's new LTE products. We are very pleased with the success," said Ryan Panos, vice president of global sales, Aeroflex Test Solutions. "We look forward to continued collaboration with Altair in the future."

Altair and Aeroflex will be at GSMA 2010 Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, February 15-18, 2010. Aeroflex will be demonstrating the Altair FourGee™ device with the 7100 LTE digital radio test set. Aeroflex will also demonstrate the seamless integration and testing capability of the 7100 digital radio test set combined with the Aeroflex TM500 Test Mobile. The Aeroflex TM500 Test Mobile family has established itself worldwide as the "gold standard" reference mobile for cellular infrastructure equipment manufacturers.

Altair's FourGee™ LTE USB ExpressCard UE feature highlights

• Category-3 speeds of 100Mbps download and 50Mbps upload
• Power consumption within the USB specification power budget (<2.5W)
• ExpressCard34 form factor with a USB2.0 HS host interface
• Available in select FDD/TDD bands in the range of 700M-2700MHz
• Full-featured, IOT tested LTE L1 and protocol stack
• The FourGee™ LTE USB ExpressCard UE is part of Altair's comprehensive portfolio for LTE, which also includes:
• FourGee™-3100 – an LTE CAT-3 baseband processor
• FourGee™-6150 – a MIMO LTE RF transceiver that supports LTE-TDD
• FourGee™-6200 – a multi-band LTE MIMO transceiver that covers all global FDD/TDD bands

About the Aeroflex 7100 Series Digital Radio Test Set

Based on Aeroflex's tried and tested RF and baseband technology, the 7100 Series digital radio test set is unique in its support of both RF parametric and protocol testing for LTE terminal devices. The 7100 Series simulates a network from the physical layer to the core network IP infrastructure. Focused on the R&D market -- from components to handsets -- the Aeroflex 7100 Series is a comprehensive test system for LTE mobile devices incorporated into a small footprint, single bench-top instrument.

About Altair Semiconductor

Altair Semiconductor is the world's leading developer of ultra-low power, small footprint and high performance 4G semiconductors. The company's products provide device manufacturers integrating any 4G technology into their products with a highly power-optimized, robust and cost-effective solution. Altair's comprehensive product portfolio includes baseband processors, multi-band RF transceivers for both FDD and TDD bands, and a range of reference hardware and product level protocol stack software. Based on a novel, proprietary Software Defined Radio (SDR) processor, codenamed "O2P™", Altair's products are the smallest and most highly power optimized in the industry, offering an unmatched combination of flexibility and performance.

Altair is privately held and has raised a total of $48M in three rounds of financing from investors, including Bessemer Venture Partners, BRM Capital, ETV Capital, Giza Venture Capital, Jerusalem Venture Partners, and Pacific Technology Fund. More information about Altair Semiconductor can be found at www.altair-semi.com.

About Aeroflex

Aeroflex Incorporated is a global provider of high technology solutions to the aerospace, defense, cellular and broadband communications markets. The Company's diverse technologies allow it to design, develop, manufacture and market a broad range of test, measurement and microelectronic products. Aeroflex Incorporated was founded in 1937 and today has more than 2,600 employees worldwide. Additional information concerning Aeroflex Incorporated can be found on the company's web site: www.aeroflex.com.

All statements other than statements of historical fact included in this press release regarding Aeroflex's business strategy and plans and objectives of its management for future operations are forward-looking statements. When used in this press release, words such as "anticipate," "believe," "estimate," "expect," "intend" and similar expressions, as they relate to Aeroflex or its management, identify forward-looking statements. Such forward-looking statements are based on the current beliefs of Aeroflex's management, as well as assumptions made by and information currently available to its management. Actual results could differ materially from those contemplated by the forward-looking statements as a result of certain factors, including but not limited to, competitive factors and pricing pressures, changes in legal and regulatory requirements, technological change or difficulties, product development risks, commercialization difficulties and general economic conditions. Such statements reflect our current views with respect to the future and are subject to these and other risks, uncertainties and assumptions.  Aeroflex does not undertake any obligation to update such forward-looking statements.

SOURCE Altair Semiconductor

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