Airspan Networks selects Texas Instruments' KeyStone™ SoCs for next-generation small cell backhaul platforms

BARCELONA, Spain, Feb. 24, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- MOBILE WORLD CONGRESS -- Texas Instruments (TI) (NASDAQ: TXN) and Airspan Networks Inc., a global provider of 4G broadband wireless systems and solutions, announced a new collaboration –  Airspan's Small Cell LTE solution, AirSynergy.  With TI's KeyStone^TM-based wireless infrastructure System-on-Chips (SoCs), Airspan is able to leverage their software investment and enhance functionality and performance of their LTE small cell with a range of integrated wireless backhaul options including support for both LTE relay and hybrid non-line-of-sight (NLOS) connectivity. TI's KeyStone technology enables Airspan to deliver a small cell product which is significantly differentiated from their competition.

"We are confident that adopting TI's wireless infrastructure solutions is a game changer for Small Cell LTE deployments," said Paul Senior, CTO, Airspan. "The integration of wireless backhaul with the outdoor pico eNB dramatically reduces overall small cell TCO. By leveraging the advanced features that the platform can support ensures consistent quality of experience as a user moves between macro and pico RAN layers."

Leveraging TI's platform for its next generation of small cell backhaul products, Airspan offers a highly flexible Software Defined Radio (SDR) platform enabling multi-mode operation including LTE relay and complementary alternative wireless backhaul options. Starting with 3GPP Release 10, Airspan's AirSynergy solution has a roadmap to LTE-Advanced with capacity enhancing features such as carrier aggregation. With options for tight integration with outdoor pico cell eNB, TI's KeyStone-based solution forms the heart of Airspan's Software Defined Networking (SDN) solution for small cell backhaul over multiple wireless and wireline technologies.

TI's wireless infrastructure SoCs leverage the fastest dual ARM® Cortex® -A15 RISC processors and TI's fixed- and floating-point TMS320C66x digital signal processor (DSP) generation cores as part of TI's highly efficient KeyStone SoC architecture. Additionally TI's broad resources bring the most comprehensive portfolio of processing, software and complementary support devices to Airspan. TI also offers a complimentary portfolio of analog components, including the AFE7500 analog front end (AFE) transceiver, clock and timer, and Power over Ethernet (PoE+) solutions for both ends of the cable. This places TI in a unique position in the industry to meet small cell backhaul challenges at a system level.

"We are excited to be collaborating with Airspan on their next-generation AirSynergy small cell solution," said Ruwanga Dassanayake, worldwide business manager, communications infrastructure, TI. "Airspan is generating buzz in this fast growing market with their integrated outdoor pico small cell and backhaul approach, and we look forward to seeing their small cell solution deployed in the field quickly."

Visit TI @ Mobile World Congress
While at MWC, visit TI at 2A4MR and 2B3MR to learn more about the latest communications infrastructure news, and to check out a broad range of TI-based demos. For more information please contact: Ruwanga Dassanayake, WW Business Manager at [email protected].

For more information:

• Read the TCI6631K2L product bulletin and wireless backhaul white paper
• Watch the TCI6631K2L product video and Ask The Experts video
• Read the TCI6636 product bulletin
• Visit TI's new small cell website
• Keep up with the latest happenings on the Multicore Mix blog
• Engage with engineers and TI experts on the TI E2E™ Community
• Follow TI on Twitter
• Become a fan of TI on Facebook

About TI's KeyStone multicore architecture
Texas Instruments' KeyStone multicore architecture is the platform for true multicore innovation, offering developers a robust portfolio of high performance, low-power multicore devices. Unleashing breakthrough performance, the KeyStone architecture is the foundation upon which TI's new TMS320C66x DSP generation was developed. KeyStone differs from any other multicore architecture as it has the capacity to provide full processing capability to every core in a multicore device. KeyStone-based devices are optimized for high performance markets including wireless base stations, mission critical, test and automation, medical imaging and high performance computing. Learn more at www.ti.com/multicore.

About Airspan Networks Inc.
Airspan (OTC Markets: AIRO) is a leading 4G LTE Small Cell solution provider, with over 1000 customers in over 100 countries. Airspan is regularly recognized as a leader and pioneer in 4G LTE and Small Cell technologies. Airspan has an expansive product portfolio, which includes indoor and outdoor Pico cells, and all-outdoor, compact Micro and Macro base stations, a wide variety of user devices, and advanced core network products. These connectivity solutions operate in bands from 400 MHz up to 6.4 GHz. For more information see www.airspan.com.

About Texas Instruments
Texas Instruments Incorporated (TI) is a global semiconductor design and manufacturing company that develops analog ICs and embedded processors. By employing the world's brightest minds, TI creates innovations that shape the future of technology. TI is helping more than 100,000 customers transform the future, today. Learn more at www.ti.com.

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SOURCE Texas Instruments