Altair Semiconductor Completes LTE Band Class 14 Interoperability Testing with Alcatel-Lucent

HOD HA'SHARON, Israel, January 17, 2012 /PRNewswire/ --

Altair Semiconductor (http://www.altair-semi.com), a leading developer of ultra-low power, small footprint and high performance 4G LTE chipsets, today announced that its FourGee-3100/6200 chipset has successfully completed Band 14 interoperability testing with Alcatel-Lucent infrastructure.

Band 14 spectrum, which is in the 700 MHz frequency, has been allocated by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) for public safety broadband use in the United States. Public safety broadband solutions over LTE will enable first responders, such as fire and police departments and medical personnel, to quickly and reliably communicate with each other and share vital information over high-speed, wireless networks.  

"This achievement with Alcatel-Lucent places Altair in a unique position as we are one of the only chip companies with a commercial Band 14 chipset, and the first chip company to complete comprehensive Band 14 testing with Alcatel-Lucent," said Eran Eshed, Co-Founder and VP of Marketing and Business Development at Altair Semiconductor. "The public safety market is very strategic for Altair, and as a pioneer in this space, we expect to significantly capitalize on its growth in the coming years."

Alcatel-Lucent was the first network equipment manufacturer to showcase a commercial grade LTE network operating in the Band 14 spectrum, and it continues to lead the development of an LTE ecosystem of devices and applications in support of public safety.

"Compatible communications systems will enable America's first responders to be much more effective in protecting the public during emergency situations," said Morgan Wright, Vice President for End to End Public Safety LTE at Alcatel-Lucent.  "Alcatel-Lucent is eager to collaborate with innovative companies such as Altair to create the communications ecosystem public safety organizations need to carry out their vital duties of keeping communities safe."

Altair's FourGee-3100/6200 chipset supports both FDD and TDD variants using single software, and covers any LTE frequency band in the range between 700-2700MHz. The chipset implements a high performance MIMO receiver and is based on a proprietary O²P™ Software Defined Radio (SDR) processor, offering performance which significantly exceeds traditional communications DSP cores, yet consumes a fraction of the power. The combined chipset offers terminal manufacturers a true global solution.

Recently, Harris Corporation, a leading public safety terminal vendor, selected Altair's chipset for integration in its Public Safety LTE terminal products.

About Altair Semiconductor

Altair Semiconductor is the world's leading developer of ultra-low power, small footprint and high performance 4G semiconductors. Altair's chipsets can be found in approximately 30 end-user devices - ranging from USB dongles to smartphones - built by its more than 15 customers across North America, Europe, China, India and Taiwan - making it one of the only TDD/FDD LTE chipset manufacturers in the world with commercially available products. 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. For more information, visit the company's website at http://www.altair-semi.com. Follow Altair on Twitter: @AltairSemi.

Media Contact:

Ruder Finn Israel for Altair Semiconductor
Matthew Krieger
+972-544-676-950
[email protected]

SOURCE Altair Semiconductor