Science & Technology
Science and Technology
Science and Technology
Thu, January 8, 2009 Sigma?s CoAir UWB-over-Coax Chipset Selected by Lung Hwa Electronics to Deliver Ethernet to Coax Bridge Adapter
LAS VEGAS & MILPITAS, Calif.--([ BUSINESS WIRE ])--Sigma Designs (NASDAQ:SIGM), a leader in digital media processing system-on-chip (SoC) solutions for consumer electronics, today announced the availability of the CoAir® Ethernet to Coax Bridge Adapter from Lung Hwa Electronics, based on Sigma Design's CoAir Ultra Wideband (UWB) chipset. Lung Hwa Electronics is the first major Original Design Manufacturer (ODM) to now offer Sigma's UWB-over-Coax technology to worldwide CE manufacturers, and will be demonstrating the CoAir Ethernet to Coax Bridge Adapter on Thursday, January 8 through Saturday, January 10 at CES inside Las Vegas' Hilton Pavilion, booth # 56016.
Targeted for home networking applications, the solution requires no new cables and will extend the reach of a multimedia network over a home's existing coaxial cables, which are found in over 90% of US households today. Sigma's CoAir technology is ultimately an advanced home networking solution that works with existing home cable infrastructure. It offers a cost-effective way for CE manufacturers to build and bundle home networking capabilities into their home consumer electronics products. The CoAir Ethernet-to-Coax Bridge Adapter is an affordable and easy-to-install home networking product for consumers. Once installed, it also makes wireless in-room video streaming possible, and can be connected to home appliances and PCs with an Ethernet connection.
"A big benefit of our CoAir solution is that it gives CE manufacturers a real way to provide consumers with the ability to deliver high throughputs of data and video over the coaxial cable that are already in place inside their homes," said Hung Nguyen, general manager and VP, Sigma Designs Wireless Products Division. "By selling an Ethernet-to-Coax adapter based on CoAir, Lung Hwa Electronics is pushing the door wide open for UWB-over-Coax solutions, which have the greatest performance, and therefore potential to become a de facto standard for home networking."
With Sigma's CoAir technology, there is no interference with other coax frequency offerings (cable, satellite, or broadcast) or powerful home appliances like microwave ovens. The CoAir Ethernet to Coax Bridge Adapter is the only product on the market today that also supports coax, wireless and Ethernet bridging simultaneously, and greater bandwidths up to 480 Mbps.
Sigma Designs CoAir is the world's first (WiMedia™ Alliance) standards based chipset that supports high bit rate media transport over Coax, Wireless and Gigabit Ethernet for deploying a reliable high speed whole home multimedia network. The UWB radios in the CoAir solution do not interfere with existing signals from satellite, cable or broadcast connections.
"After evaluating other coax solutions, we chose Sigma's CoAir solution because it proved to be the most reliable, trustworthy, and cost efficient, that can coexist with satellite, cable and broadcast TV," said Philomena Pai, Director of Sales of Lung Hwa Electronics. "In addition, Sigma's CoAir allows us to continue to build out our home networking portfolio of products, and ensures our customers the quality service levels they've come to expect."
Lung Hwa's Ethernet-to-Coax Adapter based on Sigma's CoAir is available now, and pricing is below $30 in high volume orders.
More about Sigma's CoAir™
CoAir is the industry's first Ultrawideband and WiMedia™ standard-based chipset with combined wireless, coax and Ethernet capabilities. Developed for worldwide service providers, telcos and consumer electronics manufacturers, Sigma's CoAir chipset is the only technology available in the world today that can simultaneously deliver multiple independent streams of video and data over coax cable, Ethernet cable and wirelessly without compromising quality of service and throughput. It is a high performance solution that can stream abundant content over existing coax to multiple rooms in the house and bridge to Ethernet wires for whole home coverage, up to 330 ft.
CoAir is an all-CMOS solution that is comprised of an RF radio chip (Sigma's B7CW101) and a baseband chip (Sigma's B7CC401). The RF radio chip supports three antennas for a robust and reliable wireless link. The baseband integrates the OFDM PHY baseband, MAC – both based on the WiMedia Alliance standard – and a high performance 32-bit RISC processor. The chipset supports input/output ports for antennas, coaxial cable and Ethernet cable (CAT5). The chipset is also powered by the Transparent, Ubiquitous and Synchronous Cables & Air Network™ (TUSCAN), a patent-pending technology developed by Sigma Designs.
Safe Harbor Statement
This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, including statements regarding the future potential of the CoAir Chipset. Actual results may vary materially due to a number of factors including, but not limited to, general economic conditions, including continuance of the current economic conditions specific to the semiconductor industry, the rate of growth of the UWB market in general, the ramp in demand from our set-top box and telecommunication customers, our ability to deploy and achieve market acceptance for Sigma products in these markets, the ability of our SoCs to compete with other technologies or products in these emerging markets as well as other risks that are detailed from time to time in our SEC reports, including our quarterly report on Form 10-Q as filed December 11, 2008. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date hereof. Sigma undertakes no obligation to publicly release or otherwise disclose the result of any revision to these forward-looking statements that may be made as a result of events or circumstances after the date hereof or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events.
About Sigma Designs, Inc.
Sigma Designs is a leading fabless provider of highly integrated system-on-chip, or SoC, solutions that are used to deliver multimedia entertainment throughout the home. Sigma's SoC solutions combine its semiconductors and software and are a critical component of multiple high-growth, consumer applications that process digital video and audio content, including internet protocol TV, or IPTV, high definition DVD players, high definition TVs, or HDTVs, and portable media players. Headquartered in Milpitas, Calif., Sigma Designs also has sales representatives in the United States, Belgium, China, Japan and Taiwan and sells its products through a third-party distributor in Korea. For more information, please visit Sigma Designs' web site at [ www.sigmadesigns.com ].
About Lung Hwa Electronics
Lung Hwa Electronics, established in 1973, is a publicly listed company in Taiwan Stock Exchange. As an ISO 9001 certified company, we consistently provide professional products to the market and have become one of the leading 3C manufacturers in Taiwan. The company is focused on developing digital home solutions, and its main products include IP Set-top Boxes, DMPs (Digital Media Players), PLCs (Power Line Communications) adapters, and Wireless 802.11n and UWB related products. We design digital home products based on a concept, "Integrating the home entertainment contents into a compact device wirelessly."
