Frontier Silicon launches world's first DMB-Radio profile one compliant tuner

BERLIN, GERMANY: Frontier Silicon, the leading supplier of connected audio technology, will be showing at IFA in Berlin this week the world’'s first mass production receiver module solution for DAB, DAB+ and DMB-Radio, which is fully compliant with the WorldDMB receiver profile 1 standard.

This provides a significant step forward in meeting the needs of manufacturers seeking to deliver a single mass market low power unified digital radio for Europe and Australia thus enabling countries to achieve their plans for digital radio switchover.

The availability of DMB-Radio on Venice 7 is especially significant for France, where the government has mandated that all radio receivers, including car radios, must be equipped with a DMB-Radio tuner by September 2013. As part of the digital radio switchover in France, broadcasters are planning to launch DMB-Radio this year in Paris, Nice and Marseille.

Anthony Sethill, CEO of Frontier Silicon, said: “France is the next major market to drive the switch to digital radio. It is anticipated the French market will represent a sizable opportunity for receiver manufacturers from 2010 with Frontier Silicon’s trusted digital tuner technology at the heart.”

Frontier Silicon was the first company to introduce a mass market solution for DAB+ and is still the only technology provider today shipping DAB+ in volume in Australia and Switzerland.

The Venice 7 module supports DAB, DAB+, DMB-Radio and FM without the additional cost of external SDRAM memory. It includes all interfaces necessary for a fully functional radio, needing only power supply, display, keypad, audio amplifier and speakers to complete a product.

The module is footprint compatible with the world’s best selling DAB/DAB+ solutions Venice 5 and Venice 5.1 – this means radio manufacturers have a fast-to-market upgrade path to offer all major digital radio standards without the need to redesign their product.

The software on Venice 7 provides full flexibility to allow radio manufacturers a high degree of product differentiation through UI customization. Software features include multi-language support, iPod docking with secondary display for artist and track name, power saving features, and an in-the-field firmware upgrade facility via USB.

A fully-qualified radio platform including iPod and iPhone docking support is also available with the Jupiter 7 production-ready reference platform. Compliant with WorldDMB’s Profile 1 specification and low power directives for European and the UK ‘Energy Saving Recommended’ scheme, Jupiter 7 is the leading reference design to drive switchover from FM to digital radio throughout Europe and Australia.

CSR’s high quality wireless audio in Sennheiser Communications’ Bluetooth stereo headsets

BANGALORE, INDIA: CSR today announced that its industry leading BlueCore5-Multimedia Bluetooth platform features in Sennheiser Communications’ two new Bluetooth stereo headsets, the MM400 and MM450 TRAVEL, as well as Sennheiser’s PX 210 BT and PXC 310 BT headphones that also feature apt-X coding.

The BlueCore5-Multimedia platform is an industry leading Bluetooth audio solution enabling flexible yet efficient multimedia devices; it will offer end-users of Sennheiser’s latest wireless headphones superior audio and voice quality over a Bluetooth connection.

Sennheiser and Sennheiser Communications selected CSR’s BlueCore5-Multimedia platform because of its high levels of integration, combining Bluetooth radio, stereo CODEC and battery charger in a single device, with advanced audio quality, versatility and low power consumption, which are key aspects in high performance Bluetooth stereo headsets.

Fully compliant with Bluetooth v2.1+EDR, CSR’s BlueCore5-Multimedia ensures a secure and robust Bluetooth connection and exceptional wireless audio performance for stereo headphones, boasting a signal to noise ratio of -95dB SNR.

Guido Karbautzki, Head of Sales and Marketing at Sennheiser Communications said: “Our customers want wireless headsets that are light and offer long battery life, without compromising on audio quality. By using CSR’s BlueCore technology we were able to offer all of this alongside industry leading Bluetooth connectivity.”

Karbautzki continued: “Thanks to CSR, our new range of stereo headsets will provide users with excellent audio quality for wireless music on the move following our campaign: ‘Enjoy music and never miss a call’."

CSR continues to strengthen its leadership in the headset market through new and innovative software features, and through the Company’s eXtension Partner Program that allows customers to further differentiate their products using third party technologies.

CSR delivers the only Bluetooth platforms on the market that feature an integrated, high performance Digital Signal Processor (DSP). BlueCore5-Multimedia’s flexible architecture allows customers to quickly and easily incorporate additional audio features to enhance the end-user experience and functionality of their designs.

This flexibility allows CSR’s customers to integrate additional features that make products that stand out from the crowd.

“Sennheiser and Sennheiser Communications are renowned for providing products with exceptionally high audio quality and the latest range of headphones and headsets is a great example of this,” said Anthony Murray, Vice President of CSR’s Audio and Consumer Business Unit.

“Sennheiser and Sennheiser Communications are one of the big names in the industry and we are very proud to have collaborated with them on their latest range of Bluetooth stereo headphones and headsets. CSR’s BlueCore platform provides both companies with industry leading wireless connectivity and ensures that the high audio quality is maintained across the wireless link.”

Sennheiser and Sennheiser Communications will be showing off their latest products including the MM400 and MM450 at IFA, the International Consumer Electronics Show, in Berlin, from 4-9 September 2009.

TomTom reveals powerful new TomTom GO x 50 series

BERLIN, GERMANY: TomTom has announced its new flagship series of portable navigation devices, the TomTom GO x50.

The three PNDs; TomTom GO 950, TomTom GO 750 and TomTom GO 550 combine TomTom’s leading IQ Routes technology, stylish design and powerful route calculation with a completely optimised user interface. Full attention has been paid to the integration of TomTom’s routing technologies into the user interface of the device, making it more intuitive and easier to operate.

“As the world’s leading provider of navigation solutions and digital maps, it is our duty to constantly break new ground, developing unique technologies with the sole purpose of making the driver’s journey more reliable, predictable and affordable,” says Corinne Vigreux, Managing Director of TomTom.

“All the models of the new TomTom GO x50 series have been designed to do exactly this. They are fast and easy to operate and take the stress out of any driver’s journey by providing the latest travel and delay times.”

The new TomTom GO x50 series calculates a route faster than ever before and ensures drivers are ready to go within seconds. It uses the world’s largest collection of historical speed profiles. This ever-growing database now includes over 800 billion historic speed measurements of 15 million road kilometres in 24 European countries.

Once on the road, the device is constantly checking if there is faster route, taking changing road conditions into account by using a combination of IQ Routes technology and RDS-TMC information.

Mini-note PC (netbook) shipments grow at twice the rate of notebooks in Q2’09

AUSTIN, USA: In Q2’09, the total notebook PC market posted strong Q/Q and Y/Y growth as units surged past the 38 million mark, as reported in the DisplaySearch Q3’09 Quarterly Notebook PC Shipment and Forecast Report.

The mini-note PC (netbook) market was particularly strong, growing 40 percent Q/Q, which was twice the impressive 22 percent Q/Q growth rate of larger notebook PCs. The strong growth of mini-note PCs drove their share of the portable computer markets to 22.2 percent in Q2’09, as shown in Table 1.

Asus, the pioneer in mini-note PCs, has been steadily losing share because Tier 1 brands like Acer, HP, Dell, Lenovo and Toshiba have become increasingly aggressive in this segment.

Table 1: Notebook and Mini-Note Share of Portable Computer ShipmentsSource: DisplaySearch Q3’09 Quarterly Notebook PC Shipment and Forecast Report.

Mini-note penetration in Latin America and Greater China is higher than notebook PC penetration, as shown in Table 2. The low prices of mini-note PCs make these products more affordable for these emerging markets, and these regions have many first-time PC buyers, who are less likely to require all the bells and whistles available on a larger mainstream notebook PC.

Table 2: Q2’09 Notebook and Mini-Note Shipment Share and Y/Y Growth by RegionSource: DisplaySearch Q3’09 Quarterly Notebook PC Shipment and Forecast Report.

In many regions, telecom providers have been offering subsidized mini-notes for several quarters, which helped propel growth. In Western European countries, a number of telecoms are subsidizing 100 percent of the price of the mini-note when the customer signs a two-year data plan contract.

In North America, telecom providers are aggressively marketing mini-notes with a two-year data plan contract, while some cable providers are offering heavily discounted mini-notes as an incentive to sign a contract for cable TV, Internet and phone service. The incentives have been quite successful in Europe.

In North America, these promotions were only test marketed in Q2’09, so there is insufficient data to determine if they will achieve the same measure of success.
Mini-notes have been a significant contributor to the growth in the portable PC market as their very attractive price points make owning a secondary computer viable for many consumers.

“Mini-note PC screen sizes have increased steadily, from 7.0" to 8.9” and then to 10.2". Some panel makers and brands are promoting 11.6" mini-note displays, leading to an overlap with ultraportable notebooks. However, the higher prices of these larger netbooks diminish their cost advantage.

In addition to many other key players in the supply chain, Microsoft indicated it is their desire to increase the ASP of mini-notes. A significant increase to the ASP of mini-notes may deter consumers that are predominantly using mini-notes as secondary PCs,” said John F. Jacobs, Director of Notebook Market Research.

Rangsons Electronics first to be awarded AS 9100 certification

MYSORE, INDIA: Rangsons Electronics pvt ltd, a leading EMS company in India has been awarded with AS 9100 instituted by the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE). This is a globally recognized aerospace industry standard. This defines the quality system requirements for suppliers to the industry.

Rangsons is the first Indian EMS company to implement a Quality Management System in accordance with ISO 9001:2008 and AS 9100 B. While the certification gives recognition to Rangsons Electronics as a quality supplier to the aerospace industry, it also provides its customers with the benefits of best-in-class solutions.

The certification ensures reduced cost of quality due and demonstrates Rangsons Electronics’ process oriented thinking along with commitment to provide value. The scope of the certificate includes contract manufacture of printed circuit board assemblies and cable harness for aerospace application.

S.T. Hebbar, President of Rangsons said: “Rangsons Electronics has achieved one of the highest ratings for the various audits conducted. The certification affirms Rangsons Electronics perseverance to provide greater value to its customers through top quality solutions in the aerospace segment. Aerospace products are intricate and complex with customer expectations for safety, reliability and consistency over extended periods of time."

"Our goal is to provide a superior product to our customers through value additions and continuous improvement of manufacturing processes and operational performances."

The aerospace industry is a strategic industry vertical for Rangsons Electronics and this certification is a testimony to quality of production and establishing itself as the Global partner to Aerospace OEMs.

Axis strengthens its position on global security market

BANGALORE, INDIA: Axis Communications has maintained its strong market leading position for network cameras and further improved its position in the category -- global vendors providing video surveillance equipment. This was published in a latest report from IMS Research.

The 2009 edition of the annual IMS Research report “The World Market for CCTV & Video Surveillance Equipment” is based on data compiled in 2008 and provides an overall view of the video surveillance market for both traditional analog manufacturers and the network video market where Axis is active.

In the report, Axis is ranked fourth in the world in the category -- vendors providing video surveillance equipment -- compared with sixth place last year. Axis retains as number three in the world in the security cameras category, which includes analog as well as network cameras. In the network cameras category, Axis is identified as clear market leader and retains its market leading position.

“The fact that Axis strengthened the company’s position in the overall security surveillance category and now ranks as one of the four largest vendors providing video surveillance equipment shows that the ongoing shift from analog to digital surveillance continued at a strong pace in 2008”, says Ray Mauritsson, President of Axis Communications.

"In just three short years Axis Communications has moved from being the 12th largest vendor of video surveillance equipment globally to the 4th spot in 2008 -- an impressive and noteworthy achievement by any standard. Axis Communications remains the largest provider of network video surveillance equipment by market share globally", says Alastair Hayfield, Senior Market Research Analyst, IMS Research.

Axis focuses on the professional segment of the network video market with customers in sectors including education, transportation and government. In the IMS report these customer segments are identified as the largest growth areas for network video in the coming years.