There are a number of different companies that are focusing on wireless and/or wireline solutions. These are necessary components in mobile products, and over the past years have been getting more and more integrated and implemented. One such company that designs solutions in this space is ANADIGICS.

ANADIGICS has RFIC solutions for 3G and 4G networks, WiFi, WiMax, and femto cells.  I had an opportunity to talk with Dr. Ali Khatibzadeh, General Manager for RF Products at ANADIGICS about what they are working on, and where they expect things to go in the future.

3G Solutions

ANADIGICS has created partnerships with a number of baseband solutions providers, most notably Qualcomm.  Their latest version of CDMA / EVDO power amplifiers, part of their HELP (high efficiency at low power) family, has integrated couplers.  While the next version is targetted at LTE development, which is seen as being a large growth area in the coming years.

WiFi

WiFi solutions are being designed into a large amount of applications, including smart phone, notbooks and netbooks.  Given the amount of traction that these areas are finding in the market, due in part to their lower price points and more user friendly designs, the amount of WiFi devices being integrated are increasing showing a strong area of growth.

Trends

One of the trends that was identified as being most advantageous is the traction that 3G has received in the market.  Apple leads this with the iPhone 3G and 3G S, but there are a number of other phones that have helped increase the traction, such as the BlackBerry Bold and Storm, Palm Pre, and Samsung Omnia.  This has lead to a lot of growth for companies that are able to get design wins in these phones, including ANADIGICS.

Economy

ANDICICS has seen a slow down in business due to the economy.  This has largely been seen on the broadband side of their business.  However, the cellular side is still growing, being fueled by regions like China and India.

Future

Femto Cells and LTE are seen as the wave of the future.  However, these two solutions are tied together as LTE needs to coincide with the release of Femto Cells to take advantage of a 20MB/s bandwidth.