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.