CSR Shows Commitment to Automotive Bluetooth by Guaranteeing BlueCore's Performance Between -40 and +85degC

    RICHARDSON, Texas--Aug. 21, 2002--CSR (Cambridge Silicon Radio) has announced that its second generation single-chip Bluetooth solution, BlueCore2-External, is guaranteed to meet or exceed the Bluetooth specification between -40 and +85degC.
    Every key performance parameter -- including all RF parameters -- is guaranteed to meet or exceed the Bluetooth specification in this temperature range.
    This guarantee applies to the CSR standard reference design, which uses commercial spec components. BlueCore2-External itself has been shown to function correctly up to 105degC.
    Industry experts estimate that up to 70 percent of all mobile phone calls are made from cars. Many consumers realize that holding a mobile phone while driving can be dangerous and is now illegal in some countries. Bluetooth hands-free systems provide a safe, convenient alternative and are set to become the first killer app for automotive Bluetooth.
    CSR can provide everything necessary to assist designers in developing a fully featured Bluetooth hands-free system, including a reference design, circuit descriptions, a complete BOM and all software (including the embedded Bluetooth stack). The hands-free profile runs in external Flash memory but the circuit design may be easily converted to a ROM-based single chip solution.
    Ken Noblitt, Business Development Director for CSR commented, "Bluetooth is set to become the de-facto standard for wireless in-car communications. CSR is the first Bluetooth silicon manufacturer to show a commitment to this market by providing software for the hands free profile and guaranteeing performance over the full in-cabin automotive temperature range. By choosing CSR, OEMs will be able to come to market more quickly with a high quality, low cost product capable of standing up to the rigours of the automotive environment."
    CSR's BlueCore2-External chip allows personal wireless networking when built into a range of consumer devices. BlueCore is the silicon engine driving the Bluetooth market. Its revolutionary all-CMOS, single-chip architecture has captured the imagination of Bluetooth product developers worldwide, and spawned catch-up programs by CSR's competitors. Now in its second generation with even lower power consumption and increased operating range, BlueCore continues to present the market with the smallest and lowest cost solution for Bluetooth-enabling products.
    In the future CSR will make available implementations of new automotive profiles for vehicle diagnostics, streaming video and mp3 file streaming. CSR will also work towards further extending the guaranteed temperature range of BlueCore2-External and future products.

    About CSR

    CSR (Cambridge Silicon Radio) specializes in providing single-chip radio devices to the global market for short-range wireless communications, including Bluetooth(TM). The company's mission is to create the most highly integrated radio devices available, fabricated using standard CMOS technology, to provide its customers with the lowest cost of ownership of high quality digital radio.
    CSR was the first company in the world to offer a true single-chip Bluetooth solution with BlueCore, a fully integrated 2.4 GHz radio, baseband and microcontroller. In Q4 2001 CSR released BlueCore2, its second generation family, and offer developed hardware/software bundles for each of the fastest growing Bluetooth applications markets. Users can combine the chips with the CSR Bluetooth software stack to provide a fully compliant solution for data and voice communications or, used with an upper layer host software stack, CSR is able to offer a complete Bluetooth end-to-end solution.
    CSR has a growing list of major international companies including Microsoft Corp., Samsung, Sony, Compaq, IBM, Fujitsu, LG, ALPS, TDK, 3Com, Mitsumi, Siemens and Motorola, who have already used CSR's BlueCore in the development of a range of Bluetooth products. In fact, up to the end of 2001, 70% of available pre-qualified modules, as listed on the qualified products page of the Bluetooth Special Interest Group (SIG) web site, feature BlueCore and it is in 57% of all qualified Bluetooth v 1.1 enabled end product designs.
    CSR is headquartered in Cambridge, UK, with offices in Richardson, Texas; Tokyo, Japan; Singapore and Aalborg, Denmark.
    More information about CSR can be found on the web site at www.csr.com.