Marvell Introduces New Mobile Platform For $99 Smartphone Creation

Today's smartphone market is hotter and more competitive than ever before, and for the first time in history, chip makers are coming to the forefront of innovation. They've always been important, but finally consumers are starting to recognize the technology that makes their phone tick, and these days, makes it play videos, games, and all sorts of things that couldn't be done on a smartphone just five years ago.

Today, Marvell is introducing a new series of chipset solutions for smartphone makers: the Pantheon platform. The Pantheon chipset platform incorporates Marvell’s Advanced Modem Technology, seamless wireless connectivity, and multimedia processing to enable a faster mobile Internet experience. The flagship product is the new ARMADA 618, which offers CPU cores with PC-class performance, integrated 1080p full-HD encode and decode, and the ability to chew through 3D titles.

Best of all, this stuff is being built cheaply, hoping to launch a new wave of sub-$100 smartphones that could really take off in emerging markets and give the existing class leaders a serious reason to stay one step ahead. As devices continue to converge, these chips will likely prove extremely important in the grand scheme of things. We're expecting a whole new breed of phones to emerge as Mobile World Congress gets going in Spain, and judging by the specs here, we'd guess that at least a few mobile makers will be tapping Marvell's door to get some ARMADA beneath the enclosure.

Marvell Drives $99 Smartphones to Market with

New Pantheon Platform

 

Pantheon-Powered Smartphones Support Android, Windows Mobile, and

Other Leading Operating Systems

 

Santa Clara, California (February 12, 2010) —Marvell(NASDAQ: MRVL), a worldwide leader in integrated silicon solutions,today reinforced its leadership position in processing, analog,communications, and multimedia technology by announcing a new platformfor smartphone manufacturers: the Pantheon™ platforms. The newplatforms are designed to provide breakthrough levels of integrationthat inherently lower the bill of materials for mobile devices whileoffering consumers excellent performance, connectivity, and compellinguser experience.

“Marvellis delivering the platform for a $99 smartphone that provides instantaccess, live content, high performance 3D mobile gaming, rich HD mediaand a wealth of applications. That is what today’s ‘always-onconsumers’ want,” said Ms. Weili Dai, Marvell's Co-founder and VicePresident and General Manager of Marvell Semiconductor’s Consumer andComputing Business Unit. “Marvell’s versatile platform solutions havebeen making high-volume smartphones more powerful, functional andaffordable for more than a decade. The new generation of platforms weare shipping today offer higher performance and greater integration ofonboard functionality—which lowers the manufacturing costs and makesthe mass market $99 smartphone very real.”

ThePantheon platform incorporates Marvell’s advanced modem technology,seamless wireless connectivity, and superior multimedia processing toenable superior mobile Internet experiences. Pantheon-poweredsmartphones deliver high-quality consumer experiences that are designedto include rich user interfaces; instant live HD quality video; highperformance 3D mobile gaming; extended music playback; other popularhandset applications; and long battery life.

Pantheonsolutions include powerful application processors, field-hardenedcellular modems, radio frequency devices, intelligent power management,power-efficient Wi-Fi/Bluetooth/FM connectivity and the software andsystem expertise needed to bring new features to market more quickly.The Marvell Pantheon platforms are currently sampling to top tiercustomers. Pricing is available upon request.

Marvell at MWC

Marvell’s latest technologies will be showcased at MWC in Barcelona. Customers and press can come by the Marvell booth for demonstrations at the Courtyard 18 location.  

About Pantheon Platforms

ThePantheon platforms reflect an architectural evolution of Marvell'sfield-proven tri-core architecture solution. Built from the ground-upto deliver extremely cost effective, high performance highly integratedsystems, the Pantheon platforms have over 800Mhz dedicated ARMcompliant application processors, dual ARM and DSP processors for modemfunctionality, 720p video, over 20 million triangles, DirectX, Open GLES 2.0 compliant 3D graphics, MIPI compliant camera, RF interfaces, andsupport for Android™, Windows Mobile™ and other leading operatingsystems (OS).

About Marvell

Marvell(NASDAQ: MRVL) is a world leader in the development of storage,communications, and consumer silicon solutions. The company’s diverseproduct portfolio includes switching, transceiver, communicationscontroller, wireless, and storage solutions that power the entirecommunications infrastructure including enterprise, metro, home, andstorage networking. As used in this release, the terms “company” and“Marvell” refer to Marvell Technology Group Ltd. and its subsidiaries.For more information, visithttp://www.marvell.com?c=1.

 

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Marvell Drives Live Content, Multimedia, and High-end Mobile Gaming for Smartphones

 

NewARMADA 618 Application Processor Powers Next-Generation Smartphoneswith Gigahertz-Class CPU, Integrated 1080p Full-HD, and Exceptional 3Dcapabilities

 

Santa Clara, California (February 11, 2010) —Marvell(NASDAQ: MRVL), a worldwide leader in integrated silicon solutions,today announced the newest addition to the ARMADA™ family ofapplication processors – the Marvell® ARMADA 618 for next generationHD-capable smartphones. Characteristic of the ARMADA family of application processors,the ARMADA 618 offers a CPU core with PC-class performance, integrated1080p full-HD encode and decode, and exceptional 3D graphics –delivering a highly scalable and power optimized platform that isdesigned to fuel high-end applications, rich multimedia and gamingexperience in a lightweight form factor with very low powerrequirements.

“Featuringa gigahertz CPU, 1080p full-HD video, 3D graphics, the industry'sfastest LP-DDR, and optimized power for longer battery life, Marvell’sARMADA 618 application processor represents a dramatic leap forward inhigh end, multimedia smartphones,” said Ms. Weili Dai, Marvell'sCo-founder and Vice President and General Manager of MarvellSemiconductor’s Consumer and Computing Business Unit. “Importantly, theARMADA 600 series of application processors gives our customers acommon platform solution to build multiple products and formats for thealways-on consumer--scaling from smartphones to eReaders to tabletswithout compromising either the multimedia performance or the batterylife”

About ARMADA 618

TheARMADA 618 is based on a Marvell-designed ARM v7 compatible CPUoffering gigahertz-class performance in a 12mm x 12mm package. Itoffers the flexibility to use LP-DDR1 or LP-DDR2 memory up to 533 MHz,a highly flexible display controller capable of four simultaneousdisplays at up to 2K x 2K resolution, and a highly robust securitysubsystem that includes a secure execution processor. In addition, itfeatures a powerful 3D graphics engine that supports DirectX, Open GLES 2.0, and Open VG 1.1, rendering up to 45 million triangles persecond with a complete floating point pipeline and unified vertex andfragment/pixel shading, generating contrast-rich scenes withhigh-definition resolution and color. ARMADA 618 supports Linux, Android™, Windows Mobile, and full Adobe Flash.

Availability

TheARMADA 618 will be demonstrated at the Marvell Booth (Courtyard 18) atMobile World Congress (MWC) in Barcelona, Spain next week. The ARMADA618 is currently sampling to early customers. For more informationplease contact a sales representative or visitwww.marvell.com.

About Marvell

Marvell(NASDAQ: MRVL) is a world leader in the development of storage,communications, and consumer silicon solutions. The company’s diverseproduct portfolio includes switching, transceiver, communicationscontroller, wireless, and storage solutions that power the entirecommunications infrastructure including enterprise, metro, home, andstorage networking. As used in this release, the terms “company” and“Marvell” refer to Marvell Technology Group Ltd. and its subsidiaries.For more information, visit http://www.marvell.com?c=1.

 

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