Broadcom

Qualcomm ban stayed

Mon, 17 Sep 2007 06:59:56 -0400

After a year of almost unrelenting bad legal news, Qualcomm finally has a break: a federal appeals court has granted the chip-maker a stay of the ruling banning import of many of its products into the U.S. After winning the initial suit before the U.S. International Trade Commission, Broadcom sought and won a ban on imports, which the White House declined to overturn. Now, Qualcomm and its partners have a break that should give them well into 2008 to seek other solutions.

For more on Qualcomm's good legal news:
- read the complete story at CIO-Today

Nokia asks to bar Qualcomm

Mon, 20 Aug 2007 06:59:56 -0400

It's been an interesting year for Qualcomm. First, there was the Broadcom lawsuit that resulted in a ban on some Qualcomm chips in the U.S. Next came the Nokia dispute, with each company accusing the other of patent infringement and license violation. Now, Nokia has taken a page from the Broadcom playbook and has asked the U.S. International Trade Commission to ban certain Qualcomm chipsets from the U.S. Don't think you should be worried? Qualcomm chips are in many of the most popular smartphones and 3G cell phones sold in the U.S.--maybe in the ones that your users have in their pockets. Oh, and Qualcomm's suit against Nokia? A judge has put it on indefinite hold.

For more on the Nokia/Qualcomm dispute:
- read the analysis at eWeek

No more Qualcomm 3G in U.S.?

Sun, 10 Jun 2007 20:01:36 -0400

After winning a court case regarding patent infringement, Broadcom asked the ITC to ban Qualcomm chipsets from U.S. markets. Late last week, the ITC said, "Yes." In its decision, the ITC broadly banned import of Qualcomm 3G chipsets in new cell phones. The ruling doesn't mean that government agents will come and rip the chipsets out of your cell phone, but if your company has decided to build its application framework on an effected phone, you may be in for some new decisions. Qualcomm has said that it will appeal the decision to President Bush; he has 60 days to affirm, veto, or modify the ruling. After working to settle patent issues with Nokia, Qualcomm might have been in the clear--now, there's no certainty for either Qualcomm or its customers.

For more information the ITC ruling:
- read the this article from FierceWireless

A ban on Qualcomm?

Sun, 25 Mar 2007 20:01:38 -0400

Broadcom has made a formal request to the US ITC to ban all imports of phones with Qualcomm chips. The request, based on patent infringement claims, is directed at phones using WCDMA and EV-DO standards. Broadcom has not requested a broad banning of all phones using WCDMA or EV-DO technologies, but has said that to allow further imports of the Qualcomm units would reward patent infringement. Law enforcement and other government agencies have asked the ITC to refuse the request, saying that a ban on the Qualcomm instruments would have a significant disruptive effect on critical first-responder and public safety functions. No date has been set for a ruling, though appeals and further court actions are expected regardless of the decision.

For more on the Broadcomm litigation:
- Read the complete article at TechWorld

QUICKLINKS: Cisco and Apple talking again; IBM comes on-board for WiMAX; Broadcom releases chip with FM, WiFi and Bluetooth

Sun, 04 Feb 2007 19:01:35 -0500

Cisco and Apple talking again. Article

IBM comes on-board for WiMAX. Article

Broadcom releases chip with FM, WiFi and Bluetooth. Article

Editor's Corner

Sun, 02 Apr 2006 20:01:40 -0400

If you need hard data proof that wireless technology is taking root everywhere and anywhere, just consider the following statistics from a new research report from Research and Markets, an Irish industry research firm.

Manufacturers of wireless LAN (WLAN) chipsets are expected to report annual growth above 50 percent for units shipped in 2005, that growth will drive the market to reach nearly $1 billion, a whopping 27 percent increase over 2004.

Vendors' revenue reports are also clear indicators. Broadcom, for example, reported fourth-quarter revenue of $820.6 million, a spike of 52.1 percent from the same time frame just last year. That's just a few evidence points from a recent InfoWorld article on the marketplace. - Judy

Advances in WPA2 solutions worth a look

Sun, 05 Mar 2006 19:01:37 -0500

There are two kinds of Wi-Fi Protected Access 2 (WPA2): WPA Enterprise (an almost finished implementation of the IEEE 802.11i spec for large enterprises that can host RADIUS services and lots of support staff) and WPA Home (a lighter approach that's a bit less secure and easy to set up). That's the main reason that WPA Home is also being used within enterprises today, and the Wi-Fi Alliance has renamed it WPA Personal. The alliance is also reviewing ways to make management easier with both flavors, though automation of today's current manual key transfer work isn't going to be easy. But there has been some vendor headway that is worth checking out such as Broadcom's Secure Easy Setup (SES). Article