Broadcom

Broadcom, Skyhook put WiFi location into mobile devices

Jim Barthold — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 09:37:13 -0400

Silicon giant Broadcom, concluding that mobile devices need more than GPS if they're really going to deliver location-based services, is adding Skyhook Wireless' WiFi positioning software to its multi-purpose chips.

WiFi will add the local element--and the indoors element, as it were--to GPS. If you're standing in the middle of the desert wondering where you are, GPS is great. If you're standing in the canyon of tall buildings in Manhattan, WiFi can give you a better idea because it's likely the GPS view of the satellite is blocked or impeded. And if you're indoors, such as in a shopping mall, WiFi is the only way you'll know where you are and, better yet, what sales are going on in the stores surrounding you. Broadcom's goal is to combine the two capabilities onto a single chip embedded on a mobile device.

Skyhook has developed expertise in the WiFi software and maintains a database of millions of geo-coded WiFi hotspots nationwide. Since Broadcom is embedded in millions of mobile phones, with more coming on line every day, any device with a Broadcom GPS-WiFi chip would be able to tap into that database.

For more:
see this article

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Broadcom gets the latest victory in patent fight with Qualcomm

Peggy Albright — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 18:25:03 -0400

Appeals courts reviewing previous decisions in the Qualcomm and Broadcom patent disputes have been busy cranking out rulings in the last week. This latest, issued yesterday, favors Broadcom.

On Wednesday the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California upheld a unanimous verdict from a May 2007 jury trial in Santa Ana, Calif., which found certain aspects of Qualcomm's QChat push-to-talk and its EV-DO technologies infringed two Broadcom patents. The court upheld a court's injunction against Qualcomm following that trial, which prevents Qualcomm from selling products that use the infringing patents and it declined Qualcomm's request for a new trial. Qualcomm did prevail over one part of the appeal: the court determined a third patent related to video processing, which the jury said Qualcomm was also infringing, was in fact an invalid patent.

It was only Friday of last week that the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit concluded an appeal, requested by Broadcom, of previous rulings at the U.S. International Trade Commission that had come out in favor of Qualcomm. The Federal Court gave some victories to each side. In Broadcom's favor, the Federal Circuit ruled that the ITC should re-investigate an earlier ITC decision that a certain Qualcomm product did not violate Broadcom patents for sending and receiving RF signals, and it sent that particular claim against Qualcomm back to the ITC, where Broadcom can be expected to pursue it once again. In Qualcomm's favor, the appeals court affirmed an ITC decision that certain other Qualcomm chips did not use that technology, and it upheld another ITC ruling that Qualcomm chips did not violate yet another patent.

Several cases between the two companies are still pending. These include the high-profile ITC decision last year that banned sales in the U.S of cellular phones that contain Qualcomm chips that infringe on Broadcom patents, which is still under appeal at the Federal Circuit; another case that was stayed by the Santa Ana court, which Broadcom may take to trial; as well as antitrust and litigation misconduct cases that Broadcom has filed against Qualcomm.

For more:
- see this article in CNET
- see this article in TheStreet.com

Related articles:
Qualcomm, Broadcom each gain in latest court rulings
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Qualcomm, Broadcom each gain in latest court rulings

Peggy Albright — Sun, 21 Sep 2008 19:09:27 -0400

The long-standing and bitter patent disputes between Broadcom and Qualcomm moved a bit forward Friday, when the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit issued several rulings that give some success to each side.

In Broadcom's favor, the appeals court vacated part of a ruling that had been previously found in Qualcomm's favor. The previous ruling, which had been issued by the U.S. International Trade Commission, was that eight Qualcomm chip products did not violate a Broadcom patent for sending and receiving RF signals. In its decision Friday, the appeals court revived Broadcom's claim about this patent with regard to one of the Qualcomm chips and sent that particular case back to the ITC. It upheld the ITC ruling in Qualcomm's favor pertaining to the other seven chips, affirming that those seven products did not infringe on Broadcom's patent.

Also in Qualcomm's favor, the appeals court upheld another ITC ruling that the eight Qualcomm chips do not violate a Broadcom patent pertaining to power saving.

The appeals court has yet to rule on Qualcomm's appeal of a prior, more sensational ITC decision that banned the sale in the U.S. of cell phone products built with Qualcomm chips that were ruled to infringe on yet another Broadcom patent.

Last month, a Santa Ana, Calif. federal judge ruled Qualcomm violated an injunction against infringing on three Broadcom patents Qualcomm has been found to use in certain QChat push-to-talk technologies, and the judge ordered Qualcomm to pay the appropriate royalties to Broadcom. In July, Qualcomm and Nokia, which also fought over patent rights for many years, finally settled their differences, to the relief of investors and vendors.

For more:
- see the LA Times

Related articles:
Qualcomm slapped for violating Broadcom ban
Qualcomm-Broadcom spat slows Sprint's QChat
Qualcomm, Nokia end long-standing patent disputes
Nokia gains patent victory over Qualcomm in Germany

Cablevision's answer to WiMAX: WiFi

Mon, 12 May 2008 06:59:57 -0400

Countering the Sprint-Clearwire announcement deal that involves cable operators Time Warner, Comcast and Brighthouse Networks, Cablevision announced plans to spend more than $300 million to roll out WiFi in New York and Long Island during the next two years. Cablevision is looking for ways to compete with Verizon for control of one of the largest markets in the U.S., the company said as it released first quarter earnings last week. Cablevision COO Tom Rutledge told analysts that more than half the homes in its coverage area subscribe to its Internet service, which gives the company enough "critical mass" to offer a wireless broadband service. The service provider said the network could make use of its existing infrastructure but would cost the company a hefty $100 per subscriber.

For more about Cablevision's WiFi plans:
- read this article from the New York Times

Cheap 802.11n could be the mantra going forward

Thu, 24 Apr 2008 06:59:58 -0400

Interest in the enterprise 802.11n market is certainly heating up. This week alone we saw Ruckus Wireless take a deeper plunge in the market with a self-configurable 802.11n package and Broadcom, a top player in the consumer 802.11n market, announced a new enterprise solution (see story No. 3). Other enterprise vendors are coming to market with new offerings.

But could harder economic times hinder the growth of this market? Aruba has already been hit, Goldman Sachs recently noted. The enterprise WiFi vendor fell short of expectations for the second fiscal quarter. "In addition to U.S. weakness, the company is also seeing weakness in Europe, particularly northern countries such as the U.K.," the firm wrote. "While U.S. enterprise weakness is not a major surprise, weakness in European enterprise suggests that macro issues could weigh on the company longer than originally expected."

802.11n is not a straight sell for many enterprises, except those verticals that are seeing huge capacity demands. While the technology offers better throughput and capacity, an enterprise has to weigh those benefits in light of the fact that upgrading to the better technology isn't simply a matter of replacing existing WiFi access points with 802.11n access points. It often requires a complete overhaul of the network, meaning new end-user clients, upgraded switches and controller equipment, as well as gigabit Ethernet rewiring in most cases to handle the additional data throughput.

Most vendors acknowledge that 802.11n deployments won't be Greenfield deployments but add-ons or strategic replacements in high traffic areas. How it will be deployed will depend much on the budgets of enterprises.

That's obviously why Ruckus Wireless is so aggressive with its message that its SmartMesh product enables enterprises to deploy WiFi networks in half the time and half the cost to get three times the performance of typical WLANs. Broadcom says its single-chip solution consumes half of the power of competing 802.11n chipsets, reducing the cost of deploying or upgrading enterprise networks.

I suspect cheap 802.11n will be the mantra going forward as vendors work to convince the enterprise that 802.11n is worth their investments.--Lynnette

Broadcom moves into enterprise WiFi market

Thu, 24 Apr 2008 06:59:55 -0400

Broadcom believes it can leverage its success in the consumer 802.11n WiFi market to move into the enterprise WLAN market. The company announced a new 802.11n enterprise solution the combines its Intensi-fi silicon and its Fastpath networking software that it says will extend the enterprise-critical features from the company's StrataXGS enterprise switches to create an end-to-end solution for business-grade 802.11n WiFi networks.

Broadcom said this integrated platform provides significant cost and time-to-market advantages for manufacturers compared with other silicon solutions that do not include the software features that IT managers require. The solution also successfully addresses power consumption issues, said Broadcom. Broadcom claims that APs built using its new chip use half the power of competing 802.11n chipsets, allowing access points to operate simultaneously on the 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz frequency bands while being powered by a company's existing Power over Ethernet infrastructure.

"Broadcom is building on the great success we have achieved with consumer 802.11n solutions to serve the untapped enterprise wireless market," said Michael Hurlston, vice president and general manager of Broadcom's Wireless LAN line of business, in a press release. "By marrying the industry's leading WLAN solutions with proven switch hardware and software, Broadcom is well-positioned to pursue the $2.3 billion enterprise wireless market with an end-to-end solution."

For more about Broadcom's foray into the enterprise market:
- read this release

Related article:
Broadcom: 802.11n won't usurp 802.11g yet Report on 802.11n

Broadcom posts big Q4 numbers

Mon, 28 Jan 2008 06:59:56 -0500

Broadcom, the company best known for its legal skirmishes with Qualcomm, reported fourth-quarter results that exceeded expectations. The company said net revenue reached $1 billion and net income was $90 million, up 100 percent from the year-ago quarter. Broadcom's stock rose more than 6 percent on the news. The company is predicting a strong outlook for revenue driven by Bluetooth, WiFi nd digital TV.

To read more about Broadcom's results:
- check out this article from RCR Wireless News

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ALSO NOTED: Qualcomm must pay Broadcom royalty fees for QChat; ABI Research: Expect 4G royalty rates in the range of 4.8 percen

Thu, 03 Jan 2008 06:59:51 -0500

> Nokia Siemens announced its intention to purchase IMS database management specialist Apertio for $205.6 million. Article

> Qualcomm must pay Broadcom royalty fees on QChat. Release and Release

> According to ABI Research, the industry should be braced to expect royalty rates for 4G technologies in the range of 4.8 percent to 7.7 percent. Article

And Finally... American Tower sues Goldman Sachs over CEO impersonation. Article

AT&T CEO: 3G coverage on par with CDMA rivals

Thu, 13 Dec 2007 06:59:55 -0500

AT&T Mobility President and CEO Ralph de la Vega declared that the operator is finally on equal footing with its CDMA competitors Verizon Wireless and Sprint when it comes to 3G coverage and data services penetration. Speaking at an AT&T investor conference in New York, de la Vega said AT&T will use its WCDMA/HSDPA network to attack its competitors using its data network and bundled services. According to de la Vega, AT&T's high-speed data network was operating in 255 metropolitan areas, covering 89 of the top 100 markets. By the end of 2008, AT&T is expected to add another 30 million pops and expand its footprint to 98 of the top 100 markets. Compared the the 1xEV-DO rollouts of Verizon Wireless, with 96 markets of the top 100, and Sprint, with 92, AT&T will be either even or ahead in 3G penetration, de la Vega said.

For more about de la Vega's comments:
- take a look at this report from Telephony

Related articles:
- Rumor Mill: AT&T has a Broadcom deal? Article
- AT&T: Wireless rev to grow in mid-teens in 2008 Article

SPOTLIGHT: Judge may sanction Qualcomm lawyers

Mon, 15 Oct 2007 06:59:52 -0400

U.S. Magistrate Judge Barbara Major may sanction 19 lawyers who worked on Qualcomm's patent lawsuit against Broadcom. The judge wants to know why the lawyers didn't share more than 200,000 pages of documents with Broadcom until after the trial. Article

EC commences Qualcomm probe

Thu, 04 Oct 2007 06:59:54 -0400

The European Commission officially launched an investigation into Qualcomm's supposed stranglehold on WCDMA intellectual property.

In October 2005, Broadcom, Ericsson, NEC, Nokia, Panasonic Mobile, and Texas Instruments requested that the EC investigate Qualcomm's alleged anti-competitive conduct in the licensing of essential 3G patents. The companies alleged Qualcomm is violating competition laws and is failing to meet its promise to license its technology on fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory terms.

UBS analyst Maynard Um said the "EC may, among other options, reject the complaints or come to a settlement with Qualcomm. We believe it would be unusual for the EC to mandate royalty rates, particularly given separate agreements already negotiated with the various parties. However, the outcome is difficult to predict. Additionally, given the complexity and potential impact to the related parties, we would be surprised to see a quick resolution."

For more on the issue:
- read Qualcomm's reaction to the EC proceedings

Related articles:
Chip makers file anti-trust complaint against Qualcomm in South Korea
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Appeals court stays Qualcomm import ban

Thu, 13 Sep 2007 06:59:57 -0400

Qualcomm scored a rare victory in its tenuous battle with Broadcom. Despite losing its own request to stay import ban on mobile phones containing its chips, a federal judge yesterday granted a stay pending appeal that will allow third parties to import handsets into the United States originally banned by the International Trade Commission (ITC).

These third parties argued that since Broadcom only filed its complaint against Qualcomm, the ITC did not have the power to block the imports by companies beside Qualcomm. Judge Haldane Mayer on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit agreed. The stay only applies to all third parties that filed motions seeking a stay of the limited exclusion order imposed by the ITC on June 7. Those companies were Kyocera Wireless, Motorola, Samsung Electronics, Sanyo, T-Mobile, LG Electronics and AT&T Mobility. Interestingly, Sprint Nextel isn't part of the group but has indicated its support of a Qualcomm workaround solution. Verizon Wireless is the only operator to make a licensing deal with Broadcom.

For more about the appeals court ruling:
- read this article from AP
- take a look at this release from Qualcomm
- read this release from Broadcom

Related Articles:
Nokia's timing couldn't be worse for Qualcomm
Qualcomm has bad week on the patent front

ALSO NOTED: Broadcom releases low-cost, single-chip WLAN solution; Tellabs wins a backhaul deal with Swisscom Mobile; and much

Thu, 13 Sep 2007 06:59:51 -0400

> Broadcom released a low-cost, single-chip WLAN solution. Release

> AT&T Mobility sells Nokia W-CDMA handset. Article

> Tellabs won a backhaul deal with Swisscom Mobile for HSDPA traffic. Article

> Agilent Technologies introduced a wireless networking test set and OFDMA measurement application software, forming a complete one-box transmitter and receiver test solution for Mobile WiMAX devices. Article

ITC to study InterDigital's complaint against Nokia

Mon, 10 Sep 2007 06:59:55 -0400

The patent wars that usually headline Qualcomm, Nokia and Broadcom took a different turn last week as InterDigital successfully urged the U.S. International Trade Commission to investigate its antitrust complaint against Nokia. InterDigital maintains that Nokia's N75 WCDMA handset infringes on two of its patents. InterDigital wants a ban on the import of N75 and a cease and desist order to bar more sales of models that have already been imported in the U.S. It appears we'll be seeing the number of complaints with the ITC increase now that Broadcom has successfully gotten the ITC to ban certain phones with Qualcomm chips from being sold in the U.S.

To read more about the ITC's move to investigate InterDigital's complaint:
- take a look at this article from eWeek

Broadcom: 802.11n won't usurp 802.11g yet

Thu, 06 Sep 2007 06:59:55 -0400

Chipmaker Broadcom revised its outlook for 802.11n chips, saying the standard is not likely to replace 802.11g as the dominant WiFi standard this year. Michael Hurlston, vice president and general manager of Broadcom's WLAN business unit, said the price difference between 802.11n chips and 802.11g solutions was a significant factor in Broadcom's change in outlook. Prices for 802.11g products are dropping due to competition, he said.

Broadcom originally anticipated 802.11n to account for about 25 percent of global WiFi chip sales by the end of 2007, but has revised the ratio downward to 20 percent due to slower-than-expected sales of 802.11n chips, Hurlston revealed. The market share gap between 802.11n and 802.11g could still narrow but 802.11g chips will continue to hold a 50 percent share of the global WLAN chip market, he said.

For more about Broadcom's 802.11n revelation:
- read this article from DigiTimes

Court says Broadcom antitrust suit can proceed

Thu, 06 Sep 2007 06:59:54 -0400

A federal appeals court has ruled that Broadcom can pursue antitrust claims against Qualcomm, which Broadcom claims violated a pledge to standards groups regarding WCDMA technology. The suit alleges that Qualcomm failed to license its technology on fair, reasonable and nondiscriminatory terms. Today's ruling overturns a New Jersey district court's ruling in August 2006 that granted Qualcomm's motion to dismiss the case. The Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, however, overturned two portions of the August 2006 ruling: namely that a patent-holder's violation of promises to groups like standards bodies "is actionable anticompetitive conduct."

Both Broadcom and Qualcomm trumpeted the latest decision as a win. Broadcom said it is pleased it can now pursue its anti-trust suit, and Qualcomm is pleased that only two of Broadcom's eight claims remain. The company expects the other two to be dismissed as well.

For more on the case:
- read this press release from Broadcom
- read this press release from Qualcomm
- check out this WSJ report (sub. req.)

Nokia asks ITC to ban Qualcomm imports

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

Nokia asked the International Trade Commission (ITC) to ban imports of certain Qualcomm chipsets and handsets that it claims infringe on five of its patents. This reads like a re-run of the Broadcom case against Qualcomm, and that's exactly what Nokia wants it to read like. Similarly to Broadcom, Nokia says the alleged patent infringement involves patents for technologies that improve performance and efficiency of wireless phones.

"We are taking this action to stop Qualcomm's practice of copying Nokia's patented technology, without permission, and making these innovations available to its chipset customers," Nokia's CFO Rick Simonson said.

Qualcomm has already filed complaints against Nokia for allegedly infringing on six of its patents and the commission is expected to convene a trial on those accusations next month.

For more on the Nokia-Qualcomm ITC battle:
- read this WSJ article (sub. req.)

Qualcomm has bad week on the patent front

Thu, 09 Aug 2007 06:59:57 -0400

Broadcom continues to punish Qualcomm on the patent front. The CDMA innovator, which derives much of its revenues from licensing CDMA-based patents, was dealt a blow by the Bush administration this week. The president let stand the U.S. International Trade Commission ruling that bans the import of certain mobile phones containing Qualcomm 1xEV-DO and WCDMA chips. The ITC previously ruled that the chips infringed on Broadcom patents.

Qualcomm has vowed to pursue an appeal and stay request with the Federal Circuit Court of Appeals. The company says it is working on a software workaround solution to circumvent Broadcom's patents. Sprint says it is developing a workaround solution too. This all sounds too much like the Research in Motion/NTP patent fight.

Meanwhile, a federal judge ruled that Qualcomm engaged in "aggravated litigation abuse" and waived its rights to enforce certain video transmission technology patents related to the H.264 video compression standard used in some high definition products. The court ordered Qualcomm to pay all of Broadcom's fees and costs in defending the patent infringement case.

For more about Qualcomm's patent woes:
- read this piece from FierceWireless
- take a look at this article from bizjournals.com

Qualcomm, Broadcom brace for possible veto today

Mon, 06 Aug 2007 06:59:58 -0400

I'm taking a risk by writing about the pending Bush administration's decision to either veto or let stand the International Trade Commission's (ITC) ban on the import of 3G phones using Qualcomm chipsets that Broadcom says infringe on its patents. Susan Schwab, the U.S. Trade Representative is supposed to decide on the matter today, hopefully after this newsletter is delivered to your inbox.

Interestingly, David Rosmann, Broadcom's vice president of intellectual property, told EE Times Europe that he suspects the White House ruling will go in favor of Qualcomm. White House vetoes of such rulings are quite rare, so it's a telling revelation, especially when Qualcomm continually refuses to settle with Broadcom.

That hasn't stopped Broadcom from its last-ditch effort to persuade the White House to let the ruling stand. The company renewed its argument that a ruling in favor of Qualcomm will have a negative impact on U.S. efforts to force other countries to enforce IP rights. Meanwhile, CTIA has been arguing about the severe impact such a ban will have on the American economy.

Qualcomm, of course, has been conducting some high-powered lobbying of its own. It has been exploiting the fact that the country's 911 system could be exposed if the ban is left to stand because of a flaw in older generation Qualcomm chips. The flaw, known as voice blanking, sometimes occurs when the transmission of location coordinates from the mobile phone to the 911 center disrupts the voice channel between the caller and the 911 dispatcher. Public-safety entities have made their concern known, agreeing that Qualcomm's newly banned 3G chipsets solve this flaw. Recently, Broadcom has countered, saying it is willing to grant free licenses for its technology to state and local public-safety users, according to the EE Times Europe article.

Will today's outcome be a reflection of lobbying prowess or a real consideration for how such a ban impacts the American economy?--Lynnette

Qualcomm: No deal with Broadcom

Mon, 30 Jul 2007 06:59:55 -0400

Qualcomm said a settlement with rival vendor Broadcom is not likely given the potential impact on the CDMA innovator's licensing business. During its quarterly results announcement last week, Qualcomm said it would continue to defend itself against Broadcom's attempts to keep WCDMA and EV-DO handsets containing Qualcomm's chipsets out of the U.S.

The International Trade Commission (ITC) earlier this summer ruled in favor of Broadcom and issued a ban on the import of new cell phones made with Qualcomm 1xEV-DO and WCDMA chipsets. The ITC said those chipsets infringe upon patents held by Broadcom.

Verizon has agreed to pay Broadcom to use the disputed chip technology in its phones.

"Although Verizon announced it has entered into a license agreement with Broadcom eliminating the risk of not being able to import handsets using our chips for use in Verizon's network, a comprehensive settlement between us and Broadcom is unlikely given Broadcom's insistence on terms which could have a material impact on our licensing business," the company said.

The Bush administration has until Aug. 6 to veto the ITC's ruling or let it stand.

For more about Qualcomm's unwillingness to settle with Broadcom:
- read this article from telecoms.com (sub. req.)
- take a look at this report from Dow Jones