Qualcomm unveils next-generation chips

The next generation of CDMA (Code Division Multiple Access) entered the spotlight on Tuesday at the CTIA Wireless trade show as Qualcomm unveiled UMB (Ultra Mobile Broadband) chips for cellular base stations and mobile devices.

UMB, also known as EV-DO (Evolution-Data Optimized) Revision C, is a standard that Qualcomm expects to be approved by the 3GPP2 (Third Generation Partnership Project 2) in the first half of this year. It supports speeds as high as 40Mbps downstream and 10Mbps upstream, the company said. It is the next major generation of CDMA, the technology that was pioneered by Qualcomm.

At a press conference at CTIA, Qualcomm Chief Operating Officer Sanjay Jha announced the CSM (Cell Site Modem) 8900 and MDM (Mobile Data Modem) 8900 chips. The MDM8900 is scheduled to ship in sample quantities in the first quarter of next year and the CSM8900 is set for sampling in the following quarter.

The technology may be commercially deployed in 2009, Jha said.

UMA incorporates OFDMA (Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access) and MIMO (Multiple-In Multiple-Out) technology with multiple antennas along with CDMA. Qualcomm will demonstrate the technology at the show this week.

While UMA is the future of CDMA, another system is heading for standardization in the GSM (Global System for Mobile Communications) family. Jha said Qualcomm would also support that technology, called LTE (Long Term Evolution). "We see them as complementing each other in different ecosystems," he said. The LTE standard should be finished in the second half of this year, he said.

CTIA Wireless continues through Thursday.