Chipcon Delivers on World's First True System-on-Chip (SoC) ZigBee(TM) Solution

Three New System-on-Chip Products Form Chipcon's Second Generation ZigBee(TM) Solution and Allows More OEMs to Quickly Bring Cost Effective ZigBee(TM) Solutions to Market

OSLO, Norway and SAN DIEGO -- Sept. 12, 2005 -- Chipcon, the world's leading provider of low system cost, low power RF chipsets and networking software, announced the availability of the CC2430 family, the world's first available true One-Chip ZigBee(TM) solution. Chipcon will demonstrate the CC2430 at the Embedded Systems Conference September 12-15, 2005 at the Hynes Convention Center in Boston (booth number 1217) and at the ZigBee(TM) Open House September 14, 2005 at the Hyatt Regency Woodfield Hotel in Chicago, IL.

The CC2430 is the first true SoC Zigbee(TM) one-stop-shop offering, providing on-chip programmable flash memory as well as a certified Zigbee(TM) software stack, all on a single silicon die. It is a key part of Chipcon's SmartRF(R)03 product family, and is based on Chipcon's industry leading CC2420 ZigBee(TM) radio transceiver, which has already surpassed 1 million units shipped. Measuring approximately the size of a 1 ct diamond (7W7 mm), the CC2430 represents an extremely clean design combining a robust radio, programmable micro-controller, flash memory, and both IEEE802.15.4 and ZigBee(TM) software -- all in one easy-to-use and cost-effective chip. The CC2430 SoC family will be available as three different products (CC2430-F32, CC2430-F64 and CC2430-F128). The difference between these three products is the size of on-chip flash memory, each cost-optimized for different IEEE 802.15.4/Zigbee(TM) applications.

The availability of Chipcon's ZigBee(TM) SoC solution is a huge leap for OEMs with products targeted at home and building automation, HVAC, automated meter reading (AMR), medical devices, home entertainment, logistics, and other end markets where wires will be replaced by extremely inexpensive low-power wireless communications. The CC2430 will enable OEMs to seamlessly develop compact, high performance and reliable wireless networking products using the chip as the only active device in the system, thus reducing both time-to- market and, production and test costs to the minimum. The CC2430 combined with the market leading Z-Stack(TM) ZigBee(TM) protocol software and other Chipcon software tools represent the market's most comprehensive and competitive ZigBee solution. It provides a significant design advantage and reduces engineering risk.

"Using an industry, global standard creates many opportunities in the automation application markets, and complete SoC solutions will offer the ability for manufacturers to add this wireless capability with less in-house expertise," said Joyce Putscher with market research firm In-Stat.

"True single chip solutions like Chipcon's CC2430 will drive the cost of standard ZigBee(TM) solutions down thereby increasing the demand and market acceptance of the ZigBee(TM) standard," commented Pat Gonia, Senior Staff Scientist at Honeywell and member of the ZigBee(TM) Board of Directors. "This is an extremely positive step for the market," he added.

"From the very outset, we positioned ourselves to be the company that doesn't just announce solutions for ZigBee(TM), but actually delivers real, shippable solutions," commented Geir Forre, President and CEO of Chipcon. "Chipcon delivers real products today, with a robust set of development tools for a complete ZigBee(TM)-compliant solution. While other providers struggle with their first generation solutions, Chipcon already has two ZigBee(TM) generations and has a bona-fide roadmap to generations three and four. The fact that Chipcon is a Promoter of the ZigBee(TM) Alliance and has delivered the world's first IEEE 802.15.4 radio, the world's first ZigBee(TM) one-chip solution, and the world's leading ZigBee(TM) software is not a simple coincidence. It's a testament to our ability to deliver real market leading solutions."

CC2430 One Chip Technology

The CC2430 represents Chipcon's second generation ZigBee(TM) compliant platform and is a true System-on-Chip (SoC) solution, combining the industry leading radio 2.4GHz transceiver of the IEEE 802.15.4 compliant CC2420 with an industry proven, compact and efficient 8051 microcontroller. The CC2430 SoC family consists of three products (CC2430-F32, CC2430-F64 and CC2430-F128). The difference between them is the different flash configurations, 32, 64 and 128 kBytes with each configuration having 8 kBytes of RAM and other powerful supporting features. The CC2430 is based on Chipcon's SmartRF(R)03 technology platform in 0.18 micron CMOS and is available in a small 7x7 mm 48 pin package. During receive and transmit modes, the current consumption of the CC2430 is as low as 27 mA and 25 mA respectively. CC2430's sleep modes and its short transition times to active modes make it an ideal solution for applications that require very long battery lifetime. This configuration can be used for all kinds of ZigBee(TM) wireless network nodes, including coordinators, routers and end devices.

CC2430 is supported by a powerful integrated development environment (IDE). In-circuit interactive debugging is supported for the industry standard IAR compiler's IDE, well recognized in the embedded community. Combined with Chipcon's industry leading ZigBee(TM) protocol stack, tool-chain and reference designs, the CC2430 represents the market's leading ZigBee(TM) solution.

Pricing and availability

Chipcon's CC2430 per unit price in high volumes are US$3.90 (CC2430-F128), US$3.60 (CC2430-F64), and US$3.30 (CC2430-F32) Chipcon's CC2430 Zigbee(TM) development kits are already in production, and will start shipping in November, with CC2430 chip mass production shortly thereafter. The CC2430 Zigbee(TM) development kit will be offered with 2 days ZigBee(TM) software training included.

About Chipcon Group

Chipcon is a leading international semiconductor company that designs, produces and markets high performance standard radio frequency integrated circuits (RF-ICs) for use in a variety of wireless applications in the 300 to 1000 MHz and 2.4 GHz frequency bands. Chipcon targets both consumer electronics and home and building automation end markets and has strong positions both in proprietary and standards-based radio technologies. Chipcon Group ASA is the parent company and holding company that controls the activities of its wholly owned subsidiaries Chipcon AS, Chipcon Inc. and Figure 8 Wireless Inc. Chipcon's products are distributed worldwide and we are represented at 55 locations in 31 countries. For more information, visit Chipcon's Web site at http://www.chipcon.com or call the company directly at +47 22 95 85 44.

SOURCE Chipcon Group