MindTree announces IC design capability for hand-held devices

Builds intelligent power management analog chip

Bangalore -- December 14, 2005 —  MindTree Consulting, one of the fastest growing international IT and R&D services company, today unveiled a new analog integrated circuit (IC) with intelligent charging capabilities for Lithium-ion batteries, commonly used in hand-held mobile devices.  Developed for a leading Asian manufacturer of semiconductor devices for wireless products, the analog IC design further builds on MindTree’s growing research and development (R&D) capabilities in developing technologies in the analog design space for mobile communications.

“The future is about portability. Devices must weigh less and have increasingly smaller form factor. This means batteries that are lighter, smaller and remain charged for a longer time. MindTree’s analog chip helps hand-held devices to use power optimally for longer battery life. The development of this analog chip is an indication of MindTree’s capability to conceptualize and create highly complex mixed-signal systems on chip (SoC) that are core to ever-shrinking portable devices,” said Padmanabhan SN, Vice President - R&D Services, MindTree Consulting.

The analog IC, unveiled today, will be taped out for fabrication over the next few weeks and is expected to ship in product in early 2006.  The stand-alone chip ultimately improves power management for products using Lithium-ion batteries by enabling intelligent charging.  Lithium-ion batteries are favored for hand-held devices due to their light weight, high energy density and lower maintenance needs.

The MindTree analog chip development team specializes in the field of power-management and switched capacitor design.  The chip is built on the process design kit (PDK) from a Korean foundry to design, simulate and complete the circuit layout.  MindTree continues to build relationships with leading foundries to offer the most cost-effective fabrication options for its clients.

“MindTree is seeing an increasing demand for our R&D services to develop multiple technologies for mobile platforms.  This has helped MindTree expand beyond software application development to add strong new R&D competencies to our offering,” said Janakiraman S, President and CEO - R&D Services, MindTree Consulting.

In addition to the Analog IC design capabilities, MindTree R&D Services has solid expertise in semiconductor IP technology, hardware and software solutions to offer complete product realization services.  Services include SoC design, integration and verification, physical design, FPGA-based designs and a range of board designs.  An ARM approved design center with extensive ARM processor knowledge, MindTree develops solutions for the communications, wireless, industrial, storage, computing and consumer appliances industries.

About MindTree Consulting

MindTree Consulting is an international IT services company with development centers in India and the U.S.  The Company provides end-to-end project execution onshore, offshore, or in a hybrid delivery model called OneShore™.

With clients ranging from Fortune 50 companies to enterprise software organizations, MindTree delivers global technology solutions and outsourced R&D services to innovative technology leaders around the world.

MindTree has been recognized as one of the fastest growing technology companies in India by Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu in the Deloitte Technology Fast 50 India program. MindTree has been ranked among the Best Companies to Work for in 2005 in the Business Today-Mercer-TNS study. MindTree has also been ranked among the top five “Great Places to Work in 2004” in studies conducted by Grow Talent Company and Businessworld, and as one of the “Best Employers in India” for the second consecutive year in 2004 by Hewitt Associates. MindTree is also the world's youngest company to be assessed at Level 5 in both CMMi and P-CMM.  For more information, please visit www.mindtree.com.