SiRF Technology, Inc. announced Mar. 18 that Sony Ericsson Mobile
Communications (USA) will use SiRF's global positioning system (GPS)
technology to location-enable a family of modules for the
fleet management and telematics markets. These products, to be
developed and marketed by the Sony Ericsson M2M Com (Machine to
Machine Communication) Business Unit, will be powered by the SiRFstar
IIe chipset to provide positioning and
navigation information.
These products will be used primarily in fleet management and
telematics applications. According to the company, fleet management is a fast-growing market for
tracking and managing large fleets of vehicles including trucks,
delivery vehicles, taxis, and more. The market for telematics -- the
combination of location-aware devices in the automobile and wireless
links to location-based services -- is expected to grow explosively
over the next five years. Strategy Analytics estimates that by 2007,
up to 55% of new cars produced in the U.S., Europe, and Japan will
have built-in telematics functions.
"With their clear leadership in telecommunications and consumer
electronics, we expect Sony Ericsson to be a major player in the
fast-growing telematics and fleet management markets," according to
Kanwar Chadha, founder and vice president of marketing at SiRF
Technology. "We believe this alliance will help SiRF to advance its
lead as the premier supplier to the automotive GPS market, which is
and will continue to be an important market for us."
Specific products will be announced later in 2002.
SiRFstarII Architecture
According to the company, the SiRFstarII architecture provides complete GPS functionality
with the high performance necessary for telematics and fleet
management, in which fast start-up (or time to first fix -- TTFF),
high fix density, and accuracy in obscured sky environments is
crucial. With its unique set of features such as SnapStart for
quick start-up, SnapLock for fast acquisition, and FoliageLock
for high sensitivity, the SiRFstarII architecture provides enhanced
GPS-based location information in urban canyons and dense foliage --
where traditional GPS architectures fall short. The SiRFstarII
baseband IP core provides a library of modular and portable building
blocks, along with a complete set of tools, to enable integration
into customer designs. SiRF has also developed technology
implementations to facilitate and optimize GPS integration into
specific platforms, such as automobiles, cell phones, and personal
digital assistants.
About SiRF
SiRF Technology, Inc. develops and markets semiconductor and
software products that are designed to enable location awareness in
high-volume mobile consumer devices and commercial applications.
Location awareness refers to the ability of a device to determine and
make use of the information regarding its location. SiRF's products
enable a range of devices to utilize GPS to detect location. They have
been integrated into mobile consumer devices, such as automobile
navigation systems, cellular phones, GPS-based mobile computing
peripherals, and handheld GPS navigation devices, and into commercial
applications, such as property tracking devices and fleet management
systems. SiRF markets and sells its products in four target markets:
wireless handheld, automotive, mobile computing, and embedded consumer
applications.
