SIRF TECHNOLOGY 
By "With its high-performance multifunction engines all tuned to run in harmony, the SiRFprima platform sets a new standard for performance and integration in the emerging market for exciting new location-aware convergence products," said Kanwar Chadha, founder and vice president of marketing for SiRF. "We believe the SiRFprima platform delivers on our vision of the convergence of location with rich media content, and extends SiRF's leadership in providing innovative solutions that bring the power of location to the mainstream."
The SiRFprima platform includes an ultra-high-speed, multifunction processor comprised of an advanced ARM11 core, a high-performance location engine that supports both GPS and Galileo satellite systems and an on-chip DSP. It also includes hardware-accelerated 3D graphics and multimedia encoding and decoding engines based on the gaming-grade PowerVR MBX 3D graphics accelerator core, vertex geometry processor and PowerVR MVED1 video encode/decode accelerator from Imagination Technologies.
The SiRFprima multifunction processor delivers SiRF's renowned, industry leading, GPS-enabled location performance, featuring 64 channels with -161 dBm sensitivity. The hardware scalable location engine, with more than 1,000,000 correlators, is among the first capable of working with both GPS and Galileo signals simultaneously. Additionally, the SiRFprima processor has been specifically designed to support SiRF's proprietary GPS technologies, providing, for example, a dedicated accelerator for the SiRFInstantFixII(TM) technology.
"We are very excited by the SiRFprima platform because it offers an
opportunity that until now software developers have only dreamed of. With its
overall high performance, from its graphics to its memory bandwidth, the
SiRFprima platform is definitely the 'prima' solution for us," said
The SiRFprima platform supports OpenGL ES, Direct3DM and OpenVG, and can drive full-color, high-resolution displays with multiple hardware overlay layers. The hardware media acceleration has enough processing muscle to encode and decode mainstream and high-resolution video standards concurrently with navigation and other operations.
In addition to performance gains delivered by the multifunction processor, the SiRFprima platform also offers a full complement of peripheral and external interfaces for connecting to touch screens, mass storage devices, video cameras, DVD players, satellite radios and other devices.
What previously required several external coprocessors has now been integrated into the SiRFprima platform, significantly reducing bill-of-material (BOM) costs for SiRF customers. By integrating typical discrete components onto its own silicon, SiRF not only reduces the total system cost, but also decreases board design complexity and time to market risk.
According to a report released recently by New York-based ABI Research, manufacturers of personal navigation devices are facing continued stiff competition and will likely seek to stand out in the market by adding speech technology, multimedia capabilities, 3D map content and other features to their products. ABI Research predicts worldwide sales of these convergence devices will surpass more than 100 million units by 2011.
Mobile consumer electronics devices -- including mobile phones, portable navigation devices, handheld computers, games and even cameras -- have already begun moving beyond their original, single-function designs to incorporate numerous combinations of connectivity, location and media and content functions. Mobile phones today routinely offer music playback and integrated cameras, while portable navigation devices increasingly contain audio, still image and video playback capabilities and connect wirelessly to mobile phones for hands-free operation.
SiRF believes the distinctions between some of these product categories will blur as this convergence progresses, creating new generations of more powerful multifunctional consumer electronics devices that navigate, inform and entertain. To compete effectively and satisfy consumer demand, manufacturers of these convergence products will require more flexible, highly integrated solutions. SiRF believes the SiRFprima platform launched today delivers all the necessary ingredients and flexibility for developing tomorrow's premium convergence systems.
Availability and Pricing
SiRF is demonstrating the SiRFprima multifunction location platform in the
SiRF Technology booth (Hall 1, Booth F06) at the upcoming GSMA Mobile World
Congress 2008 being held in
About SiRF Technology
SiRF Technology Holdings, Inc. develops and markets location platforms
based on semiconductor and software products that are designed to enable
location-awareness utilizing GPS and other location technologies, enhanced by
wireless connectivity and multimedia capabilities for high-volume mobile
consumer devices and commercial applications. SiRF's technology has been
integrated into a wide range of mobile consumer devices such as automobile
navigation systems, portable navigation devices (PNDs), mobile phones, mobile
computers, GPS-based peripherals and handheld GPS devices, and into commercial
applications such as location servers, asset tracking devices and fleet
management systems. SiRF markets and sells its products in four target
platforms: wireless handheld devices such as mobile phones; automotive
electronics systems, including navigation and telematics systems; consumer
electronics products such as recreational GPS handhelds, mobile gaming
machines, digital cameras and wearable devices; and mobile computing systems,
including personal digital assistants, notebook computers, universal mobile
personal computers (UMPCs) and mobile internet devices. Founded in 1995, SiRF
is headquartered in
Forward Looking Statements
Except for the historical information contained herein, the matters set
forth in this press release, including, but not limited to, statements
regarding the anticipated benefits and functions of SiRFprima, including a
customer's ability to full-featured products timely and cost-effectively, and
providing flexibility for developing premium convergence systems, the new
generation of more powerful multifunction consumer electronic devices,
manufacturers' requirements and timing of product release, are forward-looking
statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act
of 1995. Words such as "to," "being," "possible," "may," "will," "addresses,"
"designed to," "expand", "provide," "believe," and similar expressions are
intended to identify forward-looking statements. These statements are not
guarantees of future performance and should not be considered as an indication
of future performance. SiRF's actual results could differ materially from
those discussed in these forward-looking statements as a result of risks and
uncertainties, including, among others, the risk that we may not realize the
anticipated benefits of this acquisition, risks associated with acquisitions,
including the ability to successfully integrate the acquired technologies or
operations, potential diversion of management's attention and our ability to
retain key employees of acquired businesses, demand and market acceptance for
our products and those of our customers, the market for GPS-based location
awareness, risks associated with the semiconductor industry and other risks
and uncertainties discussed in the Company's Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for
the quarter ended
SiRF, the SiRF orbit logo, SiRFstar, SiRFLoc and SiRFDRive are registered trademarks of SiRF Technology, Inc. SiRFPrima, , SiRFInstant, SiRFInstantFix, SiRFDiRect, and SiRFecosystem are trademarks of SiRF Technology, Inc. All other corporate names or trademarks are the properties of their respective owners.
SOURCE SiRF Technology Holdings, Inc.
