Information Technology

January 11, 2007
FMC: Where the fixed and the mobile converge merrily

BANGALORE -- Mickey Nasiri is a great cook. For this Swedish-born Iranian, creating dishes with a streak of imagination, comes naturally and he can whip up an “innovative” dish which he calls “Pasta el coco” (Italian pasta with coconut and Indian spices) in an amazingly short while.

While at work, he loves to come up with innovative ideas for his company, CSR (Cambridge Silicon Radio) plc, a global provider of bluetooth technology with expertise in single-chip wireless communication standards.

Mickey Nasiri, general manager of CSR India, who has been living in India for the past five years – is a veteran in telecom industry and has been instrumental in setting up several R&D units. Prior to CSR, Nasiri was with Ericsson in Sweden, where he held a number of technical and managerial positions.

In a conversation with Sufia Tippu he talks about fixed mobile convergence scenario, currently one of the crucial strategic issues in the telecommunications industry. Today, it is a hot topic with GSM operators and it promises to make more waves in the coming years. The underlying premise is that people will be able to make cheap calls from their home or office connections by using a WiFi or Bluetooth link to a fixed-line Internet connection.

What exactly is fixed mobile convergence?

Fixed Mobile Convergence (FMC) is the way to connect a mobile phone to a fixed line infrastructure. With convergence between mobile and fixed line networks, operators can provide services to users irrespective of their location, access technology or terminal.

FMC technology enables users to switch at will – from the default cellular network to a wireless connection (wi-fi hotspot) at office or a Bluetooth-equipped personal computer with broadband internet connection (Voice over Internet Protocol or VoIP) or a small base station at home. The mobile handset will have a common telephone number for residence, office and cellular service.

What does it require?

Two essential technologies necessary for FMC are firstly short-range connectivity over a wireless link such as WiFi, and secondly the software required for the handover from a mobile network to a fixed line network. For example, a WiFi enabled handset could switch over (handover) from Mobile Network X to a WiFi basestation (when in range) and use the fixed line for data and voice transmission.

What does CSR do in this space?

CSR provides the short range connectivity and the UMA (Unlicensed Mobile Access) software necessary for the handover. CSR's acquisition of UbiNetics's software business last year gave us the opportunity to integrate and further develop the software necessary for enabling FMC.

Who are the other players in this field?

FMC is a major area of interest for technology companies involved at the level of component and software vendors, end user device makers, network equipment makers, and network service providers.

For this reason, there are a large number of technology companies with an FMC strategy and we would be surprised if you found a company interested in mobile handset technologies that did not already have an interest or intention in this space. This is an exciting space and CSR is playing a fundamental role in overcoming some of the technological hurdles that enable shorter range wireless technologies such as WiFi to work seamlessly with wider area network topologies.

How does CSR have an edge over other players?

CSR is the leader in short-range wireless personal area networking (PAN) technologies. Our Bluetooth range, BlueCore, secures more than 60% of all designs qualified by the Bluetooth SIG. CSR's single-chip solution ensures low battery consumption as well as competitive cost advantages. We have also designed (in March) the world's first VoIP dongle and in September CSR launched a WiFi VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) handset reference design. CSR is also in a position to provide the software needed for enabling FMC (handover from GSM/WCDMA to WiFi/Bluetooth). This in my knowledge is a unique position within the industry.

Recently it was announced that the latest Motorola Integrated Digital Enhanced Network (iDEN) handsets were endowed with CSR's BlueCore3-ROM cellular Bluetooth IC. Are there any other tie-ups?

Most recently, we provide Bluetooth connectivity for Samsung's Bluetooth MP3 player, the T9B. We have also selected for Nokia's BH800 headset, their first with Bluetooth v2.0+EDR. CSR also provides BlueCore silicon for Motorola's RCKT 100 iRadio® wireless audio car adapter.

What is the trend taking place world over?

VoIP service providers such as Skype, Google, Microsoft, Yahoo and many more are witnessing a fast growth in the number of people using their software and services. The advantage is that the phone calls are more or less free-of-charge. Although there are special VoIP phones available in the market, most of the private VoIP calls are done through PC applications, meaning that the PC has to be on and the person connected to the PC via an USB handset, during the conversation. As the number of users grows, the demand for access to cheaper phone calls through VoIP, using existing mobile handsets is growing too. Some mobile operators like O2 have taken the lead and offer FMC solutions, others will soon follow. CSR is already well-placed to provide solutions through our VoIP dongle and UniVox reference design.

Where do you see CSR going – three years down the line?

We have already committed to developing our WiFi and Bluetooth markets and we recently also added our support to the Bluetooth SIG's decision to integrate UWB into a future version of the Bluetooth standard.