SiRFstarIII Goes 'Single Chip A-GPS'

SiRFstarIII Goes 'Single Chip A-GPS'

SiRF Integrates Baseband, RF, and Flash Into a Single Package

SAN JOSE, Calif., Feb. 7 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Raising the bar for A-GPS receivers, SiRF Technology Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:SIRF), a leading supplier of GPS-enabled location technology, today unveiled a new family of highly integrated, low-power GPS products -- the GSC3f and the GSC3 -- based on the company's SiRFstarIII architecture unveiled last year. The SiRF GSC3f for the first time combines a complete A-GPS digital baseband processor, RF front end and 4 megabits of flash memory in a single 7 mm x 10 mm package, providing makers of cell phones, PDAs, digital cameras and other portable and wireless devices with a drop-in A-GPS solution they can use to deliver real-time location and navigation capabilities in a simpler, smaller design with extended battery life.

The first SiRFstarIII receivers in a single package, the GSC3f and the GSC3 (without internal flash memory) will deliver exceptional sensitivity, low power consumption and extremely fast time to first fix (TTFF) in a compact, 140-pin BGA package. The digital section of both the GSC3f and GSC3 includes a powerful SiRFstarIII core GPS signal processor that handles all the time critical and low latency acquisition, tracking and reacquisition tasks autonomously, and a 50-MHz ARM7TDMI processor designed to run many OEM user applications. The GSC3f has integrated 4-megabit flash memory, eliminating the need for an external flash component and significantly simplifying the routing associated with integrating a GPS receiver into a board design. Supporting multiple reference frequencies, the RF section of the GSC3f and GSC3 is the most highly integrated, lowest-power SiRF RF implementation to date, combining an RTC and monitor circuitry and is designed to bring many components that were previously on the board into the silicon while reducing RF current consumption to just 13 mA.

"We intend to lead the market in providing creative solutions to enable new applications for GPS technology," said Kanwar Chadha, founder and vice president of marketing for SiRF. "This innovative A-GPS solution delivers the high performance, low power and small footprint that we anticipate will location-enable the smallest mobile phones, power-constrained smart devices and compact digital cameras."

According to Chadha, this innovation is designed to deliver unmatched TTFF at the low signal levels of the original two-chip SiRFstarIII set, while occupying 20 percent less board real estate than SiRF's original SiRFstarIII implementation, and consuming no more power than the earlier SiRFstarII product.

Able to track more than 20 satellites, the SiRFstarIII architecture achieves a remarkable TTFF of one second for aided starts in outdoor GSM environments and acquires signals down to -159 dBm, making real-time navigation practical in challenging environments such as urban canyons and dense foliage. Unlike the lengthy sequential search process of traditional GPS architectures, the SiRFstarIII architecture, with the equivalent of more than 200,000 correlators, enables fast and deep GPS signal search capabilities, resulting in significant improvement over today's architectures that contain a few hundred to a few thousand correlators.

The GSC3f and GSC3 are supported by SiRFLoc multimode technology, SiRF's patented location solution that allows networks to move beyond basic "find and locate" applications to support a wide range of location-based services (LBS) such as navigation and real-time routing with minimal network bandwidth requirements. The SiRFLoc client software that runs on the GSC3 family can determine position with aiding from GSM, WCDMA, CDMA, iDEN and PDC networks -- or completely autonomously -- using multiple dynamically configurable modes.

Availability and Pricing

The SiRF GSC3f and GSC3 are available now in production quantities. Please contact SiRF for pricing information.

About SiRF Technology

SiRF Technology Holdings, Inc. is a leading supplier of GPS enabled location technology for high-volume mobile consumer devices and commercial applications. SiRF's technology has been integrated into mobile consumer devices, such as automobile navigation systems, mobile phones, PDAs, GPS-based peripherals and handheld GPS navigation devices, and into commercial applications, such as asset tracking devices and fleet management systems. SiRF markets and sells its products in four target platforms: automotive, consumer electronics, mobile computing, and wireless devices. Founded in 1995, SiRF is headquartered in San Jose, California, and has sales offices, design centers and research facilities around the world. The company trades on the NASDAQ Stock Exchange under the symbol SIRF. Additional information about SiRF and its Location Technology solutions can be found at www.sirf.com.

Except for the historical information contained herein, the matters set forth in this press release, including, but not limited to, statements regarding our intention to lead the market in providing solutions and the anticipated features, performance and benefits of the GSC3f and GSC3 including exception sensitivity, low power consumption and autonomous tracking and reacquisition and the anticipated features, performance and benefits of the SiRFLoc client software are forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Words such as "expected," "believes," "anticipates," "plans," "expects," "will" and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. These statements are not guarantees of future performance and reported results 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 market for GPS-based location awareness capabilities, performance and market acceptance of SiRF products and technology including the GSC3f and GSC3, our ability to keep pace with rapid technological change, the semiconductor industry, international operations and our ability to compete, and other risks and uncertainties discussed in the Company's Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended September 30, 2004 and from time to time in SiRF's SEC reports. These forward-looking statements speak only as of the date hereof. We do not undertake any obligation to update forward-looking statements.

NOTE: SiRF, SiRFstar, and the SiRF orbit design are registered trademarks of SiRF Technology, Inc.


Source: SiRF Technology Holdings, Inc.

CONTACT: Lori Evans of Evans Public Relations, +1-650-595-8776, or
mobile, +1-650-759-1265, or lori@evanspartners.com, for SiRF Technology
Holdings, Inc.; or Rebecca DiCorti of SiRF Technology, Inc., +1-408-392-8422,
or rdicorti@sirf.com

Web site: http://www.sirf.com/


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