Mindspeed Debuts Optical Physical Media Device (PMD) Chipsets for 3G/4G Wireless Base Stations; Collaborates with EMCORE on Subsystems

Low-Power Chipsets Support Common Public Radio Interface (CPRI)-Based Solutions That Connect Base Station Servers to Remote Radio Heads at High Data Rates Over Long-Distance Fiber Links

Mindspeed Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ: MSPD), a leading supplier of semiconductor solutions for network infrastructure applications, today announced a high-performance, low-power physical media device (PMD) chipset that includes all necessary components required for CPRI-based optical transceivers that economically connect 3G/4G wireless base station servers to one or more remote radio heads (RRHs) over optical fiber.

Mindspeed(R) has collaborated with EMCORE'S Fiber Optics Division to develop a family of transmit and receive optical subassembly solutions based on Mindspeed's PMD devices. This family of products will allow base station servers to transmit over longer distances and at significantly higher data rates than can be supported with copper links.

"The wireless infrastructure is a rapidly growing market and we are excited to work with Mindspeed to develop a family of optical components for next-generation base station platforms," said Chris Wiggins, director of sales and marketing for EMCORE. "By leveraging our broad optoelectronic device portfolio, this collaboration effort provides key components with optimized performance to our customers. This will significantly reduce the time to market of their integrated products."

"The industry's migration to a 3G/4G mobile infrastructure is creating the need for significantly improved base station performance - not just for baseband processing, but also for the links between the main base station server and one or more distributed RRH units," said Gary Shah, executive director of product marketing with Mindspeed's high-performance analog business unit. "Mindspeed is an industry leader in high-speed PMD solutions for fiber-access networks, and now we are applying that same expertise to a new generation of power-efficient CPRI-enabled optical PMD solutions for 3G/4G base stations. These PMDs join our recently announced Transcede(TM) multi-core baseband processing SoCs to address key challenges in the next-generation mobile infrastructure."

Mindspeed's CPRI optical PMD chipsets fully support the latest CPRI V4.1 2009-02-18 specification and are optimized for 4.915Gbps and 6.144Gbps operation with lower power consumption compared to the traditional 10Gbps PMD chipsets. They support data rates from 614.4Mbps to 6144 Mbps over 20km Single-Mode-Fiber (SMF) and 500m Multi-Mode-Fiber (MMF). The receiver solution includes the M02020 transimpedance amplifier (TIA) combined with the M02049 limiting amplifier, optimized for 4.915 Gigabits/second (Gbps) or the M02129 TIA, combined with the M02142 limiting amplifier for 6.144Gbps. The limiting amplifiers each feature selectable band-width for optimal receiver sensitivity across CPRI rates. On the transmit side, solutions include the M02061 laser driver for long-wave laser diodes and the M02069 driver for short-wave vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers (VCSELs).

Mindspeed's CPRI optical PMD chipsets are available now, along with a small-form-factor reference design for up to 6.144Gbps data rates. By offering seamless chipset solutions, Mindspeed's CPRI optical PMD family enables optical transceiver vendors to get to market quickly with cost competitive solutions that deliver industry leading performance.

About Mindspeed Technologies

Mindspeed Technologies, Inc. designs, develops and sells semiconductor solutions for communications applications in the wireline and wireless network infrastructure, which includes today's separate but interrelated and converging enterprise, broadband access, metropolitan and wide area networks. Our products are classified into three focused product families: multiservice access, high-performance analog and wide area networking communications. Our products are sold to original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) for use in a variety of network infrastructure equipment, including voice and media gateways, high-speed routers, switches, access multiplexers, cross-connect systems, add-drop multiplexers, digital loop carrier equipment, IP private branch exchanges (PBXs), optical modules, broadcast video systems and wireless basestation equipment.

To learn more, visit us at www.mindspeed.com.

About EMCORE

EMCORE Corporation offers a broad portfolio of compound semiconductor-based products for the broadband, fiber optics, satellite and solar power markets. EMCORE's Fiber Optics segment offers optical components, subsystems and systems for high speed data and telecommunications networks, cable television (CATV) and fiber-to-the-premises (FTTP). EMCORE's Photovoltaics segment provides products for both satellite and terrestrial applications. For satellite applications, EMCORE offers high efficiency gallium arsenide (GaAs) solar cells, covered interconnected cells (CICs) and panels. For terrestrial applications, EMCORE is adapting its high-efficiency GaAs solar cells for use in solar concentrator systems. For further information about EMCORE, visit http://www.emcore.com