IPWireless and Altair Semiconductor have announced a partnership to develop a suite of multi-band LTE modem products that will support key frequency bands ideally suited to global LTE deployments. Samples of the device will be available by September, 2010, with commercial availability before the end of the year.

The companies will integrate Altair’s cutting-edge software-defined radio baseband processor into IPWireless’ LTE devices. The first consumer friendly LTE USB modem device will support multiple frequency bands including the 800MHz digital dividend band, 1800 MHz and 2.5 GHz. Subsequent devices will also support the entire US 700MHz and AWS frequency. 

 â€œBy partnering with Altair Semiconductor to develop LTE modem devices, we are providing mobile operators and their customers with a high performance, low power solution that will satisfy the needs of consumers as LTE networks are deployed globally. Altair’s flexible chipset architecture enables us to rapidly develop devices that meet mobile operators’ growing demand for high quality LTE devices that support multiple spectrum bands, including the newly released 800MHz digital dividend spectrum band” said Malcolm Gordon, Chief Operating Officer of IPWireless. 

“IPWireless is a pioneer in developing and designing 3G and 4G wireless broadband devices. The combination of their innovative technology, product integration expertise and our patented software-defined radio 4G chipsets has allowed us to jointly develop one of the first commercial LTE modems for mobile operators looking to get a jump on deploying LTE networks and provide their users with an extraordinary experience,” said Eran Eshed, Co-Founder and VP of Marketing and Business Development at Altair.

IPWireless’ LTE device will incorporate Altair’s FourGee-3100 baseband and FourGee-6200 RFIC chipsets as well as IPWireless’ own technology solutions and software. 

In addition to Altair’s chipsets, IPWireless' LTE devices will use a custom designed multi-band MIMO antenna that will improve both cell edge and peak rate performance. The RF transceiver chains have been highly optimized to provide superior receiver sensitivity. The devices will support Windows, Mac and Linux operating systems, and will have the facility to support over-the-air (OTA) software updates without disruption to the user.

IPWireless will also integrate Altair’s FourGee-3100/6200 baseband/RFIC chipset platform into its PCI Express Mini Card (PEM) for use in LTE networks.