Lucent BLASTs 3G Chips

MURRAY HILL. N.J. -- Lucent Technologies (NYSE: LU) today announced that Bell Labs, its research and development arm, has designed two prototype chips for mobile devices that implement its multiple input/multiple output (MIMO) wireless network technology, called Bell Labs Layered Space-Time (BLAST). These chips, which conform to industry standards for size and power consumption, demonstrate that BLAST technology can be deployed in mobile devices commercially. In initial lab testing, the chips lived up to theoretical predictions, receiving data in a third-generation (3G) mobile network at a blazing 19.2 Megabits per second (Mbps). By comparison, today's fastest 3G networks, offer maximum speeds of roughly 2.5 Mbps. BLAST uses multiple antennas at the terminal and base station to send and receive wireless signals at ultra-high speeds. When utilized in base station equipment and mobile devices, it permits higher-speed mobile data connections for notebook PCs and handheld data devices such as personal digital assistants (PDAs). This will enable mobile operators to provide higher-quality, higher-speed data services to a substantially greater number of subscribers than is possible with the best 3G network technology available today, increasing the value of their 3G investment dramatically. "There has been a scramble around the world to put MIMO in silicon," said Ran Yan, vice president, Wireless Research at Bell Labs. "We believe ours are the world's first chips that can be used in handsets with four antennas, and therefore the first capable of such high transmission speeds. Not only have we proven the commercial feasibility of BLAST, but we've also verified the performance figures our researchers predicted when they first theorized that it might be possible to exploit interference to achieve faster and more efficient communications." Lucent is also working to speed the commercial introduction of MIMO technology by making its family of Flexent(R) OneBTS(tm) base stations MIMO-ready. By doing so, a base station purchased today will provide mobile operators with a cost effective and seamless way to support this technology in the future when MIMO-enabled mobile devices become commercially available. Lucent Technologies Inc.