Ramps-Up to 120,000 Units in 12 Months as Mainstream Navigation Radio Market
Takes Off
SAN JOSE, Calif., May 16 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- SiRF Technology, Inc.,
a leading supplier of GPS- enabled location technology, today revealed its
latest success story as a key technology contributor, helping Blaupunkt, a
subsidiary of Robert Bosch GmbH, achieve a production ramp-up record with its
new in-vehicle navigation system, the TravelPilot E-series CD Navigation
Radio. Producing 120,000 of these highly integrated systems within the first
year of start of production, Blaupunkt relied on SiRF's SiRFstarII
architecture based intellectual property (IP) platform and navigation
software. The SiRFstarII IP platform as part of a System-On-Chip (SoC)
approach helped Blaupunkt set a new price/performance benchmark for entry-
level automotive navigation systems, igniting this nascent high-volume market.
"Being able to integrate the GPS functionality into the SoC at the heart
of the TravelPilot E series platform enabled us to significantly reduce the
cost of high-performance automotive navigation systems. The result is the
most affordable integrated in-car satellite navigation system on the market,"
said Friedhelm Pickhard, vice president, Business Unit Driver Information
Systems Car Multimedia at Blaupunkt GmbH. "SiRF's cooperative efforts,
outstanding GPS performance and smart system architecture helped keep the
program on schedule and on budget, and created a proven model we can use for
future in-vehicle navigation product development."
SiRF teamed with Blaupunkt and its semiconductor vendor, ST
Microelectronics, to create a highly integrated SoC solution based on SiRF's
SiRFstarII GPS baseband and radio frequency integrated circuit technology to
provide advanced GPS functionality while meeting the low-cost and high-
performance needs of mass market automotive navigation systems. The
SiRFstarII IP platform was chosen because of its excellent sensitivity and
tracking performance, as well as a GPS baseband IP core architecture that
simplifies integration into SoC solutions while minimizing CPU and memory
requirements. The high level of integration and robust GPS performance of the
resulting SoC enabled Blaupunkt to create a high-performance, entry-level
navigation system with a substantially reduced bill of materials cost.
"Blaupunkt has again demonstrated their market leadership by bringing such
an innovative product to market that makes high performance navigation
affordable for mainstream consumers," said Kanwar Chadha, founder and vice
president of marketing for SiRF Technology. "Blaupunkt's adoption of our
architecture and core IP platform and our teaming up with ST is a great
endorsement of our technology for the automotive navigation and telematics
markets."
The SiRFstarII technology embedded in the SoC handles all the time
critical aspects of obtaining measurements from the GPS satellites, and passes
the raw data to the SiRFNav software running on the SoC's CPU core for further
processing. The SiRFstarII core IP provides a complete GPS baseband solution
for integration into a host platform, offering major advancements in GPS
performance, accuracy, integration and flexibility. SiRFstarII's hardware
satellite signal tracking engine and fast satellite search engine contribute
to significantly improve overall system performance, by minimizing processor
interrupt and computation loading.
SiRF offers a complete IP package, including full Verilog deliverables
with all support, a custom engineering group to support both hardware and
software modifications and proven IP used by semiconductor partners worldwide.
SiRF's proven IP platform is at the heart of millions of SoC's shipped in the
wireless and automotive space. SiRF's ability to effectively support both
chipset and IP customers is key to its leadership position in a broad range of
markets -- automotive, wireless and consumer.
About SiRF Technology
SiRF Technology Holdings, Inc. develops and markets semiconductor and
software products that are designed to enable location-awareness utilizing GPS
and other location technologies in 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, Calif., 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 http://www.sirf.com.
About Blaupunkt:
Blaupunkt, the mobile electronics division of The Robert Bosch
Corporation, designs and manufactures high quality and high performance car
audio, video and navigation products for sale worldwide. For Blaupunkt dealer
locations and product information, call 1-800-950-BLAU [2528] or visit the
company's web site at http://www.blaupunktusa.com .
In North America, the Bosch Group manufactures and markets automotive
original equipment and aftermarket products, industrial automation and mobile
products, power tools and accessories, security technology, packaging
equipment and household appliances. Bosch employs more than 23,300 associates
in more than 80 facilities throughout North America and reported sales of $6.6
billion in 2003. For more information, visit http://www.boschusa.com .
Forward-Looking Statements:
Except for the historical information contained herein, the matters set
forth in this press release, including, but not limited to, statements
regarding expected performance and benefits of our SiRFstarII IP core and
software, are forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private
Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Words such as "agree to," expect,"
"believes," "anticipates," "plans," "expects," "will," "predicts," and similar
expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. These
statements are not guarantees 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 performance and benefits of our SiRFstarII IP core and software, the
market for GPS-based location awareness capabilities, 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 SiRF's Annual Report on Form 10- K for the year ended December
31, 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 Technology and the SiRF logo are registered trademarks of SiRF
Technology, Inc.
SOURCE SiRF Technology Holdings, Inc.
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Related links:
http://www.sirf.com
CONTACT:
Lori Evans of Evans Public Relations,
+1-650-312-8344, or mobile, +1-650-200-5891, or
lori@evanspublicrelations.com, for SiRF Technology Holdings,
Inc.; or Rebecca DiCorti of SiRF Technology Holdings, Inc.,
+1-408-392-8422, or rdicorti@sirf.com
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