Innovision, Sasken partner for NFC solution
30 July, 2008
category: Contactless, NFC
Mass volume and integrated NFC chips have taken a step forward with the recently announced partnership between Innovision Research & Technology and Sasken Communication Technologies that is designed to provide a one-stop NFC IP and software solution.
This first partnership between the two companies will allow Innovision to provide its customers with the Sasken NFC Protocol Stack software solution for integration with Innovision’s GEM NFC hardware IP product.
This combined IP and software solution will enable semiconductor companies to develop complete NFC capability, either for stand-alone solutions or as part of System-on-Chip (SoC) integrated NFC solutions within wireless connectivity devices such as Bluetooth, Wireless LAN and UWB.
“For NFC to scale up into mass volume deployment, cost control is critical and necessitates NFC becoming a feature on a chip rather than an additional dedicated chip in the handset,” says Innovision CEO David Wollen. “Our advanced GEM IP uniquely enables customized, cost-effective and fast-time-to-market NFC implementations. By partnering with Sasken…we can offer a truly turnkey solution.”
Sasken is developing its protocol stack, targeted for Innovision’s GEM hardware IP to ensure a seamless solution targeted for various environments including SoC implementations.
The software stack, available to partners under a flexible licensing agreement, provides a simple solution, integrating the GEM IP to middleware and application levels to provide a low cost, small space solution with minimal processing and power requirement.
“When considering prospective hardware partners for our NFC software stack, Innovision with its GEM IP were an obvious choice, given its market-leading position,” says Kannankote Srikanth, Sasken President & COO. “Sasken has already been involved with many NFC projects, and development and licensing of our NFC software stack is a natural progression of our business.”