[RMI announces mPND initiative set to deliver rich media capabilities, Mobile TV, and lower cost GPS in new PND products.]

Cupertino, CA and Amsterdam -- RMI Corporation, a leading provider of High Performance Processors for Communication and Media, today announced that it has launched a complete product solution for Media Personal Navigation Devices (mPND) driving lower cost GPS implementations. RMI’s solution offers a variety of cost-optimized choices while still maintaining its advanced capabilities and support for global MobileTV standards and supporting most audio and video codecs.

Powered by Alchemy™

Based on the RMI Alchemy™ Au1250™ and Au1210™ SoC Processors, these high-performance power-optimized processing engines allow mPND manufacturers the ability to differentiate their products with new consumer centric innovations including a variety of performance, power and integration features previously unavailable and to avoid the eroding margins which are typical of single-purpose GPS devices.

Lower Cost GPS Implementations

The mPND reference design from RMI implements the lowest cost alternatives to replace expensive GPS modules. The Au1250 media processor provides ample processing headroom to perform the complex baseband function in software, removing the need for external baseband hardware. RMI works closely with its partners, leading GPS suppliers, to offer a spectrum of cost-optimized choices for the mPND designer.

* Software GPS (Soft GPS) - where the baseband function is implemented in software. For soft GPS, RMI works with GPS partners such as CSR, a leader in software GPS technology.

* Host-based GPS (Host GPS) - where some of the GPS calculations are performed by the host processor. For Host GPS, RMI works with GPS partners such as Nemerix and Atheros.

* Hardware GPS - where are GPS functions are implemented in dedicated hardware IC’s. For hardware GPS, RMI works with partners such as SiGe Semiconductor, a leader in innovative radio frequency (RF) solutions for next-generation wireless applications including voice, data, and video.

“As leaders in this application space, our mPND initiative will deliver rich media capabilities, Mobile TV, and lower cost GPS to create a new category of PND products in the marketplace,” said Behrooz Abdi, president and chief executive officer, RMI. “By offering a complete application solution, we enable our mPND customers to decrease their time to market and still have significant opportunity to create a differentiated product. Finally, our partnerships with leading GPS solutions providers like CSR and SiGe have allowed us to significantly lower the cost of these devices which is an important factor to the end consumer.”

Complete mPND Application Solution

Powered by the RMI Alchemy Au1200 Processor Family, capable of running at speeds up to 700MHz, this low cost mPND reference design consists of a reference design board, software board support package (BSP), hardware schematics, documentation, as well as navigation and Mobile TV applications. Key Features of the mPND application solution include low-cost GPS and MobileTV support. The solution supports WinCE 5.0 BSP and the Media Software Development Kit (SDK) from RMI. The Navigation application includes Maps, Mobile TV and Software GPS. Other Upgrade Options include Hosted GPS implementation and other Mobile TV Standards (DMB-TH, DVB-T, ISDB-T, T-DMB)

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