Ericsson licenses Bluetooth intellectual property to Intel

[First published 04 December 2000]
Ericsson announced today that it has signed a licensing agreement with Intel Corp. covering the supply of Ericsson intellectual property for Bluetooth wireless technology to Intel. The Bluetooth intellectual property comprises hardware and software for the Bluetooth Core Product from Ericsson (EBCP), as well as software for the Bluetooth HOST Stack, which is independent of the operating system. Intel can now offer OEMs a more comprehensive portfolio of wireless communications solutions with Ericsson's intellectual property. Intel will market the Bluetooth HOST Stack and Bluetooth Core Product from Ericsson (EBCP) as part of its wireless communications and computing solutions.

Intel awarded Ericsson the licensing contract for its next-generation EBCP after a thorough investigation of all alternative baseband intellectual property solutions. ARM has productized EBCP for Ericsson, and will carry out supply, support and adaptation.

"Ericsson offers the complete Bluetooth solution. In addition to Bluetooth consumer products, chipsets and modules, Ericsson is now licensing its Bluetooth intellectual property," says Jan Ahrenbring, vice president of marketing and communications at Ericsson Mobile Communications. "We are delighted that this new focus has resulted in supplying intellectual property to the largest semiconductor manufacturer in the world."

"Intel is committed to accelerating development of wireless Internet access," says Ron Smith, vice president and general manager of the Wireless Communications and Computing Group at Intel Corporation. "Ericsson is a promoter of the Bluetooth Special Interest Group together with Intel, and has developed leading-edge Bluetooth intellectual property. This relationship with Ericsson strengthens the building blocks available in support of our Intel Personal Internet Client Architecture. We will be able to offer more feature-rich solutions to developers of wireless Internet clients."

The Bluetooth Core Product from Ericsson (EBCP) contains Bluetooth baseband software and hardware intellectual property that enables implementation of Bluetooth wireless technology into a chip. The Bluetooth HOST Stack from Ericsson is a software component that enables local wireless connections between devices such as mobile computers, handheld devices and mobile phones.

Read more about Bluetooth at: http://www.ericsson.com/bluetooth