Qualcomm Atheros announced that it has begun sampling its new WCN3660 combo chip, which is designed to bring expanded connectivity options to the Qualcomm Snapdragon family of mobile processors.  Optimized for use in smartphone and tablet devices, the WCN3660 supports an extensive suite of advanced Wi-Fi connectivity options with multiple Wi-Fi standards.  The WCN3660 chip also supports Bluetooth 3.0 and Bluetooth 4.0 and the worldwide FM radio frequency band.  Designed to interface with Qualcomm's 28nm Snapdragon mobile processors, the new WCN3660 is a highly integrated solution, enabling customers to provide enhanced connectivity in mobile devices, while reducing the board area required for Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and FM radio support by up to 50 percent over existing solutions.

"With the launch of the WCN3660, Qualcomm Atheros is demonstrating its commitment to provide an extensive connectivity portfolio of discrete, combo and integrated platform solutions to our smartphone and tablet customers," said Amir Faintuch, senior vice president and general manager, consumer business unit, Qualcomm Atheros.  "Qualcomm Atheros is pleased to help enable a new generation of mobile devices that connect users to the growing array of must-have social, media and cloud applications."

The WCN3660 chip features single-stream, 802.11n with dual-band (2.4 GHz and 5 GHz) operation to enhance mobile wireless multimedia applications.  The chip also supports mobile hotspot functionality for up to 14 clients with industry standards-based Wi-Fi Direct for peer-to-peer wireless connections without an access point present.  The WCN3660 also will support the emerging Wi-Fi Display™ standard for streaming video directly from a smartphone or tablet to a Wi-Fi-enabled display or television.  

The WCN3660 chip has an integrated dual-band power amplifier, transmit antenna switch and on-chip matching circuit, which allows the chip to meet the most stringent carrier requirements while minimizing solution size and power consumption.  Bluetooth standards supported by the WCN3660 chip include high-speed Bluetooth 3.0 for audio streaming and device connectivity, and low-power Bluetooth 4.0, which is designed to work with low-power sensors, health monitoring devices and other low data-rate applications.  The FM radio capabilities of the WCN3660 include support for both FM receiver and transceiver functionality; worldwide FM band support (76 to 108 MHz); RDS support for Europe and RBDS support for the U.S.; autonomous search, seek and manual tuning; and active noise cancellation.

The WCN3660 chip is compatible and directly interfaces with Snapdragon devices manufactured in the 28nm process, including the MSM8960, MSM8270, MSM8x30 and APQ8064.  It uses a fully calibrated, wafer-level package smaller than 15mm-squared for direct mounting to a PCB for ease of design and implementation.  The WCN3660's small size and low power consumption in both active and standby modes help provide excellent battery life in mobile devices.  To minimize interference and provide high LTE data throughput and optimal audio quality, the WCN3660 interfaces directly with the centralized coexistence manager in the Snapdragon device to provide real-time, intelligent packet arbitration and scheduling, providing an LTE/ISM coexistence solution that is optimized beyond the capabilities of standard filtering approaches.  

"Qualcomm Atheros is utilizing its systems expertise to deliver a highly innovative and integrated architecture for connectivity solutions in smartphones and tablets," said David Favreau, vice president of product management, Qualcomm Atheros.  "The new WCN3660 combo chip with the Qualcomm Snapdragon mobile processors provides a powerful solution for always-connected mobile devices that support WAN, WLAN and WPAN connections."

The WCN3660 is optimized to work with a broad range of mobile operating systems including Android, next-generation Windows and Windows Phone, Palm WebOS and QNX.  Samples of the WCN3660 chip are available now, with a commercial release scheduled for late 2011.

Except for the historical information contained herein, the matters set forth in this press release, including the features, benefits and performance of Qualcomm Atheros' products and technologies, including its WCN3660 combo chip, and the expected timing of commercial release of the WCN3660 chip in late 2011, are forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995.  These forward-looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially, including, but not limited to, difficulties in the development of new and enhanced products, general economic conditions, the effects of competition and technological change, and the risks detailed in Qualcomm Atheros' (formerly Atheros Communications Inc.) Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2010, as amended, and its Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended March 31, 2011 , as filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, and in other reports filed with the SEC by Qualcomm Incorporated from time to time.