Intel’s Atom goes 3G

“In the range of competitive solutions, we will be comparable to others in power consumption, but performance-wise we will far exceed them,” Chandrasekher said.

The deals with Ericsson and Option won’t result in combined radio-processing modules such as Intel’s self-contained Centrino platform. Instead, Intel and its 3G partners will work together to ensure interoperability and ease of integration, creating a ready-made pairing of radio baseband and processor for MID manufacturers, said Magnus Kristersson, head of product management for Ericsson’s Embedded Modules unit. Since launching its embedded modules group 18 months ago, the mobile infrastructure giant has seen significant take-up, landing several major laptop manufacturers as customers. Ericsson was also one of the launch partners in the GSM Association’s new effort to create a “mobile broadband” brand that would instantly alert consumers to 3G capabilities in a device similar to the way WiFi alerts consumers of WLAN connectivity.

Kristersson said that Ericsson’s embedded device efforts are today focused primarily on laptops, but the company believes 3G will expand into a broader range of devices as consumer electronics makers see the necessity of wide-area wireless connectivity. While Ericsson will supply MID makes with what is essentially the same tri-band UMTS/HSPA chipsets it supplies to laptop makers, it will shrink the module in size by almost half to account for the device’s smaller form factor. Unlike the concerns surrounding the power consumption of the processor, Kristersson said he doesn’t anticipate any power consumption worries for the radios in MIDs. 3G technology has always been very power-conscious, Kristersson said, leading to phones that can idle for days at a time without recharging.

“We’re benefiting from years and years of Ericsson taking down battery consumption in phones,” Kristersson said. “We’re taking that same technology and extending it to the MID market.”