Ember Corporation, Boston, Mass., has purchased a deep portfolio of 802.15.4 RFIC technology from Cambridge Consultants Ltd. (CCL) and has hired the engineering team that developed it.

These strategic moves enable Ember to offer radio, network and software in an integrated 802.15.4/“ZigBee” package that will serve the rapidly emerging market for low-cost, low-power networking applications.

The market for ZigBee chips is expected to reach half a billion units by 2008, according to analyst Kirsten West of West Technology Research Solutions. “The potential size of these new wireless markets totally dwarfs anything we have seen so far with early consumer wireless standards,” West said.

The CCL deal gives Ember:

• Exclusive rights to CCL's 802.15.4 single-chip architecture, which supports low-power radio communications in demanding environments such as industrial facilities.

• A license to use CCL's library of low-power radio components; and a wide range of digital communications intellectual property.

• Two years of CCL's integrated circuit development services to accelerate product development.

Paired with Ember's embedded mesh networking intelligence, CCL's radio technology will create a single-chip platform for mesh networking applications such as building security, heating, cooling, lighting and ventilation; inventory control; industrial controls; and transportation infrastructure safety monitoring. CCL is one of the world's top developers of wireless applications, integrated circuits and intellectual property for low-powered, embedded radio.

“This acquirement proves our commitment to the market and to consolidating key intellectual property — networking and radio — in one product,” said Ember CEO Jeff Grammer. “Companies developing 802.15.4-based products need radio and networking technologies that interoperate seamlessly, instead of spending valuable development time stitching them together.”

The development team, which is now part of Ember, will be the core of an expanded European presence based at CCL's facilities in Cambridge, UK. Ember Europe now becomes the “fabless” silicon arm of Ember Corporation. The subsidiary also includes Ember's existing UK sales and service staff and former CCL associate director Jim Schoenenberger, who takes the position of director of business development.

For more information, visit www.ember.com.