CSR brings the Connectivity Centre together with new Synergy software

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CSR (LSE: CSR) today announces the launch of its new embedded wireless software: CSR Synergy, a milestone in CSR’s Connectivity Centre strategy. CSR has introduced a major new approach to wireless system software, offering overarching support for all technologies in CSR’s Connectivity Centre in a single, cohesive package. Bluetooth, Bluetooth low energy, Wi-Fi, UWB, eGPS, NFC, audio-DSP functions and FM transceiver are all to be supported within the single software environment. CSR Synergy takes an overall systems approach to connectivity, making integration easier and reducing time-to-market for designers looking to implement single or multiple wireless technologies. Synergy offers performance improvements in wireless technology interoperability and enables advanced new end-user use-cases.

CSR Synergy is the world’s first host connectivity software platform to work in this way. The Synergy software is an important part of CSR’s Connectivity Centre, which brings together all of CSR’s connectivity technologies under one roof to offer the greatest value to OEMs and end users.

CSR Synergy accelerates the porting process by introducing the Synergy Framework. This is a virtual operating system (OS) and hardware abstraction layer that allows several wireless technologies to be run in the same environment. This results in only one porting task for OEMs and therefore a reduced time-to-market. CSR’s wireless technologies are all represented as Synergy technology modules that can then be added easily to the Synergy Framework by simple configuration depending on the requirements of the OEM’s product. All the technologies have a high-level and unified API making the integration into the application and user interface (UI) layer as simple and fast as possible. As the result of this joined-up thinking the various elements work together and coexist perfectly. CSR’s approach introduces a range of new possibilities, such as the high speed variant that features in Bluetooth Seattle. CSR has also developed its own high-speed software called AmpliFi to support the forthcoming Bluetooth Seattle standard and has been sampling to tier one customers for six months.

Using CSR Synergy, OEMs can quickly and easily integrate these advanced, co-operative connectivity features happy in the knowledge they will work together flawlessly. In contrast, the one-stack-per-technology model is often complex, time-consuming, and does not guarantee a working solution supporting multiple technologies.

Thanks to CSR’s software, consumers do not have to think about what technology they need to use. Different wireless technologies can simply co-operate to best effect, switching from Bluetooth to UWB to save battery power in large file transfers for example, or from Bluetooth to Wi-Fi when a user wants to access the internet and is within reach of a WLAN hotspot.

This seamless co-operation of connectivity standards will also open up the field for smart software applications, making new use-cases technologically practical for the first time. A phone could turn Wi-Fi off as it leaves an office network and turn GPS on for the car ride home, for example.

"CSR Synergy is the industry’s first multi-radio host software suite designed specifically for connectivity – it provides the intelligence in our Connectivity Centre. Many advanced connectivity features are enabled by the host software, going forward, the most exciting of those features will be the ones that span across multiple radio technologies,” said Matthew Phillips, Senior Vice President, Handset Business Unit, CSR. "Synergy is targeted at all types of handsets, although smart-phone operating systems come with connectivity support, it is usually very basic and misses out on a whole raft of features. Many of our customers are now asking us to use CSR Synergy to upgrade the connectivity software on their smart phone products. Take Google Android for example, the current release only supports basic hands-free operation, but by upgrading the connectivity software with CSR Synergy, the platform can support wireless stereo streaming, phone book access and 29 other Bluetooth profiles.”

CSR Synergy builds on the success of CSR’s BlueCore Host Software (BCHS) – the most widely used embedded Bluetooth software stack in the world today. Like BCHS, CSR Synergy has source code in ANSI C, is easily extendable and has a virtual OS for easy portability. In Synergy OEMs only have one solution to port, resulting in a smaller memory footprint and less resources required for the porting job than separate solutions. It is also easy to remove or add-in technologies to CSR Synergy.

"The best way to allow OEMs to create innovative, high-performance products involving multiple wireless technologies is for all of the wireless software to be designed at the same source,” said Allan Eriksen, Software Marketing Manager, Handset Business Unit, CSR. "Using one-stack-per-technology results in less than perfect cooperation between the different technologies. There’s a perception that good hardware is the only important thing in a device. But good hardware is nothing without coherent software to bring it all together. Software development and the full system solution strategy has always been a cornerstone to CSR’s technology. CSR Synergy understands what each technology is doing and ensures they work together to maximise performance and offer longest battery life. CSR Synergy is the glue that binds together the wide range of technologies in CSR’s Connectivity Centre.”

In addition to the most popular wireless standards Synergy supports a wide range of new innovative features from CSR. InfoStream, a CSR protocol, packages information alongside streamed audio such as caller name or headset battery level. CSR’s AuriStream enables wideband-quality audio between handset and headset.

CSR already has several lead tier one handset customers developing products around the Synergy software environment.

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About CSR

CSR is the pioneering supplier of the technology for the Connectivity Centre with a product portfolio covering Bluetooth, GPS, FM and Wi-Fi (IEEE802.11). CSR has a track record for consistent innovation that has resulted in a leadership position for supplying wireless technologies.

CSR’s customers include industry leaders such as Apple, Dell, LG, Motorola, NEC, Nokia, Panasonic, RIM, Samsung, Sharp, Sony, TomTom and Toshiba.

CSR has its headquarters and offices in Cambridge, UK, and offices in Japan, Korea, Taiwan, China, India, France, Denmark, Sweden and both Dallas and Detroit in the USA.

More information can be found at www.csr.com