Freescale Semiconductor has collaborated with an impressive lineup of companies to enable 3G connectivity and additional operating system options for netbooks based on its new i.MX515 processor.
Freescale entered the netbook market in January 2009 with the introduction of the i.MX515 processor and a comprehensive netbook reference design. Developed jointly with Pegatron, the reference design includes Canonical’s Ubuntu operating system based on Linux technology.
Freescale now has expanded its netbook ecosystem, adding support for additional operating systems from Android Open Source Project, Phoenix Technologies and Xandros, as well as 3G connectivity capabilities via collaboration with Wavecom and Option.
Freescale plans to enable 3G connectivity by providing hardware and software support for data modules optimized for the i.MX515 applications processor.
Freescale’s netbook reference design is available now. The company currently is sampling the i.MX515 processor to tier one netbook customers. Volume production for the i.MX515 device is planned for second quarter of 2009.
Glen Burchers, marketing director of consumer segment at Freescale, said: Demand from third parties to partner with Freescale in the growing netbook market has been tremendous. Freescale is taking dead aim at the netbook space by assembling an outstanding portfolio of technologies and partners. As a result, we expect that a wide range of netbook models based on Freescale technology will be available for consumers in the second half of 2009.
