OREANDA-NEWS. Marvell (NASDAQ:MRVL), a world leader in storage, cloud infrastructure, Internet of Things (IoT), connectivity and multimedia semiconductor solutions, today announced the advanced Avastar® 88W8977 Wi-Fi® and Bluetooth® 4.2 (with future Bluetooth 5.0 features) low-power wireless System-on-Chip (SOC) designed to offer the smallest foot print and lowest bill of material (BoM) for the dynamic Wearables, Internet of Things (IoT) and Smart Home markets.

Marvell Avastar 88W8977

"Marvell's latest addition to its Avastar family of connectivity solutions, is a fully integrated combo SoC designed to be the lowest power 28nm connectivity solution on the market today," said Kevin Tang, Senior Director of Marketing, Wireless Connectivity Business Unit at Marvell. "By offering a highly integrated device and enabling faster time-to-market, Marvell is well positioned to be a leading supplier to tier one OEMs in the fast-growing Wearable, IoT and Smart Home markets."

With the rapidly growing number of devices connected to home networks offering audio, video, security, and plethora of cloud-based services, consumers increasingly demand a robust and uninterrupted wireless experience. Marvell's advanced Avastar 88W8977 SoC provides dual-band capability with fully integrated front-end which is expected to reduce total system cost and design complexity. By leveraging 28nm technology and Marvell's advanced radio architecture, the 88W8977 also significantly enhances range performance while improving power consumption efficiency which greatly benefits applications such as wearables, wireless audio and smart home security cameras demanding low power to extend battery life.

Key features of the Marvell Avastar 88W8977 include:

  • Lowest power Wi-Fi with BLE only modes – The Avastar 88W8977 offers industry's lowest active Receive and BLE current consumption, efficiently supporting the low power consumption requirements of today's Wearables and battery-powered devices. BLE-only mode with Wi-Fi OFF enables extremely low power discovery and connection to nearby devices, while "Eco-mode" allows for dialing down the transmit power to 10dBm for shorter-range scenarios.
  • Fully integrated BOM – With on-chip PA, LNA and Switch on both 2.4 and 5 GHz bands, the Avastar 88W8977 delivers one of the most cost effective and smallest solution size with a shared antenna for Wi-Fi and BT. With built-in auto-calibration capability, the 88W8977 greatly simplifies design while reducing manufacturing cost.
  • 802.11mc and BLE Location –The Avastar 88W8977 will enable value added functionality for the Wearables space by offering both 802.11mc and BLE Angle based Location allowing use cases including targeted advertisements, finding nearby friends and indoor navigation inside malls, stadiums and airports.

Availability
The Avastar 88W8977 is currently sampling to customers.    

Marvell will be demonstrating its connectivity solutions at CES 2016 in Marvell's suite, Level 3, Murano No. 3304, at The Venetian. CES is being held in Las Vegas at the Las Vegas Convention and World Trade Center and the Venetian Hotel on Jan. 6–9, 2016.

About Marvell
Marvell (NASDAQ: MRVL) is a global leader in providing complete silicon solutions and Kinoma® software enabling the "Smart Life and Smart Lifestyle." From storage to cloud infrastructure, Internet of Things (IoT), connectivity and multimedia, Marvell's diverse product portfolio aligns complete platform designs with industry-leading performance, security, reliability and efficiency. At the core of the world's most powerful consumer, network and enterprise systems, Marvell empowers partners and their customers to always stand at the forefront of innovation, performance and mass appeal. By providing people around the world with mobility and ease of access to services adding value to their social, personal and work lives, Marvell is committed to enhancing the human experience.