For those of us that have been in the industry for a while, it was always known that Broadcom had some of the best connectivity Wi-Fi and combo (Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, NFC and others) devices available.
Until recently, these devices were used primarily by mobile phone vendors and large companies with high volumes. Today Cypress Semiconductor changes all that.
Cypress’s announcement back in April that it was acquiring Broadcom’s IoT business followed a lot of consolidation in the semiconductor industry. NXP and Freescale, Microchip and Atmel are just a few of the companies that have decided to merge in the last year. But with its acquisition of Broadcom, Cypress leaves no doubt that it’s looking to become the premier connectivity chipset vendor for the broad market. This market is one of the fastest growth areas in IoT as more and more devices and systems get connected. Although there are several other players in the industry, Combo devices are becoming popular as companies are looking to create more complex devices, and there are few companies out there with that capability.
I mentioned that Broadcom’s chipset were found in major OEMs and others players too. Broadcom’s WICED platform (now Cypress WICED) was an attempt to take Broadcom devices to the broad market, but it didn’t fully achieve its objectives. Datasheets and other information were hidden behind agreements and NDAs, and support was limited. As a company that was designed to serve large OEMs, it was difficult if not impossible to support customers with 10k or even 100k units. Relying on its partners helped, but this approach didn’t scale as more and more smaller companies looked for wireless connectivity for their products.
Today the game changes and Broadcom finally goes broad market. Cypress has fully released Datasheets, Application Notes, designs and other information needed to use Broadcom’s devices. Gone are the days of having to go through NDAs and License agreements just to get a little information on the devices, which other manufacturers were giving away without any problem.
You can find all the information about the Broadcom Wi-Fi and BLE device here:
http://www.cypress.com/products/wireless-products
Have fun developing.
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