Intel is pleased to announce that it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire certain assets of the wireless infrastructure division of Mindspeed Technologies, Inc. The team and technology Intel is acquiring will make important contributions to how Intel Architecture-based solutions are transforming wireless access within mobile network infrastructure.
During the past several years, our Communications and Storage Infrastructure Group, part of our Data Center Group, has made tremendous strides toward providing customers with a common platform for consolidating communication workloads processing on IA, thereby increasing customers’ reuse and reducing total cost of ownership. For the carriers, the ability to use general purpose computing to process networking workloads allows service providers to quickly deploy more flexible and scalable infrastructure, reducing provisioning time for services, and improving user experiences.
The worlds of Information Technology and Communications Technology are converging. The scalability, flexibility and operating expenses of “classic” data centers have become a role model for carrier network operators looking to improve their economic profile. IT technologies and approaches are increasingly being used throughout telecom infrastructure used to manage our phone calls, provide wireless access, route traffic, and enable internet surfing on mobile devices using 3G or 4G.
However, within the network there are additional workloads that have to be processed which require specific capabilities focused on packet processing and signal processing. Intel-based platforms today deliver three of four key processing workloads: application processing, control processing and packet processing. Our goal has always been to consolidate all four workloads to run on IA and we have already made significant steps towards enabling the last one — signal processing on Intel-based servers — through collaboration with China Mobile and SKT on designing Cloud Radio Access Network technologies.
Through this acquisition, Intel will gain a wireless infrastructure team with deep experience in delivering signal processing-related technologies and IP for base stations. Having this team as part of Intel will accelerate consolidation of the final fourth workload on Intel technologies, delivering increased value to customers.
With a unique ability to consolidate all four communication workloads, as well as our existing offerings for Network Function Virtualization and Software Defined Networking, we’re executing on our strategy to deliver flexibility and intelligence throughout the entire network. This is all part of how we at Intel are helping transform the data center and related technologies, a movement that is only just beginning.
Deal terms were not disclosed and the transaction must meet customary closing conditions. The wireless infrastructure division has sites in Bath, UK; Newport Beach, Calif.; and Shenzhen and Beijing, China. We look forward to sharing more details after the deal closes.
