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BUSINESS & TECHNOLOGY IN THE U.S. & INDIA JANUARY 2013 SILICONINDIA.COM

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Company of the Month

CaliberPoint:CreatingValuethroughSolutions

Venkat Mattela, CEO

PoisedtoconquertheM2MMarket

RedpineSignals:RedpineSignals:PoisedtoconquertheM2MMarket

Entrepreneur of the Month

R U Srinivas

Manish Goel

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Venkat Mattela resisted the momen-tum of the great recession of 2001,tough competition to the tune of100 companies, critics anddoubters during the wireless Wi-Fiboom of the starting of the secondmillennium. The company hasemerged today as a dauntless ad-

versary in the wireless chipset space to giants such asQualcomm and Broadcom. The most important armory inthe arsenal of Redpine Signals has not been a singular so-lution or a product range, but its bold adherence to Innova-tion, experimentation, and Mattela’s hard work at singlehandedly engaging partnerships with global technologycompanies in many countries across the world. Thoughtoday there are no rough slides in comparison to early daysof 2001, the 48 year old entrepreneur wakes up every daywith the same level of passion and confidence to conquerand compete with the elephants in the wireless space.San Jose headquartered Redpine Signals, today is a

provider of wireless chipsets, modules and devices to over1500 clients worldwide. With over 150 patents and 1000person years spent in research and development of M2Mand ultra low powered wireless SoC's for mobile phones,research and innovation has manifested into the soul of thecompany. With all the extensive focus on new inventions,

Redpine Signals should more appropriately be called an ad-vanced wireless R&D laboratory instead of a wireless sys-tems company. Now Redpine is all set to unleash itsavant-garde ingeniousness into the M2M industry. VenkatMattela, CEO of Redpine Signals, who himself holds a totalof 11 U.S patents , embarked on a well laid out aggressiveapproach in 2008 to tap into the current emerging wirelessM2M market. Mattela and his team are now armed withenough artillery to address multibillion dollar TAM inM2M space (Industrial and Multi-Markets) with highly dif-ferentiated products..But the question to address is how Redpine emerged

victorious during the great recession over such tough op-positions. Unlike the IT/ITeS space, the wireless industrywas under constant stress to create new technologies. Thedownturn of the period gave the company the parameter oftime to develop new technologies with a small and efficientworkforce. But despite the inconsistency and the precari-ousness of the period, Mattela along with a few wirelesswarhorses, noticed a prominent opportunity in wirelesstechnologies, especially in the emerging OFDM/MIMOwireless segment and subsequently created a company withhigh value product portfolio..A wireless LAN system was what the company focused

on in the first few years of its existence. The biggest chal-lenge faced was funding the R&D to transform into a state-

Poised to conquer the M2M MarketRedpine Signals:

By Vignesh Anantharaj

CCOOVVEERR STORY

Venkat Mattela

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of-the-art facility with its own revenuegenerated in the down-turn market of2001. Mattela took this bold step whileother firms would have just stuck to anormal plan of action in fear of the re-cession turmoil. In 2005, Redpine Sig-nals created the industry’s first lowpower 802.11 b/g and in 2007, it cre-ated the Industry’s first 802.11abgntechnology which it licensed to a largesemiconductor company, who wouldeventually use it in their product as awireless interface for targeting 100s ofmillion mobile chipset market. Thisenabled Redpine Signals to continuemaking R&D investment in advancedwireless technology developments inother wireless automations like Mo-bile WiMAX , LTE , CMOS RF andPA technologies and also enabled it-self to create the flagship 802.11n lowpower chip in late 2007, its third gen-eration of ultra low power Wi-Fichipsets.

Redpine Signals is one of the oldtroopers still going strong since its in-ception and course of propagation. Itfunctions today with a mission to cre-ated ultra low powered converged Socfor mobile phones. It’s A-team of 160strong R&D talent pool has leveragedthe technology developed for mobilephones to create differentiated prod-ucts for the M2M space from 2008.

The company is on course to stamp itsauthority in the “internet of things” by2014. Today its offerings include anexhaustive range of OFDM, MIMO,multithreaded processors and CMOSRF & PA.“Convincing clients to include

Redpine Signals as a strategic partnerwas tough, as they are unwilling atfirst attempt, but observing the inven-tions and hard work put in by theskilled force, the clients soon recog-nized that an alliance would do won-

ders to their organ-izations,” saysMattela. In addi-tion to the alreadybuilt world-widesales channel, Nowthere is a keen im-portance on build-ing manufacturingme t h odo l o g i e swith a strongworld-wide partnernetwork.

The DNA of Inno-vationThe companyholds the acumen

of bringing out the industry's first si-multaneous, dual band 3x3 802.11nchipset in 2010 and the first 3x3802.11ac chipsets which were aimedto allow everyday entertainment de-vices to connect to Wi-Fi and helpgain access to demanding video appli-cations in a congested wireless en-tourage. Since 2008 the company hasbeen leveraging its technology devel-oped for mobile phones to create dif-ferentiated products for M2M space. The company not only develops

advanced chipset for M2M and mobilemarkets but also creates zero-hostoverhead wireless modules which arecertified for various regulatory stan-dards (FCC,IC,CE and TELEC) to en-able rapid product development inM2M space. Some of the firm’s fa-mous modules include the n-link, con-nect-io-n, and wiseconnect. To followits tradition of doing research to finddifferentiated customer value in anyproduct it intends to develop, Thecompany daringly introduced the In-dustry’s first 5 GHz Wi-Fi RTLS Tagsand its approach of creating RTLS tagsin the 5GHz spectrum has proven to beunique and effective for overcomingthe limits of the increasingly crowdedRF space of M2M devices. It has alsobeen customized to fit well into the fu-ture 802.11ac 5GHz enterprise Wi-Fiinfrastructure and was made capableof working with any third-party hard-ware and software RTLS infrastruc-tures.With the traditional 2.4 GHz only

providing 3 channels which are al-ready proving congestive with highelectronic interferences, the 5 GHz,with its 14 channel space is sure totake over the less effective 2.4 GHz asit capable of carrying more data forfaster and easier access at low powerconsumption levels. This 5 GHz in-vention landed Redpine Signals theprestigious Frost & Sullivan GlobalTechnology Innovation in WirelessSolutions and RTLS in 2012. Thecompany has made it a habit with ac-colades by winning on an average ofone award on a quarterly basis. More-over Redpine Signals was a winner inthe Network Products Guide’s 7th An-nual 2012 Hot companies and BestProducts Awards in the Mobile andWireless Solutions category for itsnew Maxi-Fi BEAM450 chipset. TheBEAM450 family is the first MIMOchipset to support "software config-urable simultaneous dual-band." Thefirm then grabbed the Red Herringaward for a place in the Global hun-

dred Compa-nies and The100 companiesfrom the Amer-icas and Globalfor its dedica-tion and suc-cesses in thefield of innova-tion. Over the

course of tenyears the teamhas providedgood customervalue with soft-ware certifiedmodules withFCC, IC, CEand TELECcompliances toname a few.Redpine Sig-nal’s portfoliois renowned inthe industry forits self contain-ment and easeof usage.Along with itsw o r l d w i d echannel distri-bution partnersin the form ofArrow Elec-tronics, FutureE lec t ron ic s ,Mouser Elec-tronics, Mac-nica andRutronik, Red-pine has created a dexterous corner-stone in support Infrastructure.

Tapping the M2M boomUntil 2011 the market landscape forWi-Fi technologies has shipped onlyclose to 1 billion units. However thetotal market is expected to surpass fivebillion in a couple of years. “Initiallywe looked at targeting our chips intomobile phone market but found the

market dominated by big players andintegrating other wireless technologieson the same die was a critical itemthen. Since, in this segment, the vol-umes are very large, margins small,and competition intense, we decidedto focus first on new emerging areas,one of them being the “Internet ofthings”. In simple terms, this market‘inch deep and mile wide, taught us alot of things which we did not know asa chipset company,” adds Mattela

M2MCombo: RS9113 – First and Unique Chipset for M2M Market

M2MCombo Chip (RS9113) incorporates threewireless technologies on a single die making it thefirst such offering for the “Internet of Things” mar-ket. This SoC leverages Redpine’s innovations inwireless technologies spanning more than a decadeto provide unprecedented power, wireless perform-ance and integration of functions in small footprint.The software architecture for this chip is designedto provide ease of integration into customer appli-cations for ‘Inch Deep Mile Wide’ markets. The application development kit is self contained toenable faster product development.

o Amalgamates 3 wireless technologies on a singledie making it the first such offering for the “Internetof Things” market

o Provides unprecedented power, wireless perform-ance and integration of functions in very small foot-prints

o The software architecture for the RS9113 chip wasdesigned to provide ease of integration into cus-tomer applications for the current’ Inch Deep MileWide’ markets

802.11n + BT 4.0 + ZigBee 15.4-2006

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Today Redpine Signals has the so-lutions for the major verticals of in-dustrial, medical, building automationand smart energies are already de-ployed by the organization. This wasachieved only due to Mattela’s sheerfocus to R&D and innovation. Mattelaenvisioned R&D as its preeminentstrategy a good decade ago to produceproducts that would cost a companytoday seven years effort to match thesame innovation excellence and hun-dreds of millions dollars. The firmnow has a strong technology and prod-uct portfolio for the mainstream Wi-Fiwhich will hit the market in 2013, in-cluding the low power chip for thesmartphone market. The company wasamong the first to get its product cer-tified for a new Wi-Fi program calledthe Voice-Personal in 2008.

The latest innovation within itswalls is its scalable SoC architecturethat integrates multiple wireless tech-nologies on a single die with uniquere-use techniques. The company hascreated an echo system to addressM2M market by partnering with lead-ing MCU vendors like Renesas Elec-tronics, Freescale Semiconductor,Cypresss Semiconductor and AtmelCorporation. Redpine’s strategy tosupport customers with fully certifiedmodules and making them available ina Kit form along with MCU platformsresonated well in the M2M marketplace. . Moreover Redpine Signalscame up with a unique new chipsetthat can capture the M2M market in asignificant way.The M2MCombo™: RS9113 is

the industry’s first and Unique Chipset

for the M2M Market and is Redpine'strump card for success. Its other ace isits single chip software configurablesimultaneous dual-band (the Smart-Combo RS9117/RS9333) with a HighPerformance MU-MIMO incorporatedwith the state of the art InterferenceCancellation and ML Receiver imple-mentation capabilities. The smartcombo is known for offering simulta-neous dual band operations and theM2M modules provide Zero HostOverhead, Self Contained and Certi-fied Communication Modules. Withupcoming mobile phones growingmore and more dependent on the in-ternet, these solutions are sure to finda large place in the mobile boom.

The three focal points of a uniquebusiness approachAt Redpine Signals, the importance isbasically on three main focal points-innovation, innovation and innovation.While the company is making steadydividends in the emerging Wi-Fi mar-kets, it has not taken its sight off from

the mainstream Wi-Fi research. Red-pine today has the technology androadmap on par with the top two Wi-Fiplayers. Mattela is a strong believer inthe saying that standard practices onlylead to standard results. So he person-ally ensured that the company takesthe right steps in empowering its em-ployees by providing rare and expertcoaching talent in the form of domainexperts from across the globe.The company goes the extra mile

while empowering its workforce byproviding opportunities to the tune ofsponsoring their MS degrees fromStanford University. Mattela person-ally got in touch with industrial ex-perts from across the globe and strivedfor many years to ensure that industryexperts guide employees with the lat-est technological developments andinnovational skills. Redpine’s ap-proach to develop talent is unique. Itbelieves strongly in organic and in-house expertise “The industry special-ists are hard to find. In the space thatwe play in, there are really a few. Ispent many years to identify them andagree to partner with us.. Though theseexperts spend minimum hours andcosts a lot of money, in the long run, itwill definitely pay off,” says Mattela.Unlike its competitors, the commit-ment towards turning employees intoprofessional wireless experts is so pro-

nounced that Redpine Signals spendsmore than the annual CTC of the indi-vidual on the training and coachingprograms. Moreover this dedication isnot just in its employees but also is ex-tended to its customers. The testimonyof this dedication is in the customerbase of Redpine Signals which ex-ceeds 1500 clients today. Some of theprominent users who swear by Red-pine Signal’s wireless technologies areAscom, Barco, Bang & Olfusen, Hon-eywell, SMA, and GE research toname a few. The plans for Redpine Signals in

the immediate future are to scalethrough multiple verticals of chipsets,modules and systems, including globalpartnerships. The company promisesto be a bigger formidable force as itplans to increase its Indian R&D teamto 300 by end 2013. With the M2Mscenario set to grow to 89 billion byend 2017, it is most probably going tomark the era of companies like Red-pine Signals providing state of the artproducts to address the multi-billiondollar TAM in the wireless spacetoday. "There's a way to do it better—find

It." so said Thomas Alva Edison. Red-pine has simply being applying thesame technique all through its exis-tence. Finding better ways and creat-ing better chips for a better world.

SmartCombo- Mobile (RS9117) and SmartCombo-Networking(RS9333) Chips are highly integrated single chip deviceswith11ac and BT 4.0 functionality on the same die. These chips in-corporate Redpine’s patented ML receiver implementations andsupport data rates up to 1.3Gbps using 3-Spatial Stream802.11ac MCS-9 (256-QAM) with 80MHz bandwidth. Red-pine’s fundamental innovation in these chips is the capability toprovide simultaneous dualband in a single SoC and ability toadaptively reconfigure bands simultaneously; (3x3 11ac canbe reconfigured as simultaneous 2x2 11ac in 5GHz and 1x111n in 2.4GHz). These SoCs integrate ThreadArch® Four-threaded processorwith on chip memory for achieving high-throughputs with low-host overhead and leverage proven ‘ Intelligent power man-agement’ technology from earlier devices

11ac + BT 4.0

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SmartCombo:RS9117/RS9333: Single-Chip Simultaneous Dual-band

o Redpine’s patented ML receiver supports data ratesup to 1.3Gbps

o Uses the 3-Spatial Stream 802.11ac MCS-9 (256-QAM) with 80MHz bandwidth.

o Provides simultaneous dual band in a single SoCand ability to adaptively reconfigure bands simulta-neously

o 3x3 11ac can be reconfigured as simultaneous 2x2 11ac in5GHz and 1x1 11n in 2.4GHz.

o The SoCs have integrated ThreadArch Four-threadedprocessor with on chip memory

o Uses intelligent power saving techniques to provide the bestsustainability

o Best for achieving high-throughputs with low-host overheads

Venkat Mattela envisioned R&D as itspreeminent strategy to produceproducts that wouldcost a company todayseven years effort tomatch the same innovation excellenceand millions of dollars

The company goesthe extra mile whileempowering itsworkforce by providing opportunities to thetune of sponsoringtheir MS degreesfrom Stanford University

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