The Broadcom LBS infrastructure is one of the largest and most extensive in the world, and the company's hosted LBS services have been selling to top tier cellular operators and mobile device manufacturers since 2002.

The Broadcom LBS services business currently supports over 20 million active customers in over 170 countries; having provided over one billion extended ephemeris, or Long Term Orbits(TM) (LTO) downloads to date.

Using GPS alone to determine a location works well in outdoor environments, but the ability to determine one's location in this way is often impaired in deep urban and indoor environments.

The next frontier in location based technologies is the ability to enhance GPS-only solutions by achieving faster location fixes, and in more locations, improving the user experience.

Broadcom's LBS infrastructure began with a Worldwide Reference Network (WWRN) of receiving stations, featuring triple-redundant coverage of the GPS constellation.

In 2002, the WWRN and assisted GPS (AGPS) servers debuted as the GPS data backbone for the United States' first nationwide E911 emergency location system. Since then, Broadcom has expanded its LBS portfolio to include LTO and Secure User Plane Location (SUPL) protocols, as well as hybrid positioning capabilities.

The strategic relationship with Skyhook Wireless enables Broadcom to offer integrated hybrid positioning services that supplement AGPS and cellular network capabilities.

"Despite growing reliance upon hosted positioning services for hybrid solutions and LBS, the value of these services is often overlooked in the GPS and positioning markets," said Dominique Bonte, Telematics and Navigation Research Director from ABI Research.

"The ability for a single technology provider to supply GPS and Wi-Fi silicon, hybrid location functionality, extensive SUPL services and LTO is a powerful advantage that will enable the next generation of location based services."

Broadcom will integrate the Skyhook solution with its chipsets and LBS solutions to enable hybrid location positioning. The Skyhook Wireless(TM) solution produces accurate location information by detecting Wi-Fi access points and comparing them against a known database of geo-located points.

By combining its market leading location based solutions with Skyhook's positioning capabilities, Broadcom will enable mobile device and personal navigation device (PND) manufacturers to deploy a single, integrated hybrid positioning solution that better meets the needs and expectations of end users worldwide.

The combined solution also capitalizes on the emerging trend of integrating multiple wireless technologies such as Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, FM and GPS into cellular handsets and takes advantage of Broadcom's leadership in combination chips that combine these various technologies.

"We've made a significant investment in positioning systems such as GPS and AGPS, and in delivering integrated end-to-end platforms that improve the overall performance and user experience on mobile devices," said Scott Pomerantz, Vice President and General Manager of Broadcom's GPS line of business.

"By integrating Wi-Fi positioning with our GPS, Wi-Fi and integrated combo chipsets, we are able to deliver a truly unique hybrid positioning system as part of a single platform."

"Broadcom is quickly becoming the market leader in location positioning hardware for mobile devices," said Jed Rice, Vice President of Market Development for Skyhook Wireless. "We're excited to work jointly to expand our LBS capabilities and support full hybrid positioning while delivering ubiquitous location availability and reliable accuracy in any operating environment."

Skyhook has pioneered the development of the first hybrid positioning system to fully leverage Wi-Fi, GPS and cell towers delivering precise location data supporting the growing market for location based services.

The Skyhook Wireless(TM) hybrid positioning system XPSTM requires no new hardware, works indoors and outdoors, provides an instant location and is more accurate than current technologies in congested downtown areas.

Broadcom Location Based Service Products
Broadcom's LBS portfolio delivers powerful, flexible and easily deployed solutions to increase AGPS performance while enabling new applications. It complies with industry standards and ensures interoperability with all cellular operators and device manufacturers.

These powerful, patented LBS technologies will also enable maximum performance when combined with Broadcom LBS and GPS silicon in end-to-end-solutions.

Broadcom's LBS product portfolio includes the Worldwide Reference Network, the AGPS server that delivers WWRN-derived AGPS orbit data, Long Term Orbits that enable assisted operation even when out of network coverage, and the SUPL location platform that provides AGPS data, positioning computations and hybrid location capabilities to SUPL-enabled devices.

This upgraded LBS infrastructure connects directly to Wi-Fi access points and cellular base stations, enabling device makers and applications developers to provide consumer-ready location based technology that works quickly and accurately, even in deep urban and indoor environments.

The Wi-Fi positioning upgrade will further secure Broadcom's position as the premiere supplier of hosted LBS products, enabling customers who adopt Broadcom's unique end-to-end solutions to expand LBS into new frontiers of availability and performance.

Related Links
Broadcom's location based service products
GPS Applications, Technology and Suppliers

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