Tokyo, Japan-based maker of RF Front End Modules (FEMs), Hitachi Metals, Ltd., has announced a new line of fully integrated FEMs optimized for Beceem's (News - Alert) BCSM250 Mobile WiMAX chip.

Beceem Communications is a Santa Clara, CA-based provider of mobile WiMAX chips. In April last year, TMCnet had reported the launch of Beceem BCSM250, a 65 nanometer, single-ship WiMAX (News - Alert) Wave 2 solution.

In the words of John Weidner, senior manager at Hitachi Metals America, Ltd., "Beceem is consistently recognized as a leader in the WiMAX ecosystem, especially with key operators like Clearwire and UQ, so it made sense for Hitachi (News - Alert) Metals to optimize its small, highly efficient WiMAX Front End Module portfolio for use with Beceem's 65nm single chip."

The FEMs from Hitachi Metals enhance the performance of mobile WiMAX by curtailing losses caused due to component insertion in the Front End. The FEMs also simplify the modem design, leading to lower development cost and greater modem footprint.

Hitachi Metals’ new portfolio of FEMs encompasses optimized single-band FEMs for operation in 2GHz WiMAX networks, and a true world-band FEM for operation in any WiMAX network in the 2 or 3 GHz spectrum. The single-band 2GHz FEMs bundled up with Beceem's BCSM250 chipset was first shipped in the Fourth Quarter of 2008. The world-band FEM has already sampled to select Beceem customers and commercial shipments will commence in the Second Quarter of 2009.

"Hitachi Metals is widely recognized as one of the most innovative FEM developers, and with their new line of single- and dual-band FEMs our customers can now very effectively design WiMAX products that can serve the global WiMAX market," said James Chen, Senior Director of Marketing at Beceem Communications (News - Alert). "Combining our single-chip with the Hitachi FEMs will further increase our market leadership in the WiMAX ecosystem."

Beceem Communications has been providing mobile WiMAX semiconductors with proven over-the-air data speeds exceeding 30 Mbps. Beceem's products are WiMAX certified, XOHM qualified and are validated against the WiMAX base stations from all major OEMs.