• Home
• Products
  • Smartphone and tablet platforms
    • NovaThor L9540
    • NovaThor U9500
    • NovaThor U8500
    • NovaThor L8540
  • Application processors
    • Nova A9540
    • Nova A9500
  • Thin modems LTE/HSPA+/TD
    • Thor M7400 LTE
    • Thor M7300 HSPA+
    • Thor M57x0 HSPA+
    • Thor M6718 TD-HSPA
  • 2G and 3G entry platforms
    • 6710 HSDPA
    • E4910 EDGE
    • G4852 GSM
  • TD-SCDMA platforms
    • Thor M6718 TD-HSPA
  • Platform enhancements
    • Audio DACs and codecs
    • Video interfaces
    • General power management
    • RF power management
    • PowerHUB
    • GPS/Bluetooth/FM
    • USB solutions
    • Wi-Fi solutions
• Technologies
  • Connectivity
    • Combo chip
    • GNSS (GPS)
    • Wi-Fi
    • Bluetooth and FM
  • Mobile computing
  • Modem technologies
    • LTE
    • HSPA+
    • TD-SCDMA
  • Multimedia
    • Audio
    • Video
    • Display and TV
    • Augmented Reality
  • Operating systems
  • Packaging
  • Power and energy
    • Power management technology
    • Smarter power distribution
    • PowerHUB
    • Extended music playback
• Developers
• Partner Zone
• Contacts
  • Sales Contact
  • Distributors
  • Press Contact

ST-Ericsson’s High-Performance Modems Pave the Way for Global LTE Devices

February 15, 2011

New Thor™ modems to drive mass-market adoption of LTE across the world

Barcelona, February 15, 2011 – ST-Ericsson, a world leader in wireless platforms and semiconductors, today launched two of the first modems based on its new groundbreaking architecture, which will enable manufacturers to develop sleek and power-efficient devices that can connect to LTE and HSPA+ networks around the world. Consumers will be able to use these devices to access the Internet at high speeds both in their own country and when roaming.

The Thor M7400 platform support the latest LTE and HSPA+ dual-carrier technologies and the Thor M7300 supports HSPA+ capabilities up to 84 Mbps, while preserving backward compatibility to existing 3G/2G networks. The new Thor modems feature a highly-integrated radio solution that offers support for up to eight LTE/HSPA/GSM bands within a very small footprint, enabling development of truly global smartphones, tablets and many other mobile broadband-enabled devices. To further optimize footprint the new Thor modems include memory-less technology which is used when combining with an application processor in smartphones.

The Thor M7400 is the industry’s smallest and first two-chip LTE/HSPA+ modem, which also continues the low power consumption track record from ST-Ericsson’s market-leading HSPA+ modems. Similarly compact and power-efficient, the two-chip Thor M7300 provides capabilities to further improve the mobile broadband performance timely in sync with the coming dual carrier volume market for smartphones and tablets.

“In Thor, ST-Ericsson’s engineers have achieved the optimum combination of hardware acceleration, for low power consumption, and execution in software, enabled by our in-house vector processing technology, which offers the flexibility to continuously add features and performance enhancements to existing chipset hardware,” said Jörgen Lantto, executive vice president, chief technology and strategy officer of ST-Ericsson. “Our radio solution is unique in that it supports the regional LTE FDD/TDD bands in use in Asia, Europe and North America, as well as HSPA/EDGE networks worldwide, allowing device manufacturers to offer truly global devices.”

The ThorM7400 and ThorM7300 modems are based on a common architecture, enabling ST-Ericsson and its customers to benefit from shorter time-to-market by re-using of modem certification and application processor interfaces across platforms, reducing time-to-market. The new Thor modems are also pin-to-pin compatible which enables customers to completely reuse their design across the two platforms.

Notes to Editors

Available for operator testing and integration into devices from Q2 2011, the Thor M7400 modem can connect to 2G, 3G, TD-SCDMA, HSPA, HSPA+ dual carrier and LTE FDD/TDD networks. It offers peak download speeds of up to 100Mbps in LTE networks. The ThorM7400 supports voice calls via fallback to circuit-switched networks and via the VoLTE (Voice over LTE) standard.

Also available for sampling from Q2 2011, Thor M7300 can connect to HSPA+ networks at peak download speeds up to 84 Mbps.

ST-Ericsson developed high-performance vector processing (EVP) to efficiently handle complex computational tasks for all access standards. It is currently used in ST-Ericsson TD-SCDMA platforms

All of ST-Ericsson’s Thor modems are equipped with communication interfaces, enabling them to be integrated easily with the very latest ST-Ericsson Nova™ application processors into complete device platforms, including memory-less modem design when combined with an application processor. ST-Ericsson new NovaThor family of platforms bring unprecedented levels of computing and graphics performance to all segments of smartphones and tablets while consuming less power.

Link to Press release

Changing the game: ST-Ericsson Unveils NovaThor™ Family of Smartphone Platforms Combining its Most Advanced Application Processors with the Latest Generation of Modems 
 

Read more about:

Thor modems
Thor M7400
Thor M7300

About ST-Ericsson

ST-Ericsson is a world leader in developing and delivering a complete portfolio of innovative mobile platforms and cutting-edge wireless semiconductor solutions across the broad spectrum of mobile technologies. The company is a leading supplier to the top handset manufacturers and ST-Ericsson’s products and technologies enable more than half of all phones in use today. The company generated sales of about USD 2.3 billion in 2010. ST-Ericsson was established as a 50/50 joint venture by STMicroelectronics and Ericsson in February 2009, with headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland.
www.stericsson.com
www.twitter.com/STEricssonForum

Thor, Nova, and NovaThor are trademarked by ST-Ericsson.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION, PLEASE CONTACT:

Media Relations
Phone: +41 22 930 2733
Email: media.relations@stericsson.com

Investor Relations
Phone: +41 22 929 6973
Email: investor.relations@stericsson.com