Innovision license NFC

is releasing its Gem Near Field Communication (NFC) semiconductor intellectual property (IP) under an evaluation licensing programme.

According to Innovision the move is designed to open up NFC short-range wireless technology to the mass market and will allow companies to develop the technology as a stand-alone system or integrated in a System-on-Chip (SoC).

‘As NFC enters the next phase of volume deployment, manufacturers of handsets and other devices will require a competitive supply base to maintain innovation and reduce the cost of NFC technology,’ said Marc Borrett, Innovision’s business development officer. ‘Making our advanced Gem IP available for evaluation now is a key step in realising this vision. It will help many device and chipset designers to meet the growing demand for high-performance, lower-cost NFC-enabled devices and applications.’

Innovision claim that, for the first time, developers will be able to create high-performance SoC designs that fully integrate NFC into other complementary technologies, including WiFi and other wireless or power chipsets. The benefits of this include a reduction in the complexity and production costs of NFC-enabled devices.