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back to article Chipzilla gives birth to a TINY comms chip

Intel has shrunk a 3G-plus-power amplifier combo with a 300 square millimetre footprint, which it's targeting at Internet of Things applications. Chipzilla's XMM 6255, described here, is the world's smallest so far, the company says. It's got 2G and 3G capabilities, and Intel says LTE is on the drawing board for the future. …

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  1. Steve Davies 3 Silver badge

    The question is...

    Can the Networks cope with a gazillion of these devices pinging (announcing themselves to the network) 24/7/52?

    Given that in some areas getting any traffic through the mobile phone network at peak time is almost impossible (for example being in central Edinburgh at 23:59:59 on Dec 31st) how will they cope with all these extra devices?

    0 0 Reply
    1. Anonymous Coward
      Reply Icon
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: The question is...

      I'm sure if a simple protocol is used, everything will be OK (famous last words of those who designed NetBEUI).

      an AC of IoT-land

      2 0 Reply
  2. James 51

    Could this be put into cheap, lower power phones? I know that data rate isn't great it would be a step up for Nokia 100.

    1 0 Reply
  3. thomas k.
    Big Brother

    implantable and/or wearable models?

    If legally mandated for all citizens, gub'ment could know exactly where everyone was 24/7.

    If you've nothing to hide ...

    2 1 Reply
    1. Anonymous Coward
      Reply Icon
      Big Brother

      Re: implantable and/or wearable models?

      Oh man, I was going to say that! But then, the Five Eye agencies, Freemasons and Trilateral Commission already knew I was going to say that because I got chipped last night!

      All hail our Dear Leader!!, the font of all goodness and wisdom in the world!!

      2 0 Reply
  4. Chris Evans

    Looks big to me

    I thought IOT components would be small. I'm also surprised that it is a four chip solution. They could have used PoP for at least one pair of chips.

    3 0 Reply
    1. James 100
      Reply Icon

      Re: Looks big to me

      I suppose there could be noise issues between the chips - take a look inside a phone, you'll see a few chips tend to have little metal cages over them, presumably for that reason. Otherwise, I'd have expected a bit more integration too - maybe one small module handling all the RF stuff, then a bigger one doing everything digital, with a shield between the two.

      0 0 Reply
    2. Charles Manning
      Reply Icon

      Re: Looks big to me

      "They could have used PoP for at least one pair of chips."

      They do. The MCP thing at the bottom is essentially an PoP.

      http://www.samsung.com/global/business/semiconductor/product/mcp/overview.

      0 0 Reply
  5. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    SIM card?

    Do you just stick it to the back?

    0 0 Reply
  6. channel extended
    Black Helicopters

    Did the CIA pay for this?

    Mate with a GPS chip and you have a great chip for tracking. Or even use cell tower tracking.

    0 0 Reply
    1. Anonymous Coward
      Reply Icon
      Holmes

      Re: Did the CIA pay for this?

      No need to pay for it. When you have your own systems, the only requirement is to encourage consumers to "adopt" their own.

      Likewise, Google does not need to ask where we are going or what we like to get us adverts. It just had to encourage us to use it's search engine, now it knows what we are like and what adds to focus at us.

      No need to push and agenda, if someone else, like the market, will do it for you. :P

      0 0 Reply
  7. Steve Channell
    Happy

    but what's the price

    It does have a GPS option, and combined with Intel's Galileo Ardunio board it will run Windows for the full-on conspiracy theory. Maybe it's about government monitoring, or maybe just useful devices for mundane tasks.

    Consider a smart-boiler for household heating, that can detect CO1 and gas leakes combined with smoke-detectors: you wouldn't even need to register for warranty for it to shutoff in the event of a fire and call emergency services. While 3G might be great for spies, it is safer than connecting to your WiFi and could only be hacked when the modem is turned on (which it would only do for outbound calls).

    The key question is price, will it be cheap enough to add to mundane useful devices, and not just fancy cars?

    0 0 Reply

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