Sigma Opts for Android OS.

Sigma Designs, a provider of digital media processing system-on-chip (SoC) solutions for consumer electronics, said that its commitment to broad scale support of the Android operating system on its media processor SoCs.

Sigma also announced the availability of a ported version of Android onto its Vantage SMP8654 development platform. Sigma Designs and MIPS Technologies were demonstrated in 1080p video on a full-HD flat screen display at the recently-held CEATEC Japan in Makuhari Messe.

"Sigma Designs is seeing a big rise in demand from its customers for the availability of media applications or widgets, as they are popularly referred to, being available on its platforms," said Ken Lowe, vice president of strategic marketing for Sigma Designs.
"These are widely used today on phones with much smaller screens. We believe that this unique partnership with MIPS and our ongoing Android commitment will enable a rich development environment for our customers and partners."

Sigma and MIPS have spearheaded the effort to port Android on Sigma's media processors and make them available to the application development community.

"Sigma Designs is an innovative company, consistently delivering solutions at the leading edge of SoC design. Through our partnership, we are enabling customers to jumpstart development of Android applications for IP-STBs, digital media adaptors, Blu-ray players and IPTV," said Art Swift, vice president of marketing for MIPS Technologies. "As providers of the official STB reference port selected by OESF, MIPS and Sigma are committed to delivering a complete reference platform for Android-based IP-STBs."

The company said that the Vantage SMP8654 Android developer kits, targeted for the Web or Internet TV Widget market, offer a rich environment that can be leveraged by developers to be extended to IP-STBs, digital media adapters and Blu-ray players.