MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif., Aug. 15, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- CEVA, Inc. (NASDAQ: CEVA); (LSE: CVA), the leading licensor of silicon intellectual property (SIP) platform solutions and DSP cores, today announced that the Israeli Smart Grid (ISG) Consortium which it helped spearhead has received the backing of the Israeli Chief Scientist under its MAGNET R&D Program. The group consists of seven industrial partners and five academic institutions. It will use the funding for a three to five year development program focused on new technologies and algorithms for the emerging smart grid market, including communication technologies, demand response and consumption forecasting.

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CEVA will offer its communications expertise to meet the needs of smart grid applications such as smart meter modems and smart home appliances. CEVA's  background in DSP-based wireless and wired technologies  including PLC, Wi-Fi, Zigbee, LTE and WiMAX, will be the cornerstone for the development of advanced technologies aimed at delivering highly energy efficient, mass market smart grid technologies.  CEVA already has several licensees using its DSP technologies for smart grid, PLC and other intelligent energy use products.

"The use of smart grid technology is essential worldwide as we look for more efficient energy solutions. Communications and intelligent processing of information are critical requirements and CEVA's expertise through our programmable DSP solutions plays a key role in the development of these products. The market opportunity is extremely large and, as it develops, it is also important to have a flexible architecture to be able to support evolving standards and future market requirements," said Eran Briman, vice president of marketing at CEVA. "We are pleased to have founded the ISG Consortium together with leading members of the Israeli technology industry and academia, and are thankful for the backing of the government's Chief Scientist through its MAGNET R&D program."

The ISG Consortium currently consists of seven industrial partners that, along with CEVA, also include Motorola Solutions Israel, ECI Telecom, Yitran Communications, Ruggedcom, Control Applications and Powercom; and five Israeli academic institutions, including Tel-Aviv University, Ben-Gurion University and Bar-Ilan University. The Israeli Electric Company (IEC) is also supporting the Consortium's activities.

The MAGNET Program, in the Office of the Chief Scientist of the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Labor, sponsors innovative industry-oriented technologies to strengthen Israel's technological expertise and enhance competitiveness. It supports both industrial companies and academic research groups to facilitate its vision of synergetic collaboration to develop new and innovative products.

About CEVA, Inc.

CEVA is the world's leading licensor of silicon intellectual property (SIP) DSP cores and platform solutions for the mobile handset, portable and consumer electronics markets. CEVA's IP portfolio includes comprehensive technologies for cellular baseband (2G / 3G / 4G), multimedia, HD video and audio, voice over packet (VoP), Bluetooth, Serial Attached SCSI (SAS) and Serial ATA (SATA). In 2010, CEVA's IP was shipped in over 600 million devices, powering handsets from 7 out of the top 8 handset OEMs, including Nokia, Samsung, LG, Motorola, Sony Ericsson and ZTE. Today, more than one in every three handsets shipped worldwide is powered by a CEVA DSP core. For more information, visit ceva-dsp.com. Follow CEVA on twitter at www.twitter.com/cevadsp.

SOURCE CEVA, Inc.