Agere Systems Inc. (NYSE: AGR.A) has turned to Cambridge Silicon Radio plc (CSR) for help in the development of 802.11 chipsets for cell phones.

In October last year Agere announced plans to pull the plug on the future development of 802.11 products for the PC market and turn its attention to “wireless VOIP and the integration of WiFi and cellular.” (See Agere Quits 802.11.)

Several sources have since told Unstrung that CSR is to supply Agere with silicon for such integration efforts. Bluetooth trailblazer CSR broke into the wireless LAN market last November with the launch of single-chip products aimed at the cellular phone and consumer space (see CSR Breaks Into 802.11).

A spokesman for Cambridge confirmed that the two companies have teamed up but declined to comment further.

Meanwhile Agere was even less forthcoming. “As we look to develop converged solutions for cellular handsets, which we believe you’ll see coming to market starting 2006, we are analyzing several vendors for WiFi,” wrote a spokesbod in an email note. “However, we have nothing to announce at this time.”

CSR has previously announced a deal with Agere for the supply of Bluetooth technology (see Agere Selects CSR's BlueCore).

— Justin Springham, Senior Editor, Europe, Unstrung