The biggest news this past week was the agreement on wireless standards between Nokia and Qualcomm. They are now going to work together and have settled all litigation between them:
Nokia and Qualcomm announced that they have entered into a new agreement covering various standards including GSM, EDGE, CDMA, WCDMA, HSDPA, OFDM, WiMAX, LTE and other technologies. The agreement will result in settlement of all litigation between the companies, including the withdrawal by Nokia of its complaint to the European Commission.
Under the terms of the new 15-year agreement, Nokia has been granted a license under all Qualcomm's patents for use in Nokia mobile devices and Nokia Siemens Networks infrastructure equipment. Further, Nokia has agreed not to use any of its patents directly against Qualcomm, enabling Qualcomm to integrate Nokia's technology into Qualcomm's chipsets. The financial structure of the settlement includes an up-front payment and on-going royalties payable to Qualcomm. Nokia has agreed to assign ownership of a number of patents to Qualcomm, including patents declared as essential to WCDMA, GSM and OFDMA. The specific terms are confidential.
In other news:
A breakthrough technology was recently introduced that will dramatically reduce the time and cost of deploying high availability mobile communications networks for homeland defense operations. “Software virtual networks” (SVN) can now be built that enable engineers to evaluate new wireless network components and technologies faster and at much lower cost than has been possible until now. Scalable Network Technologies, a Los Angeles-based provider of highly sophisticated software and technical services for wireless network development, developed this new technology, which will be launched under the brand name EXata™ in the fourth quarter of 2008.
We got to talk to SNT about this new software and it looks very promising for improving the development/testing of new networks.
Alcatel-Lucent and INRIA, the French national institute for research in computer science and control, operating under the dual authority of the Ministry of Research and the Ministry of Industry, have opened their joint research laboratory for next generation networks. This collaboration emphasizes the desire to improve existing networks and create the technological solutions of tomorrow to manage the inevitable growth of Internet and associated services.
The Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET), the UK’s professional society for the engineering and technology community, has signed an agreement with Nortel, the Canadian-based telecommunications company. The agreement will give the company’s certified technical community a fast track route to IET membership and allow its UK-based engineers and other IT professionals, who attain Nortel certifications, access to IET membership benefits including development and networking opportunities.
A new report from Strategy Analytics, “GaAs Semiconductor Market Grows to Over $3.6 B in 2007,” concludes that total GaAs device market exhibited year-on-year growth of 17% in 2007, beating the lackluster growth observed in the mainstream semiconductor market, and in-line with previous Strategy Analytics expectations. Overall the market was worth $3.6 B with RFMD, Skyworks and TriQuint continuing to dominate the landscape and accounting for 50% of the total market.
Powerwave Technologies Inc., a global source for end-to-end wireless solutions, introduced the latest offering in its growing line-up of coverage and capacity solutions for indoor and outdoor environments--a Same Band Combiner that offers both cost savings and time to market efficiencies for wireless operators.
The week strated off with a flurry of news stories coming from Agilent Technologies. All the news came out of the test & measurement division and included three noteworthy announcements. First - Agilent announced the introduction of new 1xEV-DO Release B test functionality for its 8960 Wireless Communications Test Set running 1xEV-DO Lab and Test Applications . The company states that the 1xEV-DO Release B is designed to help mobile operators improve capacity, throughput and latency on their existing 1xEV-DO networks, resulting in a higher quality of experience for data subscribers. This new test solution gives engineers developing multicarrier capable, Release B access terminals early test capability to design high-quality multicarrier performance.
Agilent also announced a new 5.7 Mbps HSUPA test capability for its W-CDMA/HSPA Test and Lab Applications , which run on the 8960 (E5515C) Wireless Communications Test Set. With the addition of the 5.7 Mbps HSUPA test capability, Agilent's W-CDMA/HSPA one-box test set continues to provide the most standards-compliant RF measurements coupled with industry-leading data rate performance.
In a third press release on Monday, Agilent announced its compliance with the March 2008 release of the 3GPP Long Term Evolution (LTE). gilent's LTE test solutions for design validation, verification and receiver test, signal analysis and prototype production each support the March 2008 LTE standard release. Agilent will continue to update these solutions to accommodate future LTE standard releases. Featuring a combination of flexible measurements, better measurement speed and exceptional performance, these solutions are designed to speed LTE design for next-generation mobile communications products. While official ratification of the LTE standard is expected in December 2008, Agilent has been shipping LTE test equipment since 2006.
And finally, another busy week for contract announcements:
Alion Science and Technology, an employee-owned technology solutions provider, has been awarded a $7 M contract to perform a wide range of radio frequency (RF) spectrum services at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).
OEwaves Inc. has been awarded a contract by DARPA to develop a multi-function and reduced SWAP optical SIGINT receiver prototype that will significantly improve system configurability and platform compatibility for future SIGINT and EW systems. OEwaves will develop the photonic receiver front-end, and in collaboration with ITT, demonstrate the receiver system that will meet the stringent performance and SWAP requirements in the DARPA contract.
Digitel Mobile Philippines Inc. (DMPI), a cellular telecommunications provider, which operates under the brand name of Sun Cellular, has selected Ceragon Networks Ltd.’s Native2 FibeAir® solutions for deployment as part of its network upgrade to provide 3G data and multimedia services based on IP technology. This order totaling over $3.5 M, follows several successful deployments of Ceragon’s wireless backhaul solution for DMPI over the recent years.
Thales Alenia Space has signed a contract with Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) Ltd., acting through its Systems Missiles and Space Group, MBT Space Division, to supply RF communication assemblies for the Amos-4 communication satellite. IAI, the prime contractor of Amos-4, is building the satellite for Israeli satellite operator Spacecom Ltd.
Mimix Broadband Inc., a fabless semiconductor company, announced that it has secured $10 M of additional investment in its fourth round of institutional financing. The investment from GaAs Labs and participation in the round by existing investors will allow Mimix to pay off debt and provide working capital to the company for further growth in the diversified microwave and millimeter-wave marketplace.