GigOptix Licenses Silicon Germanium Millimeterwave Technology from IBM to Enable High Speed E-band Wireless Solutions
SAN JOSE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jun. 26, 2012-- GigOptix, Inc. (NYSE MKT: GIG), a leading fabless supplier of semiconductor and optical components that enable high speed information streaming, today announced it has signed a license agreement with IBM (NYSE: IBM) to leverage IBM's silicon germanium (SiGe) millimeterwave transceiver technology with GigOptix's growing E-band wireless solutions portfolio including its newly released advanced E-band power amplifier.
Internet traffic from mobile devices is forecasted to exceed traffic from wired devices by 2016. The ubiquitous use of mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets, coupled with the increased use of cloud enabled services, is forcing network operators to upgrade not only their optical networks to 40Gbps and 100Gbps links but also their wireless networks to higher capacity gigabit and multi-gigabit links to satisfy mobile users' growing demands for data.
"We are very excited about the opportunities that IBM's SiGe millimeterwave technology enables," commented
Andrea Betti-Berutto
, Senior Vice President and Chief Technology Officer of GigOptix. "SiGe enables much lower power, smaller size and much higher levels of integration to the current gallium arsenide (GaAs) solutions in the market."
IBM's SiGe technology, which was developed and enabled by contributions from researchers at IBM's Haifa Research Lab in Israel, provides GigOptix with a proven, scalable and highly integrated silicon germanium RF platform which the company intends to leverage in a number of innovative directions. Levering IBM's expertise and many years of development experience provides GigOptixwith the opportunity to bring to the market a unique innovative, full suite of technology to enable transforming cost efficient and revolutionary integrated E-band transceiver products.
"Coupling IBM's SiGe with GigOptix's millimeterwave packaging and high power GaAs amplifiers will enable the high spectral efficiencies and data rates being demanded by network operators on their wireless mobile backhaul networks," Betti-Berutto added. "We feel that GigOptix is uniquely positioned in the data communication market offering a complete bundled solution for both high speed optical networks and now high speed wireless E-band links."
EJL Wireless Research, in its most recent report, forecast E-band point-to-point radio links as being one of the fastest growing segments in the wireless mobile backhaul market with greater than 100% Compounded Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) to 2016.
For more information, please contact your sales manager at sales@gigoptix.com.
About GigOptix, Inc.
GigOptix is a leading supplier of semiconductor and optical components that enable high speed information streaming and address emerging high growth opportunities in the communications, industrial, defense and avionics industries. The Company offers a unique broad portfolio of Drivers, TIAs and TFPSTM optical modulators for 40G, 100G and 400G fiber-optic telecommunications and data-communications networks, and high performance MMIC solutions that enable next generation wireless microwave systems up to 90GHz. GigOptix also offers a wide range of ASIC solutions through its ChipX product line. For more information, please visit http://www.gigoptix.com.
