Silicon Germanium (SiGe) Chipset Technology Will Enable Low Cost, High-Performance 70/80 GHz Transmission Products for Next-Gen Backhaul Solutions

Santa Clara, Calif. – Feb. 27, 2012 – BridgeWave Communications, a leading supplier of millimeter wave gigabit wireless solutions for 4G network backhaul, signed an agreement with IBM (NYSE: IBM) to develop technology that will help close the cost gap between millimeter wave (MMW) high capacity backhaul solutions and traditional microwave (MW) solutions. This will allow mobile operators and wireless carriers to cost effectively deal with growing bandwidth demands.

Recent reports show wireless data traffic – videos, audio and e-mails sent via laptops, smart phones and tablets – rose 133 percent in 2011. With many consumers also migrating to 4G networks, this has put a significant strain on global wireless networks, especially in dense urban cities.

As data consumption rates continue to grow, this causes a reduced range of wireless network coverage, raising investment costs for building infrastructure with access points to cover service areas. Alternative approaches, such as integrating backhaul and small cell technology, can reduce these bandwidth bottlenecks and spotty service while increasing speeds over a larger network.

Utilizing IBM’s silicon germanium technology, this collaboration will provide the extremely high silicon integration with Gallium Arsenide (GaAs) equivalent RF performance, across the entire 71-86 GHz spectrum. These devices yield ultra-low phase noise performance, enabling the very high spectral efficiencies and system gain for millimeter wave backhaul solutions required by next-generation 4G/LTE networks. As part of the integration process, BridgeWave will assimilate its proprietary micro-coax mQFN (micro-coax Quad-Flat No-leads) packaging technology along with the IBM designed devices to create high-performance, integrated, low-cost millimeter wave chipsets.

“Until now, the eco-system for millimeter wave components was very limited compared to their microwave counterparts,” said Amir Makleff, CEO at BridgeWave. “IBM’s research and development efforts in the area of millimeter wave SiGe, along with BridgeWave’s proprietary mQFN micro-coax interconnect technologies will allow us to bring cost effective, high performance, carrier-grade solutions to market that operators require as they build out their 4G/LTE networks.”

“BridgeWave Communications’ use of IBM’s silicon germanium technology as the basis for their backhaul network solutions will provide their customers with a platform that can scale to meet the exploding data growth rates of today and tomorrow,” said Danny Elad, Manager, Analog & Mixed Signal, IBM Research-Haifa.

“We are extremely excited that initial sampling results of these designs are exceeding expectations and will enable BridgeWave to start integration into products in 2012,” added Idan Bar-Sade, senior vice president of engineering and product management at BridgeWave.

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