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IBM and Swiss Federal Institute of Technology join forces to
develop advanced communication technologies
Zurich/Switzerland, August 30, 2001 — IBM and the Swiss
Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) in Zurich today announced
the opening of a new center at ETH for the design of novel high-frequency
analog circuits crucial to the advance of wired and wireless communication
technologies. The center will receive substantial technical and
financial support from IBM and collaborate with IBM's Zurich Research
Laboratory.
While information technology has 'digitalised the world', analog
circuitry is still essential for sending and receiving signals with
all devices, be they mobile phones, satellite transmitters or interconnects
between the chips of computer and communications systems. And the
technical challenges for analog technology have increased drastically,
with the move to very high frequencies deployed for ever more bandwidth
and high-speed data transmission.
Hans Ulrich Märki, Chairman of the Board, IBM EMEA
(at left), presents IBM's donation to the new Competence Center
for Advanced Silicon Electronics (CASE) to Olaf Kübler, ETH President,
at the opening ceremony held at ETH on August 30, 2001. At the table
at left Bernard S. Meyerson, Vice President, IBM Communication Research
and Development Center, at right Matthias Kaiserswerth, Director
of the IBM Zurich Research Laboratory, and Werner Bächtold of the
Laboratory for Electromagnetic Fields and Microwave Electronics,
who will run the CASE. Photo courtesy of ETH Life. See also the
ETH
report (sorry, in German only).
These challenges will be addressed by the new Competence Center
for Advanced Silicon Electronics (CASE) at ETH which enjoys an excellent
reputation in high-frequency analog technology. CASE will play an
essential role through research projects, attracting young talent
and providing education in this increasingly important field.
IBM will support this work with substantial technical and financial
contributions valued at roughly one million Swiss Francs initially
and close to half a million annually in following years. This sponsorship
is a reflection of the crucial role analog technology plays in IBM's
research activities and its expanding wired and wireless communications
product portfolio.
"IBM's Zurich Research Laboratory is a good partner for ETH. The
laboratory has been fundamental for high-tech research being conducted
on a high level in the Zurich area since many years", said ETH President
Olaf Kübler at the CASE opening ceremony held in Zurich today.
"CASE is exemplary of the type of collaboration IBM is seeking
with academia," said Hans Ulrich Märki, Chairman of the Board, IBM
EMEA. "It is characterized by the substantial contributions and
mutual benefit of both parties in an area of increasing technical
importance."
"IBM's support will make it possible to design and test new chips
based on advanced IBM technologies, from basic layout to prototyping,
which far exceeds our regular programs," said Werner Bächtold, responsible
for the CASE operation at ETH.
Analog design and simulation work at CASE will require powerful
computer systems. Six high-end workstations donated by IBM will
be a major part of the efficient infrastructure currently being
established.
IBM will also fund two to three pre-doctoral students, in addition
to the two to three pre-docs funded by ETH, while IBM's Zurich Research
Laboratory will host a steady flow of five to ten students participating
in fundamental research projects for high-frequency analog technology.
CASE will have access to IBM's leading silicon technology based
on widely-used CMOS processes and IBM's breakthrough silicon-germanium
(SiGe) technology for very high-speed circuitry. IBM will contribute
fabrication of prototype chips designed at CASE, which will subsequently
be characterized and tested at CASE.
"Research projects of our laboratory aiming at Terabit throughput
in network nodes, high-speed computer system interconnects and future
wireless communication systems in the 5 GHz range depend on complex
high-frequency analog design and its combination with digital functionality",
said Matthias Kaiserswerth, Director of IBM's Zurich Research Laboratory.
"ETH has developed a recognized expertise over a number of years
and a new generation of well-educated specialists is crucial for
the continued success of such research activities".
"The tremendous synergy of technology and circuit design teams
working together has been proven over and over again in our laboratories
and critically in the marketplace," said Bernard Meyerson, Vice
President of IBM's Communication Research and Development Center
(CRDC), which supports IBM's growing presence in the Communications
marketplace. "CASE now expands that teaming to a renowned campus,
greatly extending the prospects for further advances in this field."
Visit the ETH
Web site for more information (sorry, in German only).
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