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IBM and the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology
join forces to develop advanced communication technologies
On August 30, 2001, IBM and the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology
(ETH) in Zurich 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.
Although information technology has "digitalized 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.
These challenges will be addressed by the new 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.
"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 10 to 40 Gb/s per channel
range depend on complex high-frequency analog design and its combination
with digital functionality. 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 proved 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."
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