Gennum, the
Canadian communications IC company, is peculiarly well positioned
to do well out of the Cloud Computing thing.
"Cloud computing is a positive turn of events for us", says Dr
Martin Rofheart, senior vp at Gennum and general manager of its
analogue and mixed signal products.
Cloud computing is all about speedy links, and speedy links are
Gennum's core competence.
Video broadcast links, data centre storage links, consumer
connectivity are the Gennum foci. "The electrical characteristics
of these three areas are aligned with the know-how and investment
theory of Gennum", says Rofheart, "aligning your company with
increasing data rates and densities is like aligning it with the
force of gravity - it is never a mistake."
So what issues does Cloud Computing have? "There are backplane
issues, line card issues, module issues", says Rofheart, "we are
working with people in all these areas to solve these issues."
The broadcast companies need to double data rates while the
number of ports increases so requiring lower power and increasing
density.
To get there Gennum is using 120ft and 200ft SiGe processes from
Tower Semiconductor and, for
CMOS, it is using processes down to 40nm.
Asked if he agreed with NXP's recent, disputed claim that mixed
signal and analogue represented an $85bn market opportunity,
Rofheart replies: "When you look at the totality of analogue and
mixed signal, it's just about anything that's high speed, and the
whole world is going high speed. I don't doubt their $85bn estimate
at all. The whole world is becoming a high-speed mixed
signal/analogue domain."