Q: It could reasonably be argued that WiMAX will be the “next big thing” for many sectors of the microwave industry. With that in mind, will WiMAX be a factor for your company from a product development and sales perspective in 2008? If not then, then perhaps in the future?

A: For more than a decade now, AWR has been innovating new products and technologies in the domain of RF EDA. Our R&D focus has always been on providing designers of next-generation communications products with increased productivity solutions that reap a shorter time-to-market benefit.

So in that sense, it should come as no surprise that AWR is already providing RF and baseband SoC designers, component suppliers, OEMs, user equipment companies, and infrastructure and network equipment firms with software solutions that enable quick and accurate design and verification of WiMAX-certified products.

In particular, our Visual System Simulator(tm) (VSS) 2007 design suite features a WiMAX module that supports 802.16d-2004 and 802.16e-2005 specifications for both fixed and mobile WiMAX communications design. With conformance requirements for WiMAX being tighter than for previous protocols, ensuring that designers can accurately predict conformance prior to committing to hardware is of paramount importance. Although AWR’s WiMAX solutions have already been well-received by many customers, we expect the adoption and use of VSS for the design of complex microwave circuitry for WiMAX applications to continue to grow in the new calendar year as the overall demand for WiMAX-certified products increases. So yes, we believe the impact of WiMAX has and will continue to play an important role in shaping the future product development plans (and revenues) of AWR.

Q: If your company manufactures products for aerospace and defense applications, what is your assessment of the state of defense-related high-frequency electronics procurement in 2008? What defense programs will be of the greatest benefit to the microwave industry in 2008?

A: AWR does not manufacture an end product for the aerospace and defense industries per se as I believe this question is intended. However our software solutions are used widely by many domestic and international military and defense firms for their design of “manufacturable” wireless, satellite, security, and other defense-related products.

Q: How would you rate the health of the microwave industry as it enters 2008?

A: Calendar year 2008 should be a growth year for the microwave industry thanks to continued and unprecedented consumer demand for innovative high-technology products. We see companies up and down the product supply chain (from systems and handsets, to modules and components, and to IC fabs) continuing to make investments in personnel, materials, and infrastructure. Having just reported record sales and profits for the first half of our fiscal year, we are very optimistic about the future of the microwave industry and our company’s place in it.

Q: What emerging technologies are you watching that you feel may be beneficial to your company in the coming years?

A: There are numerous emerging technologies in the world of electronics but in general, it is about convergence or the merging of techniques across domains. In particular, we are quite excited by the promises of HBT-PHEMT MMICs, sub-mil PCB manufacturing and assembly, as well as LTCC and advanced packaging technologies.

Perhaps more importantly, there is a growing realization that the way that engineers design must also converge. Innovation doesn’t only occur within one step of the design process, but across it. Extreme form factors and performance requirements are pushing design flows to be more concurrent and we have architected our products from day one to support and evolve with the demands of concurrency and co-design.

Our innovative and open design environment is well-suited to the convergence of techniques, processes, and technologies as it readily allows for our own best-in-class technology as well as others to seamlessly plug-and-play, delivering to the customer a reliable, accurate, and efficient design flow, which translates into time and dollar savings.

Q: Are there any other new applications on the horizon, excluding WiMAX, that you feel will be major opportunities for the microwave industry in the next few years?

A: New applications on the horizon for the microwave industry will likely and largely be spawned by the pending “over 700 MHz” spectrum auction. The big action in this spectrum space is what’s known as C and D blocks because they cover two 11 MHz sectors of the spectrum. However, the FCC has set as a condition for use that the providers of solutions in this space be “open access,” in other words, open devices and open applications. This openness factor will clearly impact microwave products and services in years to come.

Up until now, EDA companies have largely practiced what has been described by critics as a feudal system in which each fiefdom has its own RF and microwave simulation software and does not want to integrate with third-party tools that compete with its own products. It’s interesting that the FCC has elected “open access” and openness as prerequisites for business. At AWR, we likewise embrace “open access” and openness by supporting the interoperable open environment concept and industry standards rather than a proprietary design flow and closed environment, which only serves to stifle designers’ creativity and innovation and inhibit industry growth. Industry experts have predicted that by the end of the decade, the success or failure of EDA vendors will be determined primarily by the success or failure of their interoperability efforts.

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