Q: Given the current economic crisis affecting the U.S. – which will certainly have international repercussions – how do you think the markets you serve may be impacted? How do you and your company plan to address this?

A: Of the economic downturns that have befallen industrialized nations, the current one is surely unique. It is more complex and directly involves more sectors of the economy than the “dotcom bust”. Fortunately, this time the downhill charge is not being led by the tech sector, which remains comparatively strong even in the face of constricted credit availability and the seemingly endless deluge of bad news from the media. So while big ripples will no doubt be felt next year up and down the microwave “food chain”, I believe that the need to develop new products will remain strong.
In such an uncertain economic climate, the need to be both innovative and productive is more than just desirable, it’s essential in order to remain competitive. From the designer’s view, this means the tools needed to get the job done must accentuate the user’s creativity and productivity as well as provide advanced new capabilities to allow creation of designs (multi-technology designs for example) that were impossible in the past.

This message has never been lost on AWR -- the company was founded on the belief that high-frequency design should not be impaired by the tools employed to perform it but rather than the tools should unlock opportunities that never before existed. AWR has always pushed it tool development to provide leading edge capabilities not available in other solutions. We believe this philosophy will continue to serve the company and its customers well as the global economy heads through the turbulence to smoother sailing.

Q: At the last MTT-S show, “LTE” was added to “WiMAX” as the killer app for 2009. Would you agree with this, or do you have something else in mind?

A: LTE won’t be anyone’s “killer app” for 2009….but it surely will be for 2010 and beyond, when the first significant deployments are expected. LTE will enable applications such as video streaming that require high throughput and many more that are in development today. The same is true for WiMAX, and since about 500 companies have committed to the technology in varying degrees, we’re certain to see much more WiMAX hardware during 2009 -- even though so far there are only a handful of places where service is available. While WiMAX currently has the lead in deployment race, LTE is likely to catch up fast once its deployment begins, since it can be deployed over the top of existing infrastructure by the major wireless service carriers. So the race is one, and more than likely both technologies will be winners.

Q: Which of the past year’s developments or emerging technologies has you most excited?

A: Even though we’re continually bombarded by news about LTE and WiMAX, there are many other technologies that are very interesting, if not as widely publicized. My favorite is DVB-H (Digital Video Broadcasting –Handheld). By making TV a mobile application, this technology will create terrific opportunities for a wide swath of the economy, from hardware and software developers to the entertainment industry and the advertisers that support it. It’s already being deployed or in trials in more than two dozen countries. There’s also wireless USB (based on ultrawideband spread spectrum technology), which we hope will make the web of cables behind our desks and HDTVs vanish.

Q: How would you rate the health of the microwave industry as we near the end of the decade?

A: As a developer of electronic design automation tools, AWR is in a unique position from which to view developments in the marketplace. Our tools are used at the very beginning of the design process, from the point after the concept “leaves the napkin” to the time it’s transferred to manufacturing or a foundry. From this perspective, we see development work continuing feverishly in 2009, especially for the coming generation of enhanced wireless broadband data systems such as UMTS LTE and WiMAX, for defense electronic systems, for other applications of wireless technology, and for industrial applications as well. In addition, as more and more products incorporate RF and microwave technology in order to endow them with wireless connectivity, there will be plenty of tough high-frequency design challenges ahead in 2009 that should keep the microwave industry healthy.

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