Technical Insight
Alpha Wins Orders From Cisco, Siemens (GaAs News)
Alpha Industries has begun shipping production volumes of its GaAs MMICs and RF semiconductors for broadband Internet access under a new global sourcing alliance with a leading network provider, believed to be Cisco Systems. Alpha will supply a family of RF and broadband products, including GaAs MMIC switches, attenuators, passive products and millimeter-wave devices for use in broadband fixed wireless access and LAN systems. "With the development of new OC-192 and OC-768 components based on our high-speed GaAs HBT and PHEMT processes, Alpha is poised to support next-generation fiber-optic systems, high-speed enterprise networks and last-mile access technologies," said Lj Ristic, Alpha s VP of Technology. In more news, Alpha has begun shipping GaAs ICs for Siemens newest dual-band GSM wireless handsets for the European market, and expects full production to begin by June 2001. Siemens, the world s fourth-largest handset manufacturer, emerged as one of the fastest-growing mobile phone companies in the third quarter of 2000. Dave Fryklund, general manager of Alpha s IC Business Unit, said that the Siemens contract underscores the company s strategy to expand its relationship with key OEM handset customers. "We expect our involvement with Siemens and the other market-leading handset manufacturers to increase as we continue to offer improved performance in our GaAs control ICs, and as we introduce the first switch-filter solutions this quarter based on our new Alpha Integration Platform [see CS 6(9), p. 32]."