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October 26, 2009
RadiSys Launches Fourth Generation ATCA Platform
By Erin Harrison, Executive Editor, Strategic Initiatives
As telecom equipment manufacturers focus on building next generation network elements including 4G and broadband, RadiSys (News - Alert) Corporation, a global provider of advanced embedded solutions, today announced its ATCA 4.0 platform will provide the next generation switching, power and cooling that they require.
According to officials at the Hillsboro, Ore.-based company, its RadiSys ATCA 4.0 initiative – the company’s fourth generation of AdvancedTCA (News - Alert) products – is designed to support the next generation of high bandwidth applications.
“As the proven leader in ATCA platform deployments, RadiSys understands the time to market pressures that our TEM customers face in the next generation mobile infrastructure market, and the technical and product decisions that they need to make now to stay in front of the market,” said Anthony Ambrose, vice president and general manager, communications networks, RadiSys, in a statement. “Our fourth generation 40G platform announcement reinforces our technology leadership that we delivered in our third generation 10G platform, and demonstrates how we anticipate customers’ future requirements better than any other company.”
The so-called “fully integrated” platform features the latest technology in the industry – a first in the marketplace – incorporating a 10GBASE-KR and 40GBASE-KR4 capable backplane and 40G switching capability, company sources said.
There are a number of key trends in the market that pushed RadiSys toward developing the ATCA 4.0 platform, according to Eric Gregory, senior product manager, RadiSys.
The company looked at the annual reports from Vodafone and AT&T (News - Alert) and found that they had 50 percent annual growth in data revenues for their latest year-end. If that trend continues, then today’s deployed infrastructure is going to be severely over-loaded, Gregory said.
He said that LTE’s (News - Alert) 100 percent data architecture – unlike today’s 3G infrastructure, which uses separate networks for voice and data – will use a single network to transport both voice and video, and we expect to see an increase in mobile video. Video in general will continue to see an increase in use in applications, Gregory added.
The ATCA 4.0 40G platform follows on the heels of the third generation RadiSys platforms that enable 10G applications. The overall demand for higher bandwidth mobile data and video services continues to sustain steady growth in 3G markets, and this demand will accelerate as mobile networks deploy broadband access speeds, company officials added.
TEMs striving to meet the demand for 3G services and laying the groundwork for 4G networks can leverage RadiSys’ ATCA 4.0 platform solution. According to company executives, it is a fully backwards compatible solution, thus protecting the customer’s current investment in 3G networks, while ensuring a smooth and economical transition to the ATCA 4G environment. Company officials said platform integration has been a “key benefit” that helps RadiSys’ current customers achieve a rapid time-to-market.
“By RadiSys making the investment in 40G, TEMs can actually delay their own start for 40G and still get to market in roughly 12 months,” Gregory said. “RadiSys has already taken the 40G investment risk for them, so TEMs can start their development when necessary and still hit their market targets.”
So, how is RadiSys’ success in the 3G market expected to help with the proliferation of the new offering, if at all?
“Being a market leader is no easy task. You have to make decisions based on your knowledge of the market and of your customer’s customer, rather than wait for specific customer feedback,” Gregory said. “Nonetheless, RadiSys made a number of key decisions on its existing platform, including about its ecosystem partners and software. Our existing customers made investments in integrating with that code, and we will continue using that same code on our new ATCA 4.0 platform offering. This will allow existing customers to leverage their investment, while also providing new customers with the peace of mind that we are using software that has been “battle tested.”
The company will announce results for the third quarter of 2009 at 4:05 p.m. ET on Tuesday, Oct. 27. To participate in the live conference call, dial (888) 333-0027 in the U.S. and Canada or (706) 634-4990 for all other countries and reference conference ID# 35015561. The live conference call will also be available via Web cast on the RadiSys investor relations Web site.
