 Fall 2005 |
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Developing new optical and broadband technologies by Rick Robinson |
PIRELLI AND the Georgia Institute of Technology have formed a partnership to develop new optical components and systems and broadband access technologies for future high-speed telecommunications networks. They signed a five-year strategic R&D agreement in September.
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Pirelli and scientists from the Georgia Electronic Design Center (GEDC) at Georgia Tech are studying a new generation of integrated optical systems based on nanotechnologies and solutions for advanced home networking. Atlanta has also become the North American operational branch of Pirelli Labs, the advanced research center of the group based in Milan, Italy. Pirelli has consolidated all of its North American corporate staff activities in the new Atlanta center, including the headquarters of Pirelli Broadband Solutions, a new company that engineers and markets the innovations conceived in Pirelli Labs. This alliance positions Georgia to become a world-class center of research excellence in photonics and broadband technologies, state officials say.
Under the agreement, visiting scientists from both organizations are working in Georgia Tech laboratories and in the clean rooms of Pirelli Labs near Milan. In Atlanta, Pirelli has laboratory space at the GEDC in the Technology Square Research Building at Georgia Tech, as well as additional headquarters office space next door in the Centergy One building.
“By combining the respective know-how, Pirelli Labs and Georgia Tech will be able to develop new cutting-edge broadband access and optical technologies for the North American market. We view our partnership with GEDC as a major strategic asset in our future broadband activities,” says Giorgio Grasso, CEO of Pirelli Labs Optical Innovation.
Pirelli’s decision demonstrates the effect that Georgia Tech can have on the state's economy, notes Georgia Tech President Wayne Clough. The partnership “reflects the power of linking Georgia Tech’s research and educational assets with those of the state of Georgia to help build the state technology sector in a time when competition for such jobs comes not only from other states, but other nations as well,” he says.
In a related development in August, Samsung Electro-Mechanics Company opened a North American radio frequency integrated circuit (RFIC) design center in the Technology Square Research Building, which also houses the GEDC. The center will develop technology for next-generation communication systems, expanding to system-on-chip devices for modem, digital and RF equipment. Over the next five years, the new center could employ more than 100 design scientists and engineers.
Earlier this year, the company cited Georgia Tech’s strengths in radio-frequency and mixed-signal research as major reasons for choosing the Atlanta location. Center researchers are expected to collaborate with Georgia Tech faculty and staff on a broad range of issues, including contributions to the IEEE standard for cognitive radio (IEEE 802.22).
Read more at: www.gedcenter.org.
CONTACTS:Joy Laskar at 404-894-5268 or joy.laskar@ece.gatech.edu.
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Last updated: January 4, 2006