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DAILY NEWS AND INFORMATION FOR THE GLOBAL GRID COMMUNITY / JUNE 9, 2003: VOL. 2 NO. 23

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SWEDEN'S SOCWARE ANNOUNCES PHOTONIC NETWORK PROJECT

Sweden's Socware Design Cluster and Acreo Photonics Research announced a new photonic network test bed project that will be open to U.S. and international companies to develop and test their latest communications semiconductors, switches, and broadband management and integration applications.

Socware and Acreo will be presenting and discussing the new test bed project at the 2003 Design Automation Conference (DAC) being held at the Anaheim Convention Center on June 2nd through the 6th.

The Socware Design Cluster, a national endeavor focused on system-on-chip (SoC) technology for wireless and broadband communications, will also be demonstrating the progress of its SoCTRix Demonstrator project as well as its new SoC Design Center program in exhibition booth #1349.

"Sweden's full-scale photonics network test bed is a unique and excellent opportunity for communications-related companies to test and refine their products and services in a real-world environment," said Rolf Rising, director and head of IT and electronics, Invest in Sweden Agency. "It is made possible by the sophisticated IT infrastructure that Sweden's government and institutions have committed resources to and successfully developed over the years."

World's First Full-Scale Photonic Network

The test bed project, headed by Acreo Photonics Research and funded by Ericsson and VINNOVA, aims to stimulate the development of next generation broadband communication; provide a service transparent high bandwidth transport solution, and test 40Gb for future cost effective implementations through a multi-vendor, end-to-end, high-speed optical network. The project is open to U.S. companies wishing to test their technologies in a real world environment. Intel and Cisco are among the first U.S. companies to participate in the program. The network will operate at speeds up to 40Gb and will initially cover a distance of 250 miles, between the cities of Stockholm and Hudiksvall. The project is also serving as a test bed for specialized communications, semiconductors, switches, and network management applications and integration tools. The network will be connected to existing national and regional backbone stretching the test bed more than 1,000 miles with a consumer test community of 23,000 individuals.

Socware Partner Acreo Develops and Builds SoC Design Centers for Member Companies

As experts in radio systems and RFIC design, the Acreo Socware Center supports investors wishing to create new R&D centers for wireless SoC design. Through its extensive industry and university network, Acreo offers companies the option to build such a center around top engineers and researchers in Sweden. During an incubation process, the center will be developed according to the customer's preference. Currently, Acreo has built a center on behalf of VIA Networks in Taiwan, which designs WLAN chip solutions.

SoCTRix -- a Software Defined Radio Demonstrator

The SoCTRix project addresses the need for low cost and low power consumption multi-mode radios with the ability to handle both 3G cellular and WLAN air- interfaces. Lead by Acreo AB, it will develop an integrated reconfigurable radio transceiver, "software definable" radio for WLAN. A selection of WLAN and cellular specifications are used as a framework to evaluate new ideas and concepts for multi-mode, multi-band transceiver architectures, circuit solutions, signal processing for communications, and on-chip interference issues. Within a three-year period, the project aims to develop functional hardware for a complete and highly integrated multi-standard transceiver. The project currently has 17 partner companies and organizations.

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