Software upgradeability, partnerships are keys in T&M industry

ECN Asia recently spoke with Michael Vohrer, President and CEO of Rohde & Schwarz GmbH & Co. KG (R&S), about the trends and technologies in the wireless test industry, and how the company is addressing these challenges. Excerpts:

How was business for Rohde & Schwarz last year?

Overall we achieved quite a nice growth last year. The test and measurement equipment segment is half of the company’s business, which is why we are spending a lot of efforts to be continuously successful here. The test and measurement business for the manufacturing side has been more or less stable compared to the previous year, but the big growth segment for test equipment comes from the R&D side.

Cellular radio is still a very good business, perhaps not exactly as the previous year because of some market influences. But overall there are a lot of opportunities for growth in the wireless communications market, driven by the new and emerging technologies, such as the Long Term Evolution (LTE), and developments within the existing ones.

Apart from cellular radio and communications, there are also the mobile TV and broadcasting segments. In fact, both TV and sound broadcasting test are among our core technologies. New standards in broadcasting worldwide, especially the digital TV specifications, and the mobile TV industry are likewise driving the growth of the company.What technology trends do you foresee in the wireless industry, and what areas hold future growth for the company?

In general, we have to offer any kind of standard which we think will become important. We have to support, for instance, not only GSM and GPRS and LTE, but also CDMA and CDMA2000. When it comes to mobile TV, there are also a lot of technologies to support – DVB-H in Europe; DMB in Korea; and MediaFLO in the US.

It is not important which standard will be the most successful one, because we have to support all of them. And this, I think, is one of the reasons why R&S is such a successful company in this area – we support all these standards, and more or less if the customer needs it, we provide the solutions in one box, so that they don’t need to buy different systems.

How do you see the software-defined approach to testing benefiting both test equipment providers and their customers?

Our experience and our close contact with standardization groups and customers show us what the direction will be and what the future specifications for frequency range or data rate might be, for example. And the changes in the specifications are very important. In line with this, one important aspect today is the software upgradeability of the products. A software-defined solution will enable test equipment makers to support customers that make upgrades –for instance, in signaling or when higher data rates are required in the HSDPA standard.

Our people develop test instruments that easily accommodate these changes. There’s no need to develop a new box – we just perform a software update. This holds an even greater benefit: customers will stay with a test equipment maker's product much longer than previously the case.

How do test equipment makers simulate a technology in flux?

One of the keys here is partnership with, for instance, mobile phone and base station manufacturers or standardization groups. This cooperation enables a test equipment company to produce a test box that – even though not finalized – supports the device and equipment makers at the outset of development. This will enable the industry to move forward despite the numerous changes that will take place down the line. Companies will take a variety of different steps on the way to the ultimate solution, but test equipment manufacturers will keep an eye out for a solution that goes the extra mile: not only will it be developed hand-in-hand with a specific customer – it will also meet the needs of other customers.

How important is Asia in R&S’ business plans?

Asia is one of the biggest market segments for Rohde and Schwarz. Within here are companies, standardization groups, and governments doing their own decisions regarding new developments and new specifications. Asia is where new standards are being made, which will be introduced in other parts of the world. Therefore, it is important to be here, and to contribute to what is going on here; to have access to the standardization group; and to listen carefully and to have discussions with our Asian customers on what they are doing, what are their requests, then to fulfill these by having these information early and then integrating it in our instruments.