Eta Devices, Inc. announced that it has been named a 2015 Technology Pioneer by The World Economic Forum (WEF) for its groundbreaking technology that dramatically reduces the energy consumption of mobile base stations and smartphones. The company joins a thriving community of previous WEF Technology Pioneers including AirBnB, Nest Labs, Dropbox, Kickstarter, Spotify and Twitter to name just a few recent recipients.

Mobile communications is experiencing explosive growth with nearly 7 billion mobile subscribers around the globe. However, the energy efficiency of mobile networks is extremely low.

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“Mobile networks regularly waste 70% of the energy used as heat. That’s nearly as bad as incandescent light bulbs,” said Joel Dawson, CTO and co-founder of Eta Devices. “This is because the power architecture of mobile communications still essentially relies on technology from the 1930s. It is time for a 21st century solution to a 21st century problem.”

Based on 10 years of research at MIT, Eta Devices has solved the fundamental challenge in mobile communications of simultaneously achieving low energy consumption and utilizing the radio spectrum in a highly efficient manner. Previously, there has been a tradeoff that has resulted in lower and lower energy efficiency as more and more mobile subscribers compete for a limited amount of radio spectrum and use high bandwidth communications protocols like LTE. ETAdvanced, Eta Devices’ new power architecture, solves this classic dilemma by working like a car’s automatic transmission, constantly providing exactly the right amount of power needed for the radio signal at any given time. The result is an 80% reduction in the amount of heat waste over conventional mobile power amplifiers deployed in today’s base stations.

The impact of ETAdvanced is significant and includes the following:

  • Saving at least USD 18 billion in utility costs for mobile operators.
  • Reducing annual greenhouse gas emissions from mobile communications corresponding to the emissions from nearly 5 million American homes.
  • Extending the battery life in smartphones by at least 50 percent.
  • Enabling base stations powered exclusively by renewable energy to bridge the digital divide and bring the benefits of communications to the 1.7 billion people currently living off electricity grids.

“ETAdvanced is a technology without drawbacks.  We work hard to reduce costs for mobile operators, extend the battery life of smartphones, and bring mobile communications to underserved parts of the world which contributes to a greener and cleaner planet,” said Mattias Astrom, CEO, Eta Devices. “We believe that technology can make a real difference towards creating a better world for us all and we are extremely proud to be honored for our efforts by the World Economic Forum, one of the world’s most respected organizations.”

Eta Devices will receive the award from the World Economic Forum at the eighth Annual Meeting of the New Champions 2014, in Tianjin, People’s Republic of China, September 10-12.  http://wef.ch/tp