Company Profile: Narda Microwave

Narda Microwave: 55 years strong

In February 1953, just a few months after The Saddlemen became Bill Haley and His Comets, four design engineers armed with a $20,000 engineering services contract formed Nassau Research & Development Associates. From these inauspicious beginnings in the back of a machine shop in Mineola, NY, the company steadily broadened its product line from instruments to passive components to multifunction subsystems. It was one of the first microwave manufacturers to exploit the benefits of GaAs-based devices, introducing the world’s first 6-to-18 GHz low-noise GaAs FET amplifier. Narda also created the world’s first solid-state sweep frequency generator, as well as dozens of other innovations that would propel Narda’s sales and influence both in the US and throughout the world. In 1967, Narda became a publicly-traded company on the American Stock Exchange, which further spurred its growth both organically and through acquisition. Narda itself was later acquired by Loral Corp., which later was integrated into Lockheed Martin. When L-3 Communications was formed in 1997 Narda was one of its 10 original business units. L-3 Communications today is the sixth largest defense contractor in the US, with an extremely diversified product and services portfolio and 2007 sales of $14 billion.

Narda Microwave Today

Narda Microwave has a more diversified product portfolio than at any time in its history, and maintains the world’s largest inventory of RF and microwave components, many of which are available from stock. Narda designs and manufactures state-of-the-art RF and microwave passive components, microwave integrated circuits (MICs), highly-integrated multi-function assemblies, and complete subsystems over a frequency range of DC to 60 GHz. The company’s products are employed in commercial and military applications on land, at sea, in the air, and in space. Narda is also a leading manufacturer of fiber optic modulator drivers and oscillators for OC-768 applications and other products for lightwave applications at up to 100 Gb/s. The company has for decades been the leader in RF safety products for monitoring the compliance of RF and microwave emitters with recognized international standards and guidances. Narda’s presence in this area was further strengthened in 2000 with the acquisition of the safety test solutions product group of Wandel & Goltermann. Narda Safety Test Solutions holds 95% of all patents for EMF measurement, and its instruments are considered the standard of reference by industry as well as government agencies worldwide.