Here's a summary of interesting industry news: new products, business deals, market snapshots.
Companies and Products
Accel-RF introduced Quantum-SMART, a benchtop bias and RF control module for pulsed bias and RF testing.
Anritsu's new remote spectrum monitor automates radio surveillance, interference detection and spectrum policy enforcement.
The latest acquisition in the continuing consolidation of semiconductor players: Dialog Semiconductor is buying Atmel for $4.6 billion. The move strengthens Dialog's position in IoT.
Ericsson is expanding their 5G R&D base with 5G for Europe, involving 10 institutions and seven countries.
GigOptix announced a deal to acquire Seoul-based Terasquare, a fabless supplier of low power CMOS ICs for datacom. The deal will cost GigOptix $5.15 million, $4 million in cash and $1.15 million in debt. The move is intended to strengthen GigOptix's portfolio in datacom.
Intel is the latest company joining Verizon's 5G Technology Forum. Intel will contribute to the device architecture for IoT.
Keysight announced five new frequency options for the E5063A ENA series VNA, starting at $10,000. The company also introduced the fastest arbitrary waveform generator (AWG), running at 92 Gsps and 32 GHz; the AWG targets 100/200G and 1T systems.
Nokia committed that the firm will maintain a strong R&D presence in France, a necessary step to win French government approval for their purchase of Alcatel-Lucent.
Although a bit of a commercial, this video is an interesting demo of Nokia's intelligent beamforming to improve mobile data throughput, even at the edge of a cell.
NXP released a new symmetric Doherty transistor pair: the device covers 700 to 900 MHz with 56 W average output power, 46 percent drain efficiency and 17.3 dB gain.
Markets and Technology
Spectrum — In a blog post, FCC Commissioner Michael O'Rielly shared his thoughts about developing the 5.9 GHz band for automotive safety and unlicensed use.
Wi-Fi / Cellular Coexistence — Verizon's tutorial on LTE-U says it's a "good neighbor" with Wi-Fi. Concerns about LTE-U eating Wi-Fi for lunch are apparently not true.
Data Consumption — Strategy Analytics reported that the average U.S. smartphone consumes 9.7 GB per month; however, only 17 percent is transported through the cellular network.
![Average smartphone data consumption](https://i.dslr.net/syms/8a5d1675c24b7cb5309adc8c999a1c5f.png)
ISP Data Rates — PC Magazine ranked the fastest ISPs in the U.S. MidcoNet is #1 at 84.6 Mbps download, followed by Verizon FiOS (42.7 Mbps) and Comcast Xfinity (38.9 Mbps).
TV — The demise of TV as many of us know it? Netflix CEO Reed Hastings predicts that delivery will be totally on demand via the Internet within 10 to 20 years.
China Broadband — Despite economic headwinds, IHS reports that the Chinese government continues to invest in fiber infrastructure.
IoT — In light of the VW emissions software scandal, should the IoT run on open source code?
Defense — How are the U.S., Russia and China positioning in space? What might a conflict there look like? Interesting discussion on the War College podcast.
Have a good week.