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Welcome to the first annual Comet awards ı Communication Systems Designıs picks for the top up-and-coming communications firms to watch during the next year. The editorial staff of Communication Systems Design, along with editors from our sister publications EE Times and Embedded Systems Programming, have picked these companies from all reaches of the industry, including chip, board, and software manufacturers, as well as OEMs. Aside from a dedication to communications, there is no common thread among these players, except that they show innovation, guts, risk-taking, and, above all, vision.
Weıre calling the awards ıThe Cometsı because we feel that these companies have more than a little in common with the celestial oddities that for centuries have captured the imaginations of skygazers. Comets, coming from the unknown realms of the universe, appear faintly at first and are noticed only by a few. Then they grow brighter, ultimately streaking brilliantly across the sky as awestruck observers gaze in wonder. Not that weıre trying to be dramatic ı we just feel that these firms are poised for great things. Of course, only time ı not to mention market forces ı will tell the whole story, but nonetheless, we now present Communication Systems Designıs Comet Award winners. In alphabetical order, of course.
- 2Wire
With a name that almost explains its purpose, 2Wire is dedicated to all things involving digital subscriber line (DSL) and phone line networking on the home front. The company offers the HomePortal residential gateway, a device for broadband connectivity over DSL and device networking over in-home phone lines. Just plug the device into any phone jack, says 2Wire, and every other jack in the house becomes a high-speed access portal. HomePortal, available with or without a DSL modem, uses a simple browser for configuring a householdıs devices, including phones, computers, and entertainment equipment.
Location:San Jose, CA
URL: www.2wire.com
Main Phone: 408.428.9500
Founded: 1998
Financing: VC-backed private company, not disclosed. Plans initial public offering (IPO) in early 2001.
Main products: HomePortal access device
ARC Cores 
Configurable microprocessors ostensibly fill the middle ground between ASICs and FPGAs, offering the designer fast customization at a low cost. Are they the next big thing? ARC Cores thinks they just might be, so theyıre offering up the eponymous ARC Core, a 32-bit core that the company describes as a ısynthesizable soft macroı complete with tools for configuration and codesign. ARC is aiming its wares largely at embedded communication designs, and has roughly 40 licensees. The VC-backed company has made a couple of acquisitions in the past year (fellow core maker Vautomation and tools vendor Metaware among them) to bolster its presence in the system-on-a-chip (SOC) arena, an up-and-coming area all on its own.
Location:Elstree, United Kingdom
URL: www.arccores.com
Main Phone: 44 (0) 20 8236 2800
Founded: 1998
Financing: VC-backed private company, not disclosed
Main products: ARC 32-bit configurable microprocessor cores
BOPS, Inc. 
As the name implies, BOPS stands for Billions of Operations Per Second. This three-year-old firm was founded by IBM alumni and is currently headed by ARM veteran Carl Schlachte. BOPSı leaders are funneling their heavy DSP experience into scaleable and reusable DSP IP products for SOC and ASIC designs, with an eye toward the communication market. In particular, the company is targeting processor-heavy base station sectors such as smart antennas, RF signal-processing, and transcoder operations, as well as other growing tech applications like voice over IP (VoIP) and voice over DSL (VoDSL). 1999 sales were an ostensibly modest $2.8 million, but that equates to a sales growth of 215% from 1999 to 2000.
Location:Mountain View, CA
URL: www.bops.com
Main Phone: 650.254.2800
Founded: 1997
Financing: Private company, not disclosed
Main products: ManArray DSP IP family
CopperCom 
CopperCom is big on copper but bigger on VoDSL, where its CopperComplete architecture comprises three key components. The first, CopperCom MXR, is an integrated access device (IAD) that combines voice and data packets onto one DSL line, as well as accommodating standard office equipment. The second product, the CopperCom Gateway converts digital voice packets back to analog for transport to a local exchange switch. The third piece of their strategy, the CopperController, is software that provides all manner of call control using Call-Processing Markup Language (CMPL), a derivative of the Internet industry favorite extended markup language (XML). CopperCom has some good company in its endeavors, namely OEM partnerships with Lucent and Alcatel.
Location:Santa Clara, CA
URL: www.coppercom.com
Main Phone: 408.987.8500
Founded: 1997
Financing: VC-backed private company, not disclosed
Main products: CopperComplete architecture for VoDSL and integrated access
Copper Mountain 
An evocative name for an evocative company, Copper Mountain is all about DSL, for which it aspires to be the world leader in access equipment. The company manufactures a wide range of hardware and is recognized as a market leader by market-research stalwarts like Cahnerıs In-Stat
Group and DellıOro Group. Copper Mountainıs product line includes the CopperEdge access platform, which supports most DSL flavors as well as other services such as Frame Relay, virtual private networks (VPN), as well as multi-line voice and Web hosting. The CopperRocket line of CPE devices includes bridges, routers, and multiplexers, which, according to the company, provide bandwidth up to 12 Mbps. In February 2000 Copper Mountain acquired OnPrem Networks, thereby taking over development of the OnPrem 2400 MTU Concentrator, a low-to-medium density CPE solution for buildings with up to 24 tenants.
Location:Palo Alto, CA
URL: www.coppermountain.com
Main Phone: 650.687.3300
Founded: 1997
Financing: Publicly traded company (Nasdaq: CMTN)
Main products: CopperEdge DSL access platform, CopperRocket CPE product line
Enea OSE Systems 
Embedded communication systems are all around us ı in our cars, our phones, even our garage door openers. And the more complex they are, the more they need versatile real-time operating systems (RTOSes). Enea builds RTOSes with the communication market in mind, and is concentrating on the high-availability, fault-tolerant designs needed for mobile phones, routers, base stations, and third-generation (3G) handsets. Enea has partnerships in place with established names like Trillium Digital Systems (which is providing help with communication protocols) and with compiler stalwart, Green Hills Software.
Location:Dallas, TX
URL: www.enea.com
Main Phone: 214.346.9339
Founded: 1996
Financing: Parent company Enea Data publicly traded on Stockholm exchange; Nasdaq IPO planned by the second
quarter of 2002
Main products: RTOSes for embedded communication systems
GlobeSpan 
GlobeSpan is a company that knows where itıs headed ı and thatıs DSL land. The company makes a variety of chipsets for just about any xDSL flavor, and in our estimation is poised to both continue a leadership role and to respond quickly to changes in this fast-moving sector. GlobeSpan is focused on supplying its wares to CPE vendors, including those designing DSLAMs. This solid strategy will no doubt benefit from recent acquisitions like Ficon (Layer 2 and 3 software), PairGain Microelectronics (DSL algorithms, mixed-signal VLSI designs), and T.sqware (programmable network processor technologies).
Location:Red Bank, NJ
URL: www.globespan.net
Main Phone: 732.345.7500
Founded: 1996
Financing: Publicly traded company (Nasdaq: GSPN)
Main products: DSL chipsets
Handspring 
Information appliances are the next big thing in communications, and Handspringıs Visor looks to be a serious contender due to its customization potential. The Visor jazzes up a plain-Jane Palm knockoff into a modular wunderkind, with a ıSpringboardı expansion slot so that third parties can develop gadgets like cameras, global positioning system (GPS) units and, in time, communication products that incorporate maturing technologies such as Bluetooth. Sure, the existing Palm units include standard Infrared Data Association (IrDA) interfaces but youıre stuck with what you get initially (though to be fair, there are some modems available for earlier Palms). Handspring modules include wireless messaging modules, slim modems, universal TV remotes, and MP3 players. And, of course, the devices run any software that will run on the Palm OS as well. The companyıs IPO raised over $200 million earlier this year.
Location:Mountain View, CA
URL: www.handspring.com
Main Phone: 650.230.5000
Founded: 1998
Financing: Publicly traded company (Nasdaq: HAND)
Main products: Handheld computers
Juniper Networks 
Juniper Networks amazed the communication industry a few months back when it posted a one-day gain of over $120 on Nasdaq,
but thatıs not why weıre impressed. Weıre impressed because Juniper
is lighting the way, so to speak, in
optical networking (apparently the investment community is recognizing that as well) and concentrating on the ever-important backbone infrastructure on which so many of us depend. For this, the company offers the M160, a wire-rate OC-192/STM-64 router for larger providers, as well as the M40 for OC-48/STS-16 deployments. The company has some potent distribution partners, such as Alcatel and Ericsson, to help bolster its global presence, and theyıll need ıem to do battle with Cisco, which, according to RHK Consulting, controls over 80% of the IP/routing market compared to Juniperıs 18%. But we think theyıre well on their way.
Location:Mountain View, CA
URL: http://juniper.net
Main Phone: 650.526.8000
Founded: 1996
Financing: Publicly traded company (Nasdaq: JNPR), market cap approx. $30 billion as of mid-June 2000
Main products: High-speed IP/routing hardware
MMC Networks 
MMC Net-works, the first network processor developer, is still setting its sights on network pro-cessors. But now the focus is on developing faster net processors. MMC is working on a single-chip processor for OC-192c SONET, ATM, and 10-Gbps Ethernet, which the company claims will have the first software-programmable architecture capable of the OC-192cıs 10-Gbps speed. The company claims that net processors from only one other vendor will be able to achieve that speed without architectural modification. Additionally, MMC offers a family of chips designed for policy-based networking, where managers control and provision services, along with bandwidth speed, of a LAN or WAN.
Location:Sunnyvale, CA
URL: www.mmcnet.com
Main Phone: 408.731.1600
Founded: 1992
Financing: Publicly traded company (Nasdaq: MMCN)
Main products: OC-192 network processors
NETsilicon 
Communication-capable consumer devices are still the exception but should be the rule within a few years. One company banking on this trend is NetSilicon, which has been around longer than most of the others weıve profiled here (it was founded way back in 1984), but looks to be aligning its RTOS efforts squarely at this nascent market. The company makes NET+OS, a scaleable RTOS that has connectivity in mind. NetSilicon acknowledges that the market is still in the development stages, and knows itıs up for a fight with heavyweights like Motorola and Samsung, which are developing network-enabled processors, and of course RTOS bigwig Wind River Systems, which is working on all types of offerings. Still, NETsiliconıs 32-bit designs that feature integrated runtime, networking, and development tools, combined with the companyıs focus on hot areas such as digital cameras, smart terminals, VoIP devices, and data-acquisition tools, seems to be a timely and logical approach.
Location:Waltham, MA
URL: www.netsilicon.com
Main Phone: 781.647.1234
Founded: 1984
Finance: Publicly traded company (Nasdaq: NSIL)
Main products: RTOSes
ONI Systems 
ONI is all about optical networking. The company is certainly not unique in this approach, as it is surrounded by (and invested in by) influential networking companies such as Juniper, Cisco, and Brocade. ONI makes the Dynamic Transport System (DTS) family of products, including the ONLINE9000 for metropolitan core networks, the ONLINE7000
for access networks, the OPTX network operating system (NOS), and
the optical link management platform (OLMP). Following the Cisco model of acquisition strategies, the company in 1999 acquired Object Mart, a company specializing in telecom software tools, a relationship that ONI says is focused on open APIs for interfacing ONIıs equipment to other systems and applications. And with Brocade, the company is working on ensuring interoperability between the Brocade SilkWork line of Fibre Channel switches and ONIıs DTS products.
Location:San Jose, CA
URL: www.oni.com
Main Phone: 408.965.2600
Founded: 1997
Financing: Publicly traded company (Nasdaq: ONIS)
Main products: Optical networking equipment
RadioLAN
Ah, the great indoors ı and outdoors; these are the two reasons
why RadioLAN is concentrating
its efforts on developing wireless Ethernet systems. For homes and small businesses, wireless Ethernet may just be the next big thing. RadioLAN makes quite a few products for this market so campuses neednıt run cables and so forth. For the indoor set, thereıs the BackboneLINK; ISA, PCI, and PC Card versions of the CardLINK; the MOBILINK; and DockLINK. And for wiring campuses with multiple buildings there is the BridgeLINK line, composed of models that provide up to 1,600-m connections, or special OEM designs for longer distances. The products make use of RadioLANıs 10BaseRadio networking protocol, which works with all major operating systems.
Location:Sunnyvale, CA
URL: www.radiolan.com
Main Phone: 408-738-4830
Founded: not disclosed
Finance:: Privately held company
Main products: WLAN equipment
RangeStar Wireless 
A wireless device without an antenna is like a submarine without a periscope. Wireless products, plain and simple, need antennas to truly make the connection. And although RF antenna technology isnıt the most headline-grabbing trend out there, itıs certainly not going away. We think a company that specializes in this area should do very well. RangeStar Wireless makes directional and omnidirectional embedded antennas that provide a solid and lower-cost alternative to the traditional protruding ıwhipı designs of yesteryear. For example, one RangeStar design uses a resonator for the frequency-determination component of an embedded asynchro-nous dipole antenna ı the remainder of the circuitry is in the circuit assembly on the device itself. And RangeStarıs not turning a blind eye to Bluetooth either ı it recently began exploring Java-based solutions for antenna issues.
Location:Aptos, CA
URL: www.rangestar.com
Main Phone: 831.661.4200
Founded: 1995
Financing: Privately held company, VC-backed
Main products: Embedded antennas
Samsung Telecommunications 
Electronics giant Samsung might seem an odd choice for an ıup-and-comingı company, but Samsung Telecommunications is actually a subsidiary launched just three years back. From the get-go this firm has proven to be an innovator with its wireless handset designs, which incorporate voice-activated dialing and Internet access capabilities. Everyone knows mobile Internet access is the next hot topic. Although itıs already catching on in Asia, in North America the technology is still in its formative stages. Samsung appears to be preternaturally prescient in other areas as well ı theyıve also whipped up an MP3-player/phone combo. Given these innovations, a well-demonstrated capability for building tiny devices (one CDMA phone model weighs just 3 ounces), as well as solid marketing and technology partnerships with Sprint, Airtouch, and Bell Mobility, we think Samsungıs a sure bet.
Location:Richardson, TX
URL: www.samsungtelecom.com
Main Phone: 972-761-7000
Founded: 1997
Financing: Privately held company; division of Samsung Electronics Co.
Main products: Wireless phones, office and networking equipment
SpectraSwitch 
There are lots of companies in fiber optics now, but we are impressed by SpectraSwitchıs line of WaveWalker optical switches and cross-connects. Borrowing from the display world, the company utilizes liquid-crystal technology in its switching cells, a nonmechanical approach that goes against the grain of most switch-component makers such as Chorum Technologies and Corning (though these firms are also dabbling with the technology). SpectraSwitch is betting that its components using liquid-crystal cells will outshine, or better yet, outlast parts made with traditional materials. Given the staying power weıve seen by other types of liquid-crystal products, we wouldnıt be too surprised if theyıre right.
Location:Santa Rosa, CA
URL: www.spectraswitch.com
Main Phone: 707.568.7000
Founded: 1996
Financing: Private company, not disclosed
Main products: Optical switches, cross-connects, and related components
Sycamore Networks  Sycamoreıs a true believer in optical technology, as evidenced by its SN 16000 intelligent optical switch. Equipped with an all-optical backplane, this device scales from a 1,024 x 1,024 configuration down to 64 x 64, achieved through the systemıs modularity and helped along by the companyıs Broadleaf NOS. They also offer the SN 8000 as a general-purpose intelligent optical transport node; it can be used for most transport deployments ranging from general access to backbone. Aside from the Broadleaf NOS, the company also makes the SILVX Optical Network Management System, software that can manage equipment from Sycamore
or any other vendor.
Location:Chelmsford, MA
URL: www.sycamorenet.com
Main Phone: 978.250.2900
Founded: 1998
Financing: Publicly traded company (Nasdaq: SCMR)
Main products: Optical networking hardware and software
Tropian 
Tropian is focused on RF transmitter technologies and related intellectual property (IP) with power efficiency and universal interoperability in mind. Happily, theyıre focusing on cellphone and base station technology. A tall order, yes, but the company has developed an innovative, low-power RF platform and chipset with strong support for the leading wireless standards (TDMA, EDGE, CDMA, GSM, and AMPS) that enables equipment suppliers to build in multimode support. Future-proofing, anyone? Look for Tropianıs wares to find their way into DSL components as well.
Location:Cupertino, CA
URL: www.tropian.com
Main Phone: 408.865.1300
Founded: 1996
Finance:: Private company, VC-funded
Main products: RF circuitry
Vertical Networks 
Vertical Networksı InstantOffice system is a suite of integrated communication hardware that includes a circuit- and packet-switched PBX, VoIP gateway, voicemail, multiprotocol router, Ethernet LAN ports, multiservice WAN modules, and other assorted devices of use to todayıs offices, whether high- or low-bandwidth. There are several models of the InstantOffice system, but thatıs not what impresses us. We are enamored of Vertical Networksı approach ı that of providing an access-ready solution that can be installed quickly. Since installation, configuration, and maintenance issues can eat up a great deal of time and money for small offices in particular, this approach will likely prove an attractive alternative to spending the big bucks on the big iron. But if itıs name recognition you want, Vertical Networks does have some marketing agreements in place with AT&T, NCR Corp., and Bell Canada.
Location:Sunnyvale, CA
URL: www.verticalnetworks.com
Main Phone: 408.523.9700
Founded: 1996
Financing: Privately held, VC-funded
Main products: InstantOffice integrated communication platform
Virata 
Communication processors constitute a loosely defined category thatıs certainly on the upswing, and rightly so. Virata makes specialized processors designed to handle difficult, processor-intensive communication tasks that might otherwise require a dedicated DSP. The companyıs main chips (Helium, Beryllium, and Boron) are aimed at DSL equipment providers making CPE products. Helium is a physical-layer (PHY)-agnostic chip with an integrated networking and protocol suite for handling ATM, bridging, framing routing, and signaling operations. The company refers to Beryllium as the industryıs first asynchronous-DSL (ADSL) home router on a chip. Boron shares much of Berylliumıs architecture but is meant for single-PC modems. Virata differentiates itself from competitors, it says, by including all the software that a customer would need to take full advantage of the silicon. The company is bullish on broadband, and since its late 1999 IPO and first quarterly report its earnings have climbed 196%. Earlier this year, Virata acquired Excess Bandwidth Corp., a maker of algorithms for high-speed communication circuits.
Location:Santa Clara, CA
URL: www.virata.com
Main Phone: 408.566.1000
Founded: 1993
Financing: Publicly traded company (Nasdaq: VRTA)
Products: Communication processors and related software
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About the Author
John Poultney is the executive editor of Communication Systems Design. When not searching out hot communication companies and technologies, he can be reached at jpoultney@cmp.com.
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Acknowledgements |
The editorial staff of Communication Systems Design would like to thank Loring Wirbel of EE Times for his help in selecting the Comet finalists. We would also like to Rick Merritt of EE Times and Lindsey Vereen of Embedded Systems Programming for their assistance.
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