Samplify Systems Granted Patent for Compression Across Base Station Fiber Optic Links Including CPRI and OBSAI

SANTA CLARA, Calif., Sept. 6, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Samplify Systems, Inc., the technology leader for signal compression technology in wireless, medical, and high performance computing applications, announced today that on August 23, 2011, the company was granted a patent by the United States Patent and Trademark Office: U.S. Patent #8,005,152 covers the use of compression across fiber optic links, including those using the CPRI (Common Public Radio Interface) and OBSAI (Open Base Station Architecture Initiative) protocols, within wireless base stations.  This patent enhances Samplify's patent portfolio for its cost-saving compression technology and strengthens the company's existing utility patent in China, #CN20092017851.0, granted in August of 2010.

"With the deployment of 4G LTE beginning early this year, we have seen wireless operators and equipment vendors become much more sensitive to the rising deployment costs for both macro-cell and distributed base stations," says Tom Sparkman, CEO of Samplify.  "Wireless operators will benefit from our Prism IQ™ compression technology from multiple equipment vendors which we believe can save as much as $25B in the deployment of 4G LTE."  

With 4G LTE, the capacity of fiber optic connections using CPRI and OBSAI between remote radio heads and baseband units increases from 614 Mbps to 10 Gbps.  To support this faster speed, more expensive optical transceivers and field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs) are required at each end of the fiber link.  For distributed base stations, using centralized baseband processors and metropolitan-area fiber to connect to radio units, the operating costs associated with 10 Gbps wavelength services are many thousands of dollars per month.  In fact, Bell Labs estimates that in 2010, wireless operators spent over $200B on capital and operating costs for their existing networks.  As operators roll out 4G, these costs will only escalate.  

Samplify has been researching signal compression since 1999.  The company's Prism IQ compression technology has continually been optimized specifically for critically sampled I/Q baseband data to support increased bandwidth demands by wireless networks.   Given this legacy, the mobile industry can be assured that Prism IQ delivers the highest performing compression technology available for wireless infrastructure applications, achieving up to 4:1 compression on 4G LTE signals while maintaining signal quality in terms of error vector magnitude prescribed by 3GPP.  

Prism IQ is available from Samplify to wireless equipment companies as intellectual property for FPGAs and ASICs.  For more information on Prism IQ contact Samplify at [email protected].

About Samplify Systems:

Samplify is a provider of intellectual property, semiconductors, and solutions for high-performance computing, medical imaging, wireless infrastructure, and industrial markets. Samplify's signal processing and mixed-signal technology, including its SAM1600 family of compressing ADCs and its AutoFocus™ beamforming technology, have won multiple industry awards for innovation.  Headquartered in Santa Clara, CA, Samplify has raised over $22.5M from investors that include Charles River Ventures, Formative Ventures, IDT and Schlumberger.  Additional information about Samplify's products can be found at www.samplify.com/wireless, www.samplify.com/applications/hpc, and www.samplify.com/ultrasound.

Prism IQ is a trademark of Samplify Systems.  All other names mentioned herein are the trademarks or registered trademarks of their owners.

SOURCE Samplify Systems, Inc.