Test equipment company Rohde & Schwarz reported that it generated EUR 2.58 billion in revenue in the past year, which is its third year in a row with a 20% year-over-year revenue increase. The privately held company does not report its results, but usually gives an occasional snapshot of its financial and strategic position.
Rohde and Schwarz’s continued growth in this tumultuous year “proved once more that the privately owned company’s strategy focusing on sustainable business practices was the right one,” the company said in a release. “The high degree of vertical integration, flexible production processes and robust supply chains helped successfully navigate the uncertain global economic environment of the past fiscal year.”
In terms of 5G, Rohde said that “5G networks were set up faster than anticipated,” and now there is “fierce competition on the device and network sides.” Meanwhile, the pandemic-related sales slump in user equipment “failed to noticeably dampen investor sentiment in the first half of the year” and both device manufacturers and infrastructure providers are investing heavily in test and measurement solutions, the company added. Rohde went on to note that 5G is expected to “revolutionize” factory automation and that the company “has already developed a comprehensive test and measurement portfolio to set up and reliably operate 5G factory networks.”
It also sees increasing convergence in two areas in which it has invested: 5G and broadcast television. “The launch of 5G mobile communications opens up the opportunity to use terrestrial broadcast infrastructure for mobile communications,” the company said. “Television signals and data can be broadcast to mobile devices without burdening mobile networks.” It added that it recently sold an initial 5G TV test network that sets an example for the market and illustrates the potential of technology which R&S helped to create.
R&S said that it now has about 12,300 employees globally, a modest increase from last year.
In other test news:
– Keysight Technologies has focused on 5G device testing of late, with announcements this week that it has launched a 5G virtual drive-testing tool set, which combines its channel and network emulation capabilities with collection, logging and scripting tools. Keysight says this provides the industry’s “first real-world test environment for validating 5G devices under a wide range of network signaling and radio channel conditions.”
Keysight also updated its Nemo Handy handheld measurement software, which can now use Android-based off-the-shelf smartphones for verification of 5G New Radio measurements in the field. It has also introduced a Nemo Diagnostics Module, which is an external hardware unit that enables Nemo Handy users to access non-rooted, 5G commercial OTS smartphones. Keysight said that more than 400 operators around the world use its Nemo Handy solutions.
–LitePoint launched its IQgig-5G test system for 5G small cell base stations, which supports mmWave frequencies between 23-45 GHz and is aimed at test needs of development labs or production floor environments.
“Small cell demand is growing rapidly as OEMs and carriers are looking to accelerate small cell production. As the 5G small cell product designs continue to increase complexity in radio technologies, this makes manufacturing test a very high priority,” said Rex Chen, director of strategic business development at LitePoint. “The recent update to our IQgig-5G test system is designed to deliver cost-efficient small cell manufacturing test to ensure 5G small cells can deliver the quality that end-users expect.”
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