UK wireless clusters lead from the front

What do Motorola, Lucent, ST Microsystems, Broadcom, Conexant, Toshiba, HP, PicoChip, IP Wireless, Icera, O2, Orange and Vodafone all have in common?

Apart from the fact they've all set up shop in the United Kingdom along the 'Wireless Corridor', each is at the forefront of research and development in the next generation of wireless.

The UK's 'Wireless Corridor'

Industry players are partnering in clusters of activity and thought-leadership, in order to meet the exponential growth of digital cellular, 3G , wireless local area networking, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi and WiMax.

While other parts of the world lay claim to hosting their own 'Wireless Valley', in deference to the success of California's Silicon Valley, the reality is, that the new corridor of power in wireless is here in the UK.

Bath-based company blazes the trail

One firm, Bath-based PicoChip, is attracting attention from global semiconductor and silicon chip vendors such as Intel.

They as is at the forefront of so-called 'software defined radio', cutting edge wireless-based digital signal processing technologies.

New products speed the onset of wireless

PicoChip's designs and products are being used by big global players in 3G, in WiMax, and in future broadband wireless test beds, 4G and beyond.

Their patented intellectual property and expertise is set to accelerate the onset of the wireless and mobile economies, slashing development times for bringing new products and services to market.

The company has recently received a $20m in second round investment from venture capital partners in the US and the UK.

PicoChip is looking forward to even more rapid expansion plans in wireless here in the UK.

"It's an environment not replicated anywhere else," he observes. "It's part of a picture. This area is very successful, lots of interesting people to come and see and work with. The fact is, there's a complete environment here," he notes.

"There are silicon companies, there are system companies, and, there are wireless operators.

"There are all of the well-established companies, as well as the interesting startups. There's been a lot of research pointing out about 'clustering', such as Harvard economist Michael Porter.”

Wireless clusters

The 'clustering', phenomenon appears to being reaping rewards in the 'Wireless Corridor', Baines concurs.

"The fact you can have meetings, do industry wide things more easily, suppliers will visit, and they'll visit more often; while recruiting gets a lot easier, there's a larger pool of talent to choose from," Baines observes.

"You can poach from other people, and people don't mind moving to a place if they think there will be other jobs there. Whereas, conversely, if you are located on your own, it raises the bar and you won’t be able to attract the people you want to.”

People matter

"That's why we're here,' explains Rupert Baines, Marketing Director at PicoChip Designs Ltd.

"Because we recruited from these areas. There are more silicon designers in Bristol, and around Swindon is one of the biggest wireless hubs in Europe. If you locate in one or the other, it's good - or in both, it's the best," Baines says.

According to Baines, like Cambridge with software, there are plenty of like-minded, clustered wireless-related companies, with good communication - there's the vital, human aspect.

"People talk, and that's how ideas spread, they cross-pollinate, cross-fertilize, it's all good things," says Baines, where interaction is the right tack to take, opening up and collaborating on a local level.

The wireless future

In the UK, Vodafone is the world's largest wireless player, BT is the most aggressive mover to all-IP telecoms company in the world with their 21CN roll-out.

"21CN is pretty much the leader," said Baines. "These are some of the most aggressive and interesting companies in the world. People should want to be involved in this.

“There are lots of opportunities and interesting things going on, things like BT's fixed and mobile convergence 'Fusion' project, the most aggressive anywhere in the world. We want to be involved in that kind of a market," says Baines.