By Rebecca Engmann*

Ask Enigma founder and Chief Technical Officer Jacob V. Nielsen - the traditional phone is on the verge of a watershed, and Enigma has an inside track.

A case in point: the recent ado over eBay’s multibillion-dollar acquisition of voice-over-IP provider Skype is proof that the telecommunications market is eagerly staking out new revenue streams to replace diminishing returns from fixed line telephony. In response, they’re looking to expand their array of services, to include not just voiceover- IP telephony, but also IPTV and “video-on-demand” controlled at the user’s convenience.

The triple-play movement

This emerging generation of multimedia technologies requires a whole new network set-up, away from the existing plain old telephone service (POTS) network structure in favour of “triple-play” networks that are capable of supporting two-way communication for voice-over-IP and interactive data/video services. This in turn requires a high pace of development from semiconductors, the core hardware for these networks.

”When you start running these types of networks, bandwidth needs increase exponentially. That’s where we come in,” explains Jacob V. Nielsen. “Our semiconductor is a cost-effective, highdensity technology which helps telecommunications providers bridge the gap between today’s POTS networksand tomorrow’s triple-play networks.”

Two critical elements have allowed Enigma to capture this market opportunity at just the right moment. First, Enigma’s semiconductor uses a packetbased switch architecture, which yields a ten-fold advantage across density, power and area compared to traditional cell-based switches. Second, Enigma has had the good fortune of teaming up with a leading US-based semiconductor manufacturer. The resulting licensing deal left Enigma the “alpha customer” for a key semiconductor component, which is currently in lab development at Enigma. Jacob Nielsen expects Enigma to unveil a complete product platform by mid-2006.

On the verge of a revolution

”We expect the demand for our kind of innovation to continue as new telecommunications services converge. At last, we’re reaching a point in the industry where people will actually begin to see the real impact of telecommunications innovation. This move toward triple-play networks is just the tip of the iceberg – we’re on the verge of a revolution in the way we communicate. This revolution will make extensive use of the switch architecture in semiconductors - and Enigma has the most advanced switch device in the industry right now.”

Øresund region provides competitive edge

Even with intense cost constraints and spiralling demands for up-to-the nanosecond expertise on the semiconductor market, Jacob Nielsen says that keeping R&D functions firmly entrenched in the Øresund region has been a competitive edge for Enigma.

“Engineering in semiconductors is an amazingly global field today. It’s interesting to see the differences - Danish engineers have the right technical skills, they’re creative, productive and teamoriented. Because of that, we’ve been able to deliver a product at a competitive development cost despite higher wage levels. Copenhagen-based R&D is a core competitive advantage for us,” says Jacob Nielsen.

This article was originally published by Øresund IT Magasine (nr. 6 - 2005). You can download the magazine in PDF format on Publications.

*Rebecca Engmann is an American journalist living in Copenhagen.