There are many who aspire to hold prestigious positions at big corporate houses, but very few are willing to work hard enough for it. Such positions can be achieved by only those who love what they do. Dr Aloknath De is one of them. He calls himself a ‘missionpreneur.’ He refuses to box himself and loves to think out of the box. He does not become comfortable in a setting as he likes to do things outside his comfort zone. He has been Samsung India’s first CTO besides many more achievements to his credit. This is Dr Aloknath De’s story, as told to EFY’s Siddha Dhar.
Born in the spiritual town of Nabadwip Dham in West Bengal, Aloknath had the influence of holy men on him from a very young age. Even though his family migrated to Kolkata soon after he turned a year old, Aloknath credits his birthplace for teaching him the lessons of renunciation, finding fulfillment in life, and cherishing it.
Aloknath’s father picked up his LLB degree out of passion while working as a gazetted officer at the Food Corporation of India. Under his tutelage, Aloknath was home-schooled till the age of six. A rigorous man, it was he who built the strong foundation of science and mathematics for Aloknath.
Aloknath recalls, “He was a very disciplined person, and he influenced my love for science. So, taking up science after 10th standard was a very natural choice.” Aloknath went to a proper school only when he was in the 2nd standard. While home-schooling provided him with the basic skills, he gained ‘interactive intelligence’ only after he went to school.
Aloknath says, “I realised that natural intelligence, or the ability to react in a situation, comes only when you interact and talk with more and more people. The more you converse, the more you grow.”
Aloknath’s mother, a homemaker, has always been soft-natured. She is an epitome of love and affection. This fusion of hard and soft behaviour of parents is what Aloknath tries to maintain in his own life as well, even today. In fact, his leadership mantra is: “Be Hard on Goal, Be Soft on Soul.”
Diligent from childhood, it was quite natural for Aloknath to be a topper in his school. But by the time he was in 6th standard, a sense of restlessness loomed over him. “It gave me a feeling of accomplishment in the beginning, but then it made me feel as if I was not being challenged enough.” This notion of not ever getting too comfortable in something was a lesson that has driven Aloknath all through his life.
On the lookout for more competition to raise his accomplishment bar, Aloknath decided to appear for a Central government merit scholarship programme, which allowed him to study in a residential school of his choice. And he got admission in Ramakrishna Mission (RKM) Residential School in Purulia—a district 250km away from Kolkata.
Though he had the option to choose a school in Kolkata and stay near his family, Aloknath decided not to base his choice on emotions, and rather grab the opportunity to live and operate independently. The pangs of separation from his parents and siblings struck him in the initial phase. But Aloknath knew that he was accountable for the decision that he had taken and that he had to stick to it—a lesson that he would recall again, years later.
A Few Lessons from Dr Aloknath De’s Story
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Although his father was a strong influence in his life, it was his monk headmaster at RKM whom Aloknath regards as his role model. “He was a man of such purity. He had mastery over multiple languages. Once I was writing an essay about the river Ganges. I showed him the first draft and he helped me make it better—his knowledge was profound. I would say it was the best piece in Bengali that I have ever written.”
It is not surprising that science and math were his favourite subjects. But Aloknath was not excellent in academics alone, he also took active part in school debates, elocutions, recitation competitions, and so on. He even appeared on numerous TV debate shows broadcast by Doordarshan.
A rational thinker since childhood, Aloknath quickly figured out that his heart lay in engineering. When he was in the 11th standard, he decided to share this with his father, who was then disappointed with his decision. “My father wanted to be a doctor, but it was not possible due to financial constraints. He was hoping that I would become a physician, but I chose engineering. I remember it was a long-drawn evening discussion with my father and uncle. They tried very hard to change my mind.”
Aloknath did not budge from his goal and readied himself to prepare for the next chapter in his life.
A large chunk of Aloknath’s future plans began taking shape in his undergraduate years that he spent at IIT Kharagpur. While studying Electronics and Communication Engineering (ECE), he remained a high-achiever here too. Having done his secondary education in a Bengali-medium school, the fluency with which some students at IIT spoke English alarmed him. But he did not let it intimidate him. He remained headstrong and mastered the language pretty soon.
At an institute of IIT’s stature—where the brightest minds of the country came to make their dreams come true—Aloknath found there were many who were just as meritorious as him. But he took it as a blessing in disguise, as he was always looking for a more competitive space where his limits could be tested, and his mind could expand.
Aloknath says, “It’s important to accept that some people are better than you at something and it’s absolutely okay to be not as good as them. But what is important is to bring yourself to a minimum threshold level on attributes that matter in life and excel in a few dimensions.”
As his world-view expanded and he met more people, Aloknath found his calling—telecommunications—at IIT Kharagpur a fascinating field indeed! “I saw the power of communications and how it helped people stay connected remotely. I saw how it could compete with transportation and thought it was revolutionary.”
The realisation didn’t occur overnight, though. He spent months and months practicing books and magazines, listening to radio, and talking to people to soak in as much information as possible and then come to this conclusion. “Inquisitiveness to explore makes a big difference. When you keep your queries alive, one fine morning you’ll come across some information that makes you pause. And you take a moment to think about it and ask further questions. It is in this process of asking and answering these questions that you realise what you are drawn to.”
A three-step process Aloknath likes to follow for his goal is ABC of Achievement: Align (your thoughts), Beam (your energy), and Collaborate (your ecosystem). As he began the seeding for his future roles, he realised how telecommunication systems could be built with hardware and then-new software elements. He also started appreciating how engineering deployment could complement technological innovations.
The unpredictability of life is enthralling. It makes you do things you never intended to, and gives you results you never expected. Although Aloknath had planned to pursue his master’s degree after IIT and even got admission to a US university, a financial crisis forced him to start working right after his graduation in 1985. Yet, he did not let this setback derail him from his plans.
Thankfully for Aloknath, he found his way to Bharat Electronics Ltd (BEL). In an era when MNCs did not rule the subcontinent, PSUs were the dream job of many, and Aloknath was no different.
But, while joining BEL, he knew what his ultimate goal was—to learn telecommunication systems as much as he could.
At BEL, he was part of a team that built a low-flying target detection radar, which was the first indigenously built radar system: INDRA 1. Till date, INDRA series of radars are deployed on the borders of India.
His role in BEL, Sahibabad needed him to travel a lot to the headquarters in Bangalore (now Bengaluru). He made it a rule to take a different route during each of his trips. This was his way of having fun and exploring the country while working. As he travelled the length and breadth of India, Aloknath’s mantra to always go out of his comfort zone found more strength. “Even today, whenever I see that I’m getting too comfortable, I try to find new things to do that make me uncomfortable for a while.”
But going out of your comfort zone can be scary besides being uncomfortable. How did he tackle that? He says, “The trick is to keep yourself anchored 50% in comfort and unsettle the rest. Going completely out of your comfort zone makes it probably very risky. Bring stability from the comfort zone, and growth from outside the comfort zone.”
After a two-year stint at BEL, Aloknath went on to pursue his master’s degree from another premier institute of India—IISc Bangalore. A fond memory of IISc that he holds close to his heart, beyond studies, is how he would save some money from his scholarship grant to buy cassettes of classical music. An avid lover of classical music since a young age, Aloknath had even tried learning the stringed musical instrument sitar. Although he could not sing well, his affinity for classical music drove him to find solace in it, irrespective of his prevailing mood.
At IISc, Aloknath further broadened his knowledge about telecommunications and realised how every aspect uniquely complemented each other. It was this fascination that took him from India to Canada, where he pursued his PhD and also started another phase of his life.
Like many middle-class Indians at that time, Aloknath’s flight to Canada was the first one he had ever taken in his life. While he was working hard to revolutionise telecommunications, calling from a foreign country was a luxury that he could not afford then. And that would also make his parents anxious at times.
“When I first landed there, I sent them a telegram but it took ten days to reach. In the meantime, my father would go to the Air India office every now and then to enquire if my flight had landed. The people there assured him that many flights had gone and come back since my flight, so I was probably already well-settled in Canada,” he laughs.
Aloknath did his PhD in ‘communication with signal processing’ from McGill University on a full scholarship. After ‘communication with control’ in IIT and ‘communication with computing’ in IISc, he wanted to fathom this combination as well. Aloknath knew that it would eventually bring him to a more holistic view of telecommunications.
Surviving in Canada was no easy feat. Aloknath had to adjust to the limited food choices and the cold climate. However, he liked the cosmopolitan culture of Montreal and saw himself living there for a long time, and hence took up learning French language.
Aloknath’s PhD thesis was supported by Canadian Institute for Telecommunication Research; he also bagged the Alexander Graham Bell prize in Canada for his doctoral research. His PhD mentor was a wonderful man who made the whole learning process at McGill very enjoyable for Aloknath. “He was an immigrant himself; so he knew what challenges I was facing and he helped me navigate through them.”
It was through this mentor that Aloknath got his first break in Canada. He bagged an opportunity to work in Nortel Networks, which was then called Bell Northern Research. His first assignment had ample scope for innovation. He just needed to find the meaningful business gap. This, he credits to being curious and looking for means to go above and beyond to find a pain point he ought to fix.
But as he kept getting better at making these discoveries, he missed the excitement of implementing them and seeing them in their realised form. He knew it was time to get out of his comfort zone and soak deeply into practical implementations and field issues to grow in industry. “I told my manager that I wanted to do the dirtiest work. The most mundane things that nobody wanted to do.”
In the summer of 1999, Aloknath made a decision that would change the trajectory of his life—leaving Canada after a decade and coming back to India. “It was one of the toughest decisions I had to make in my life,” Aloknath remarks. He was eligible for a Canadian PR. His son was three years old and had access to better education there; and he himself had a thriving career.
In his true spirit to think through and make a call, Aloknath mulled over the situation for an entire year. He thought rationally yet infused elements of lateral thinking before taking decision. After all, he couldn’t look back and regret his decision. “I decided to come back to India. Although it seems unbelievable now, I did envision something along the lines of how India would look like in 2020, and wanted to see if I could be part of that vision coming true.”
His reasoning to come back was based on two things. First, he had built a broad international perspective that expanded his mind and made him understand what makes a country developed. Second, he understood deeply what was needed to be a subject matter expert on communication with controls, computing, and signal processing elements, and build global innovative products.
He recalls, “With all that knowledge in my bag, I felt complete and thought it was the right time to come back. Many around me felt that I was taking a step backwards. But what is interesting about life is that sometimes taking an apparent step back can help you leap forward by ten steps.”
Back in India, Aloknath had uprooted his life in Canada by taking the risk of applying to only two companies. Fortunately, he received offers from both the companies. “The same postman brought the two offer letters on the same day. I found the phrase so true: God helps those who help themselves. The power of hope and ambition beats everything,” he remembers.
He went with one of these companies—Hughes Software Systems in Gurgaon. His interview with the Director of Hughes India had happened while he was still in Canada. Incidentally, the Director had made it a point to highlight how different his life would be once Aloknath was back in India.
In such a case, one might take a moment to reconsider the decision. But Aloknath knew exactly what he wanted. “I told the executive that I am cognizant of all of that, and I was making the decision while being fully aware. I am ready to face challenges as they come.”
This director who also became his manager and is now a good friend, was a source of inspiration for Aloknath as he made his switch so seamless; he never felt like he had left home. At Hughes too, Aloknath’s vision for joining a company did not alter—he wanted to do something that nobody else was doing or was willing to do.
He recalls, “During that time, digital signal processing in the base layer was effectively not there in Hughes communication stack. Many prospective clients said that they could have a service agreement with Hughes if that solution could be included in service delivery. That was truly a defining statement for me.”
He was entrusted with building a team for the same. Here came a moment to take something from zero to one, an opportunity of intrapreneurship. “Taking something from level one and scaling it to infinity is relatively easy because you have done it once. Building something from zero to one is the real challenge.”
Aloknath had to build a team of twenty people with strong DSP expertise and also start securing the DSP business beyond Hughes. It gave him joy that, due to this twenty-member team, Hughes could garner indirectly about eighty other people in higher-level stack areas. And this continued scaling up.
After a four-year stint at Hughes, he had a new itch. Even though the chip was never his core, he realised that semiconductors and VLSI design were a part of telecommunications and had a tremendous potential. So, he decided to join STMicroelectronics, which was looking to start telecom business ab initio in 2003. He joined them as the head of this division.
In 2008, when a joint venture between STMicroelectronics and Ericsson was signed, Aloknath was appointed as the MD of the group in India. He was handling the teams of both Noida and Bengaluru. He built an enviable team by internal transfer, external hiring as well as company acquisitions. By the time he left, he had 1000 team members.
To understand the full stack better, he became a ‘student’ of chip design. Even though he was the MD, he would often join the freshers during their training sessions to learn more about frontend and backend chip design, the processes and nuances. “In order to make decisions as an MD and interact as a global leader, I needed to know the subject to a great extent. I thought it was an integral part of decision making and I had to learn it to do my job well.”
After eight good years at ST-Ericsson, a world giant was waiting for Aloknath to knock on their door.
Aloknath had the good taste of administrative life for a long time at
ST-Ericsson where he was also a Board Director of the company, and he now craved for a more technical role. He wanted to lead with technology. But before that, he wanted to pause and take time to contemplate—much like he used to do in his childhood days.
He took a sabbatical of about six months and decided to experiment with a few things during the period. He taught at IIT Delhi as an Adjunct Professor, served as a consultant to Accenture, and mentored a location-technology based startup during this phase. While mentoring the startup, he got down to interacting with the ground-level customers to understand things from their perspective. “If you can take a month or even a few days to interact with the people on the ground, there is no better learning than this. I would not trade this for anything else.”
But as they say, you cannot hide exceptional talent anywhere. This time, Aloknath’s talent was found by South Korean electronics giant Samsung. Although the folks at Samsung wanted Aloknath to come over to Korea and work with them from their headquarters, Aloknath’s priority was now sorted out; he could not leave his family in India and the family was not in a position to relocate at that juncture.
So, Aloknath was almost ready to decline the offer but his destiny, however, had other plans. The very next day after this interview, he received a call from Samsung HQ. “They were willing to interview me again to create a position especially for me if I only wanted to work in India.”
This is how Aloknath became the first CTO of the Indian unit of the conglomerate with his base in Bangalore. His mantra, again, was simple—he didn’t want to work on something that was going well. He wanted something that was aspirational, but they couldn’t seem to make it work.
At Samsung, he had to create an innovation layer onto the flagship products by building new intellectual properties (IPs) without jeopardising base engineering deliveries. In the first fifteen years of Samsung’s journey in India, it had about 2000 patents, which increased to 7500+ patents under his leadership by their silver jubilee celebrations time.
He became the Corporate VP for Samsung Electronics, Korea and contributed to the internet of things (IoT) on SmartThings platform. Despite these accomplishments, he felt like something was missing. The earlier-missed opportunity to join the team in Korea kept gnawing at him. He asked them if he could join them in HQ and the team in Korea happily agreed. He got an IoT lab to work in Korea where he spent 7-8 days every month for thirty months or so. This made him a very effective global leader.
The data platform that Aloknath built in Korea is now connecting 200 million home appliances and mobility devices globally. With his global role and expertise in AI and Blockchain, he has built an impactful AIoT Centre-of-Excellence in India. Now, with this background and experience behind him, he has set a personal mission of researching and nurturing activities around Cyber-Physical Systems.
Some Unknown Facts about Dr Aloknath De
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While the accomplishments of Aloknath are innumerable, his story of finding his love is like a romantic film. Aloknath and his wife knew each other since long, but never knew that they would be cojoined by destiny in an everlasting bond.
They got married towards the end of Aloknath’s PhD, that is, six months before he would graduate. His wife had to stay back in Kolkata for some time. “She had to go to a neighbour’s place to call me and had to request them to go out,” he laughs. She soon joined him in Canada, where she also pursued a postgraduate degree at Concordia University.
Upon returning to India, she has been working as a Math teacher. She is a big fitness junkie.
“She is also my personal trainer. I was never into fitness that much, but since the pandemic, I started taking care of my physique. And would it not be a waste if I didn’t utilise my opportunity despite having a trainer at home!” he says with a smile.
The couple has a son who was born in Canada, studied in India, and went on to pursue Economics and Physics at the University of Chicago. After his stint at an investment bank, he currently works with a global new-gen ride-sharing company.
Aloknath’s love for music is still intact, thanks to his mother who continues to practice music till date. She is the inspiration behind his love for classical music.
In December 2021, Aloknath took superannuation from Samsung formally. However, he is still associated with them as an Executive Consulting Director and wishes to continue as long as it makes sense for both. He calls it his Corporate Home.
Aloknath has increased his efforts to mentor deep-tech startups and has also become an angel investor. He is now an Adjunct Professor with IISc (ECE) and IIT Jodhpur (CS). Aloknath also has a venture of his own in the works.
Talking of his future plans, Aloknath says, “During India’s 75th Independence Day celebration, it is solemn for me to rededicate to the service of the nation. R&D serves as an impetus for business growth. If we can hone India’s talent for R&D and can excite business to spend greater on R&D and innovation, we can do wonders as a country.”
In fact, he revealed that the unveiling of his singular mission could happen soon; but he is in no hurry. Because if there’s anything he has learnt, it is to make ‘the rest of his life, the best of his life!’
Friday, August 5, 2022
While hearing the special leave petition in Shree Vishnu Constructions (“Appellant”) v. The Engineering in Chief, Military Engineering Service & Ors. (“Respondents”)1, the backlog of applications for arbitral appointments came into light before the Hon’ble Supreme Court of India (“Supreme Court”).
The Supreme Court called for the statement/particulars with respect to the pending applications under Section 11(6) of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act 1996 (“Arbitration Act”) from all the High Courts so as to devise the solution for quicker disposal of such applications.
The jurisdiction of High Courts for the appointment of arbitrators can be invoked under Section 11 of the Arbitration Act in case the parties fail to agree on an arbitrator for the resolution of their disputes2 or in the event that they fail to act on the appointment procedure agreed upon.3 However, the Arbitration Act does not prescribe any timeline for courts to decide and dispose of such applications filed before Court for appointment of an arbitrator. Such lacuna has resulted in a situation where a number of such appointment applications are pending before various High Courts for years. The Supreme Court took cognizance of this issue which would otherwise defeat the object and purpose of the Arbitration Act itself, i.e., speedy and effective dispute resolution.
The special leave petition was filed pursuant to a judgment and order passed by the Hon’ble Telangana High Court4 rejecting the Appellant’s application for appointment of an arbitrator filed under Section 11(5) of the Arbitration Act.
During the hearings before the Supreme Court, it observed that the Telangana High Court took four years to dispose of the appointment application.
Referring to the amended Arbitration Act, the Supreme Court expressed concern that if an appointment application is not disposed of within one year, it would defeat the object and purpose of the Arbitration Act. Raising these concerns, the Supreme Court directed the Registrar General of the Telangana High Court to submit a detailed report highlighting the number of such appointment applications that are pending before the High Court, and from which year are such disputes pending. The Supreme Court also called for the statement/particulars of such pending applications from all the High Courts.
The Supreme Court took cognizance of the fact that there were volumes of similar appointment applications pending in various other High Courts for more than four or five years. The Court was of the view that courts need to ensure that commercial disputes need to be resolved at the earliest, as pendency shall not only adversely impact the commercial relations between the parties, but also the economic health of the country. In this regard, the Supreme Court referred to the Arbitration Act as well as Commercial Courts Act 2015 which provide for time-bound dispute resolution. More specifically, Commercial Courts Act 2015 mandates that the commercial disputes are to be decided and disposed of within a period of one year. Further, under the Arbitration Act, arbitrators are mandated to render the awards within a period of one year. Therefore, pendency of appointment applications before courts for more than year in a few cases, and beyond a period of four or five years, as was observed in these cases, clearly defeats the objective of the Arbitration Act.
In view of the same, the Supreme Court directed all Chief Justices of the various High Courts to ensure that such pending appointment applications are disposed of within a period of six months from the date of the order of the Supreme Court passed in this case. Further, the High Courts were also directed to submit their respective compliance reports to the Supreme Court upon the completion of such period of six months. The court also opined that all High Courts must make endeavor to decide and dispose all appointment applications preferably within a period of six months from the date that such applications are filed.
The Supreme Court’s order promises a prompt disposal of such appointment applications which would in-turn ensure that arbitration proceedings commence and are disposed of expeditiously.5
This order is in sync with the present pro-arbitration landscape in India which primarily envisages expeditious disposal of commercial disputes. It is expected that this order would be intriguing for arbitration practitioners as well as parties willing to resolve commercial disputes through arbitration in India.
It may however be noted that the directions of the Supreme Court to the High Courts may be extraneous to international commercial arbitrations, in which case it is the Supreme Court which is requested for arbitral appointments.
The Supreme Court has been consistently taking a proactive role in furthering such pro-arbitration ecosystem in India. For example, in BSNL v. Nortel Networks India6 the Supreme Court had to adjudicate upon the issue of the limitation period for filing of an appointment application in the absence of a provision in the Arbitration Act prescribing the same. The Supreme Court ruled that the limitation period for the filing of appointment applications would be covered by Article 137 of the Limitation Act, 1963.7
However, in the absence of a specific timeline provided in the Arbitration Act, such directions issued by the Supreme Court or the basis for capping the time period for disposal at six months, may be subject to further review or need to be incorporated in the statute itself.
Further, certain amendments were proposed in 2019 to Section 11 of the Arbitration Act for appointment of arbitrators through arbitral institutions designated by the by the Supreme Court, in case of international commercial arbitrations, or by the High Court, in case of arbitrations other than international commercial arbitrations. The said amendments which were intended to avoid such delays in arbitral appointments await notification. This may be an opportune time to relook at the proposed amendments and implement them.
FOOTNOTES
1 Special Leave Petition (C) No. 5306 of 2022 (Order dated 19 May 2022).
2 See Section 11(5) of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996.
3 See Section 11(6) of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996.
4 ARBA No. 151/2016.
5 See Article 141 of the Constitution of India 1950:
“The law declared by the Supreme Court shall be binding on all courts within the territory of India.”
6 AIR 2021 SC 2849.
7 BSNL v. Nortel Networks India AIR 2021 SC 2849:
“The limitation for invoking arbitration, and seeking appointment of an arbitrator is at par with a civil action, and would be covered by Article 137 of the Schedule to the Limitation Act, 1963. An action taken by a claimant must necessarily fall within the statutory period of 3 years from the date on which the right to apply accrues.”
Limitation Act 1963, Schedule:
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Type of Suit |
Period of Limitation |
Time from which period begins to run |
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137 |
Any other application for which no period of limitation is provided elsewhere in this division |
Three Years |
When the right to apply accrues |
Nishith Desai Associates 2022. All rights reserved.National Law Review, Volume XII, Number 217
When Chi arrived at Imperial College, London to study electrical engineering, it was the mid-Eighties and the height of the anti-apartheid struggle in South Africa. Chi went on anti-apartheid marches and was a member of the movement’s national executive committee in the UK, an early milestone on her political journey. The context was also significant because Imperial had a School of Mines, and its intake was dominated by white South African men. “It was very, very racist and it was very, very sexist as well,” Chi says.
Engineering is the most caring profession because they are making life work better for so many people.
Chi Onwurah
What shocked Chi most about the racism she experienced at university was that it would come from “people I was supposed to look up to” such as her lecturers. “In Newcastle no one in authority was racist,” she said.
Describing it as “the worst experience of my life”, Chi did consider leaving Imperial. She stuck at it – and is pleased she did – but she also fought back. “I wrote an article about the racism I was experiencing – particularly the rag mag, which had some horrendous jokes in it – for The Guardian newspaper. After that, things improved and there was more visibility of the issue of racism, though the lecturers and the professors felt that I was betraying them by going to the media about it.”
Acknowledging the academic kudos of getting a Bachelor of Engineering degree from Imperial, Chi went on to work for the telecommunications company Nortel, at a time when the sector was on the cusp of the move from analogue to digital. Chi was working on ISDN (Integrated Services Digital Network), the first digital network. Her work took her to France, Denmark and the US.
After returning from the US, a former colleague contacted Chi and told her about Nigeria’s deregulated telecoms market and its capacity to roll out a mobile phone network. It was an exciting and massive challenge. Nigeria’s electricity network didn’t work constantly so, when Chi got involved, her job encompassed designing and building the network’s own power supply.
On a personal level, Chi’s achievement finally convinced her father that his daughter’s chosen career path was worthwhile!
“When I went to Awka, which is where we're from in Nigeria, I was able to hand him a mobile phone and say to him that, because I was managing the network rollout plan, I knew that in two months this mobile phone would work, and it was the first mobile phone in his village and he could call me on it. He was incredibly proud, and I was also incredibly proud. He actually said to me, ‘perhaps this engineering thing isn't so bad after all.’”
Enhanced Assertion-Based Verification Suite Enables Systematic Method for Eliminating Bugs in IC Designs
SAN JOSE, Calif. – January 27, 2003 – Today 0-In Design Automation, the Assertion-Based Verification Company, announced a suite of new products based on powerful new formal verification technologies that increase performance by more than 100X over the previous version. V2.0 of the 0-In Assertion-Based Verification (ABV) Suite combines simulation with static formal and dynamic formal verification to provide a broad solution for fast and thorough functional verification of complex ASICs and System-on-Chip (SoC) devices.
Advanced Technology Finds Tough Bugs Before Silicon
The 0-In ABV Suite provides development teams the power to answer two key questions about the verification process:
0-In's ABV products answer these questions by enabling assertions to check all aspects of the design's behavior and to catch bugs at the earliest possible point in the verification process. 0-In's V2.0 ABV Suite includes two new formal verification products as well as enhancements to 0-In's dynamic formal verification technology that finds tough, corner-case bugs usually not found until chips are in the lab. The combined power of 0-In's products enables development teams to find bugs missed by every other verification method.
"Finding all bugs prior to tape-out is critical for competing in today's aggressive market environment," said Emil Girczyc, 0-In President and CEO. "V2.0 brings to market breakthrough formal verification algorithms that find the toughest bugs in complex designs before tape out. The power of these new algorithms leaves no place for bugs to hide, allowing design teams to meet aggressive time-to-market requirements."
New Products and Technology
0-In's V2.0 ABV Suite includes two new products, 0-In Checklist and 0-In Confirm, as well as new features and technology for all existing 0-In products
0-In Checklist uses static netlist-analysis technology to rapidly and automatically find many common syntactic and semantic RTL coding errors, including simulation-to-synthesis mismatch errors, clock domain crossing errors, and others. 0-In Checklist is fast and easy to use, requiring no simulation and producing essentially no false error reports. Indeterminate assertions may be promoted to simulation and formal verification.
0-In Confirm finds deep RTL design bugs that are missed by all other verification methods. In particular, 0-In Confirm targets corner-case or worry-case assertions with deep counterexample (DCE) technology, a breakthrough exhaustive formal verification algorithm that is capable of finding bugs hundreds of cycles away from any selected simulation state. 0-In Confirm also can be used to verify that late-stage bug fixes are correct.
In V2.0, 0-In Search incorporates new algorithms that intelligently analyze and prioritize simulation cycles, increasing speed by 100X over previous releases and enabling users to apply dynamic formal verification across their entire regression suite. Simulation tests guide the formal algorithms to deep states, avoiding computational limitations. Dynamic formal verification technology then uses exhaustive formal algorithms to find bugs that simulation misses.
0-In Check includes the CheckerWare library, a rich library of over 70 Verilog assertion checkers that work in both simulation and formal verification and are testbench- and simulator-independent. V2.0 adds support for Accellera assertion standards, improves simulation performance and incorporates new coverage metrics for assertions.
The 0-In V2.0 ABV Suite provides value to designers and verification engineers throughout the entire development cycle, delivering a comprehensive assertion-based verification methodology that works from block-level through system-level verification, including regression testing, simulation acceleration, and hardware emulation. 0-In products are all simulator- and testbench-independent, making them applicable throughout the verification process. "Our new products are designed to address the customer's specific verification goals at each phase of the design cycle, no matter which vendor's tools are being used at each phase," noted Dr. Girczyc.
0-In supports Accellera assertion standards and 0-In products are interoperable with a wide range of tools from other EDA vendors.
Customers
ABV products from 0-In have been in production usage for nearly three years, which has generated feedback from numerous tape-outs and provided the impetus for V2 enhancements. 0-In's ABV tools are used today by leading design teams at AMD, Cisco Systems, Fujitsu, Hewlett Packard, LSI Logic, National Semiconductor, Nortel Networks, Sun Microsystems, and many other system and semiconductor suppliers.
"We've used 0-In products to catch design issues early and to Strengthen the quality of our RTL," said Jonathan Sun, EDA Technologies Manager at Sun Microsystems, Inc., "V2.0 will enable us to further leverage the benefits of static and dynamic formal verification tools in our assertion-based verification flow."
"0-In tools are effective at finding tough, corner-case bugs that otherwise would go undetected," said Gordon Mortensen, Director of Engineering for the Internet Appliance Group at National Semiconductor. "On a latest SoC project, 0-In Search identified bugs that had a high probability of otherwise making it into silicon. We definitely had increased confidence after using the 0-In tools. That confidence was confirmed when the chip was fabricated and tested in the lab – we have not found any bugs in modules Verified with 0-In."
Packaging, pricing, and availability
V2.0 of the 0-In ABV Suite products is available now. North American list prices for one-year time-based licenses are:
· 0-In Checklist -- $30K
· 0-In Check -- $15K
· 0-In Search -- $50K
· 0-In Confirm -- $75K
About 0-In
0-In Design Automation, Inc. (pronounced "zero-in") develops and supports functional verification products that help verify multi-million gate application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) and system-on-chip (SoC) designs. The company delivers a comprehensive assertion-based verification (ABV) solution that provides value throughout the design and verification cycle – from the block level to the chip and system level. Twelve of the 15 largest electronics companies have adopted 0-In tools and methodologies in their integrated circuit (IC) design verification flows. 0-In was founded in 1996 and is based in San Jose, Calif. For more information, see http://www.0-in.com.
One of the product categories that can be considered to make up the industrial market is those infrastructure products that support the booming electronic and telecommunications industry. This year's SPI Structural Plastics Conference and Design Competition focused on some of these interesting applications.
An eye-catching example from the industrial telecommunications perspective was the award-winning Alcoa Fujikura splice box, molded and submitted by Mack Molding (see opposite page). The part represents a metal-replacement trend in this market that's been under way for several years and is now reaching critical mass.
Outdoors
Unless you've been in a coma for the last five years, you know that the digital revolution is well underway. Baby Bells, AT&T, MCI Worldcom, Sprint, British Telecom, and a host of other mega-companies are positioning themselves to build and cash in on new and improved telephone, cable, and mobile communications networks. These networks have an infrastructure being built by the likes of Lucent, Nortel, and Motorola.
Joel Fouquart, technical manager at GE Plastics, says the Alcoa/Mack splice box is the best example of the trend occurring in the outdoor infrastructure arena. The Alcoa box replaces a diecast aluminum predecessor that weighed 65 lb and was a beast to install. But with a switch to GE's Valox PBT and structural foam molding, Alcoa suddenly had a lighter, equally durable, less expensive box that could be produced in volumes. That, says Fouquart, is the key-producing in high volumes to accommodate the new and improved networks under construction.
Indoors
Indoors, Fouquart says the central office is the scene of the most changes. Not happy producing simple computer and electronics cabinets and housings, many manufacturers are looking to plastics and injection molding to create a more striking identity, similar to the job Silicon Graphics has done with its standout colors and contours. Fouquart says many OEMs struggle to determine the break-even point between plastic and metal.
The economic advantages of plastics increase with part complexity. Plastics allow designers to incorporate unique features that are often difficult to impossible to produce in sheet metal. GE and Fouquart conducted a study using a standard 6-ft cabinet panel with moderate contours and complexity, and compared the cost of producing it via structural foam vs. metal. The sheet metal, he says, has an initial tooling cost ranging from $10,000 to $90,000, where an injection mold ranges from $100,000 to $275,000.
However, downstream welding and shaping of the metal ballooned the per part cost to $550 for metal compared to $350 for plastic. Not only that, but the break-even volume for the plastic part is 1000 units annually.
For Example
The Best Paper winner at the Structural Plastics Conference was written and presented by Michael Caropreso, who, with Hewlett-Packard, devised a system for molding plastic panels to replace a large metal door on a peripheral computer rack system. The metal door H-P was looking to replace cost $40 to make and $150 to ship because of its size, and was often damaged in transit.
The series of smaller plastic panels would prove less expensive to make, and ship, and easier to use for service personnel who need to access cabinets. But what made the project particularly interesting was the rare combination of gas-assist molding and sequential gating.
The panels are 35 inches long and 16 inches wide, with a nominal wall thickness of .140 inch, unpainted and with no visible sink marks or weld lines allowed. Two gates were used in the mold, both fed by a hot manifold system with hydraulic valves.
To establish production parameters, the mold was filled through one gate in a series of short shots that were used to determine the ram position at which the flow front reached the second gate. This position was used to trigger the second valve, which finished filling the part. This overlap in flow fronts rendered weld lines invisible.
Gas filling begins after both gates close. A series of carefully guided gas bubbles help pack out different sections of the panel, provide strength, and eliminate sinks. The entire cycle runs in just over a minute, with no secondary operations. The molder produces the parts at facilities in California and Dublin, Ireland.
Metal-to-plastic conversion takes the weigh off
Replacing its eight-part diecast aluminum predecessor, this structural foam molded splice box weighs less than half as much and greatly reduced the total part count. The splice box, manufactured for Alcoa Fujikura Ltd. by Mack Molding (Arlington, VT), is mounted on utility poles and buildings and is used to house and protect spliced fiber optic connections.
"An excellent metal replacement application, this splice box previously weighed 65 lb," says Brian Sumpter, new business development director at Mack's southern division. "We've reduced that to 29 lb, which is a tremendous relief to field service personnel who are hoisting these units up telephone poles to install them." The 10-by-30-inch box consists of two primary parts: one is a drawer in which lines are spliced; the other is the enclosure into which the drawer slides (see photo). The drawer accommodates up to 360 fiber splices and up to six individual cables of various types and sizes. The gasketed drawer can be easily opened for periodic maintenance.
Called the Opti-Guard splice box, it's high-pressure structural foam molded of Valox PBT from GE Plastics at Mack Molding's Inman, SC facility. The material was chosen to meet requirements of UV exposure, ballistic resistance, impact resistance of 100 ft-lb or more at -40F, and temperature resistance ranging from -40F to 176F. Also, Alcoa's internal tieoff system resists more than 100 lb of tension per cable.
The part was an award winner at the Structural Plastics '99 Conference and Design Competition, an annual event hosted by the Society of the Plastics Industry.
For more information:
GE Plastics, Pittsfield, MA
Phone: (800) 845-0600; Fax: (800) 433-2925
Web: www.geplastics.com
Rare-earth compound, plastic unite for speedometer part
All the plastic parts you see in this Bitorque speedometer, designed for some models of Harley Davidson motorcycles, are molded by Thomas G. Faria Corp. But the two parts below the speedometer required a special material. Called bobbins, the parts hold a pin that connects to a magnetic source on the back side of the speedometer. That magnetic source emits a varying electrical charge based on how fast the engine is running. The bobbin, connected to the pin and a meter, rotates according to that charge, thus telling the driver the vehicle's speed.
Faria needed a moldable, highly filled, high-temperature polymer that could be insert molded and then magnetized as part of the inner electrical workings of the speedometer. It hired custom compounder Foster Corp. (Dayville, CT), which developed a compound from a nylon and a rare-earth material called ferrite (an iron-based material). Specifics of the material were not released, but according to the molder, the plastic version is equal in quality to the chrome-plated, hand-finished instrument made for other Harley motorcycles.
Faria runs 40 or so injection molding machines ranging from 15 to 200 tons at its Uncasville, CT plant.
For more information:
Foster Corp., Dayville, CT
Phone: (860) 848-9271
Fax: (860) 848-2704
Web: www.fostercomp.com
Regenerative pump housing benefits from PPS
Designed to house regenerative pumps for use in soft drink dispensing systems in the U.S. and the U.K., this part is required to withstand up to 30 bar of pressure and must operate in temperatures ranging from -4F to 212F. Chemical resistance is required to withstand periodic purging with cleaners. Good surface hardness and dimensional stability are also required. Chosen to mold the part: 40 percent glass-filled Fortron PPS from Ticona.
The critical component in the housing design is the back plate. Stress analysis conducted during the design phase indicated that unacceptably high stress levels in key areas around the connecting points could cause the part to fail. A new design was submitted in which the overall wall section was increased, ensuring greater strength and dimensional stability, with cored-out sections to minimize material use.
Tests on the new design showed a reduction in strain levels around the connecting points by a factor of three. Tests also predicted that the design would be able to meet the stress requirements as well as maintain the .05 mm flatness required for the pump's impeller. The housings are made in the U.K. by Electromag-Neil, which insert molds the stainless steel threads for connecting pipes.
For more information:
Ticona, Summit, NJ
Phone: (800) 235-2637
Fax: (908) 598-4165
Web: www.ticona.com
Polypropylene wheel unit endures heavy weight
This four-caster wheel unit, called the Universal Gondola Skate, is designed to facilitate safe and easy movement of heavy, fully loaded shelves during renovation of retail stores. The wheels are placed under the shelves so that during a store's off hours, the shelves can be moved out of the way to make room for renovation and construction. Then, they can be easily rolled back to their place during regular store hours. They are designed to hold up to 2000 lb and reportedly cost up to 50 percent less than comparable products.
The idea was co-developed by Cozza Harris Design (San Diego) and Co-Mack Technology (Vista, CA). Co-Mack molds the part in a structural foam molding process on a 385-ton Battenfeld. Up to 700 wheel units can be produced in a day on the single-cavity mold. The part is made from a 10 percent glass-filled polypropylene from RheTech Inc. that doesn't have to meet tight tolerances, but must offer strength. The casters are purchased out of house and assembled at Co-Mack.
For more information:
RheTech Inc.
Whitmore Lake, MI
Phone: (734) 769-0585
Fax: (734) 769-3565
Tension knob gets lubed with switch to acetal
The knob on the Ovation 2 thermal transfer printer is used to adjust ribbon tension each time a different width label is used. The printer produces labels up to 4 inches wide and is used to make bar codes, tags, and other products. The tension knob is used intermittently, but not continuously. For Orlando-based manufacturer Datamax, this was a problem with the material used previously, which tended to bind up if the knob was not frequently used.
"The binding," says Ken Colonel, director of mechanical engineering at Datamax, "was due to the fact that the knob is a part that is not in constant operation. The lubricated material we previously used would have worked fine had this been the case. Frequent use would have brought the internal lubricants to the surface and allowed for better performance."
For help, Datamax switched to Fulton 441D, a silicone lubricated acetal composite produced by LNP Engineering Plastics. Because of the silicone's limited compatibility with the base acetal material, it migrates to the surface of the tension adjustment knob. The result is a continuous generation of silicone film, which serves as a boundary or lubricant.
For more information:
LNP Engineering Plastics
Exton, PA
Phone: (610) 363-4500;
Fax: (610) 363-4749
Web: www.lnp.com
Encapsulated solenoids endure with PET
Solenoids manufactured by Caterpillar Inc. are designed to operate hydraulic valves on heavy-duty equipment used in construction, mining, and agriculture. The key to the solenoid's durability is the encapsulation, which blocks moisture and insulates the unit from sudden temperature changes.
Previously overmolded with a thermoset or other thermoplastic, the solenoid is now encapsulated with 30 percent glass-filled Rynite PET from DuPont. More durable than previous designs, the encapsulated product meets Caterpillar's standards for resistance to heat, thermal shock, vibration, moisture penetration, fuel, and lubricants. The company rates solenoids for service at ambient temperatures from -40F to 250F. The PET is also used to mold a coil bobbin that is part of the assembly.
John Hoffman, an engineer for Caterpillar, says the new design and the switch to Rynite PET makes the new units less expensive to produce than the ones they replace. Also, the addition of an integrated electrical receptacle into the encapsulation shell saves the cost of an additional part. The solenoids are installed on bulldozers, wheel loaders, motor graders, agricultural tractors, and off-highway mining trucks.
For more information:
DuPont Engineering Polymers
Wilmington, DE
Phone: (800) 441-0575
Fax: (302) 999-2311
Web: www.dupont.com/enggpolymers
TPE rubber used in electrica plugs, connectors
Electrical products maker Leviton Mfg. in Little Neck, NY makes this watertight locking plug and connector assembly for indoor and outdoor industrial electrical applications. Called the Wetguard, the unit is used to connect two flexible cords in order to supply power to electrical appliances, tools, and machines in a safe and simple installation procedure. The guard shields the connection from threatening environmental elements, providing protection from moisture and dust.
Leviton molds the Wetguard with a Capron nylon 6 from AlliedSignal Plastics and overmolds it with a Santoprene thermoplastic elastomer from Advanced Elastomer Systems. Santoprene not only gives a tactile feel, it also provides resistance to harsh environments, insulation, and good part uniformity and sealability. Levitron specified nylon-bondable grades of Santoprene because they chemically bond well with Capron, thus eliminating any possibility for leakage in the area where the two parts meet. The combination also reportedly resists crushing, impact, and abrasion.
The plugs and connectors, which are available in 15A, 20A, and 30A Nema ratings, feature a tongue-and-groove design, meaning when the male and female parts of the plug and connector are put together, it seals itself. It also has a locking indicator that gives the user visual confirmation that a seal has been obtained.
The Wetguard enclosure consists of two parts that are insert injection molded on a 150-ton press in a two-cavity mold. Previously, enclosures for the 15A devices were designed as a two-part assembly, which, according to Leviton, was a slow operation that often provided an unsatisfactory seal.
For more information:
Advanced Elastomer Systems
Akron, OH
Phone: (330) 849-5000
Fax: (330) 849-5599
Web: www.aestpe.com
AlliedSignal Plastics
Morristown, NJ
Phone: (201) 455-5010
Fax: (201) 455-3506
Web: www.asresin.com
Multimeter features one-shot overmolding of TPU resin
Tektronix Inc. wanted to Strengthen the durability of its TX-DMM family of true RMS digital multimeters, and ease the manufacturing process at the same time. Handheld DMMs are the most common of all electrical and electronic test instruments. Tektronix used film insert molding to Strengthen the bezel and display window of the DMM but the back cover presented some design molding challenges.
The back cover, which is injection molded with Bayer's Bayblend FR110 PC/ABS resin, requires three additional parts molded with an elastomer resin: a water-resistant gasket that seals the DMM's electronics from moisture, dust and other elements; a mechanical connection that holds a metal electromagnetic interference shield inside the back cover; and four no-skid pads on the outside of the back cover. Poly-Cast (Tigard, OR), which molds the front and back covers, wanted the three parts to be molded from the same material in just one shot. It chose Bayer's Desmopan KU2-8651 TPU resin, with a 75 Shore A hardness, because it offers good flexibility, resilience, and compression-set properties.
After the Bayblend PC/ABS back covers are molded, Poly-Cast inserts them and an EMI shield into the press. The Desmopan resin is shot onto the back cover through two gates. The resin flows around the lip of the back cover to form a watertight gasket. It then continues through an opening on each side of the part's interior and flows into separate lines over the EMI shield. Finally, the resin flows through openings in the EMI shield and back cover to form four capsule-shaped feet on the outside diameter of the DMM's back cover.
According to Steve Lyford, mechanical engineer for Tektronix, it was less expensive to overmold the parts using this process than to perform a secondary operation by hand. Tektronix had previously used a custom-made gasket, but preferred the overmolding operation even though the mold was tougher to build because the resin has to run a long flow path. The complex mold was built by Bestco of Hillsboro, OR.
For more information:
Bayer Corp., Polymers Div.
Pittsburgh, PA
Phone: (800) 622-6004
Fax: (412) 777-5585
Web: www.bayer.com/polymers-usa
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Date: Tuesday, June 1st at 10am PDT / 1pm EDT
Many organizations selected Microsoft Teams as their collaboration tool of choice during the pandemic. However, more than 85% of Microsoft Teams users, with the telephony capability enabled, use direct routing through third-parties rather than Microsoft’s own Calling Plans.
There are many benefits to having a third party direct routing solution including cost savings and more advanced functionality. However, not all direct routing solutions offer the same core PBX capabilities, business app integrations, global coverage or uptime SLAs.
Join us for this informative webinar to understand the critical nature and impact of selecting the right telephony partner for your Microsoft Teams direct routing deployment.
Topics covered will include:
Register now!
About the presenter:
Amir Hameed VP, Global Solutions Engineering, RingCentralAmir Hameed is a professional engineer with over 25 years of UC/CC domain expertise in presales leadership roles in companies including Avaya, Sonus, Nortel Networks and 8x8. As the current Vice President of Global Solutions Engineering at RingCentral, Amir and his organization work with partners and prospects to support the digital transformation strategies of customers worldwide as they migrate their business communications to the Cloud. Amir resides in Toronto Canada.
Jeff Penn, IT Services, Team Lead, Abrigo
An information technology industry veteran since 2009, Jeff Penn serves as Abrigo's Team Lead of IT services. Jeff has been with Abrigo since 2018, and in this role he coaches and trains new IT Service Specialists, helping to mold them to become leaders in the tech field, ensuring that security is top priority for their colleagues and Abrigo's clients. Jeff and his team work to provide white glove service to all employees while collaborating with outside vendors to deliver the best applications and technical resources for Abrigo to get things done. Prior to Abrigo, Jeff worked for the Duke University Fuqua School of Business for 9 years leading the technical support initiative of cross-continental Executive MBA programs, traveling to India, China, Chile, and Germany
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