Zarlink
Encyclopedia
Zarlink Semiconductor was a virtually fabless semiconductor company
specializing in the design and manufacture of communication and medical semiconductor integrated circuits, modules, and other devices. In 2011, Microsemi acquired Zarlink in a hostile takeover and merged it it into its own operations. Zarlink's existence as an independent entity ended then.
In its last years as an independent entity, the company's core capabilities were in network timing, voice enhancement and ultra low-power wireless communication. Its head offices were located in Ottawa
, Canada. Zarlink sold products to 3,000 customers in more than 100 countries. In 2011, it had approximately 500 employees world-wide, including in development centres in Canada and the U.S., and specialized fabrication facilities in Wales. Essentially all of its manufacturing was done off-shore through subcontracting partners.
Mitel's new semiconductor capability and its rapid development of CMOS chips enabled the company to enter the PBX (Private Branch Exchange) market. In 1979, the year AT&T began allowing its 23 Bell System companies to buy Mitel telecommunications equipment, the company introduced the device it was to become famous for - the SX200 PBX, a low-power, compact, microprocessor-controlled analog telephone switch for use by small companies, to an astonishing success. It allowed people within a company to make interior or exterior calls, and for incoming calls to be directed to the correct party, without having to go through telephone company wires. When U.S. regulators said that private companies had to be allowed to buy their own switching systems and plug them into existing telephone lines, the demand for PBXs exploded. Within three years, Mitel's PBX products, for companies with 10-160 lines, were the hottest-selling telephone systems in the United States, taking 14 percent of the fast growing PBX market. The company grew exponentially at a rate of over 100% per year for several years. Mitel reached the $100 million dollar annual revenue mark by 1981, at which time it employed more than 6,400 employees in over 56 locations around the world. Mitel enjoyed a decade of steady growth and richly compensated its shareholders.
In 1976, the company expanded further into the semiconductor field with the acquisition of Siltex an ISO-CMOS foundry in Bromont Québec for CDN $56 million. This evolved into a semiconductor division that specialized in mixed signal and thick film hybrid devices. In 1992 Mitel began to execute a strategic decision to aggressively build a merchant semiconductor business. In 1992, its semiconductor division had revenue of about CDN $40 million; 8 years later, the division's revenues reached CDN $600 million. By 2000 the semiconductor and PBX divisions had combined annual revenues of USD $1.4 billion.
In 1996 Mitel purchased ABB Hafo in Sweden, a manufacturer of optoelectronic semiconductor components and mixed-signal ASICs (Applications Specific Integrated Circuits) for medical applications, for example pacemaker circuits.
In 1998 it acquired GEC-Plessey Semiconductor in the UK from the General Electric Company plc for US $225 million in cash, through which it gained significant wireless technology and communications ASIC and systems integration expertise, including a leading position in RF (Radio Frequency) technology. The combined semiconductor businesses at the time ranked Mitel among the top
The semiconductor division was renamed Zarlink to reflect its interest in networking. It derives either from the Latin word "Caesar" or Russian word "Tsar" meaning "one having great power or authority" and the word "link" which means "to connect or be connected". With the sale Zarlink became a pure play semiconductor company focused on specialized markets. Over time it shed virtually all of its fabrication plants and other manufacturing facilities and outsourced the bulk of its production.
In 2002 Zarlink sold its foundry in Bromont, Quebec
, Canada to Dalsa Corporation
, and its wafer fabrication facility in Plymouth, UK to X-FAB Semiconductor Foundries AG.
In 2005 it announced the sale of its RF Front-End consumer business to Intel and in 2006 the sale of its Packet Switching product group to Conexant Systems.
In February 2008 it sold an unprofitable analog foundry in the United Kingdom.
In May 2010 it sold its Optical Products Group in Sweden and Phoenix and set its focus on its timing, synchronization, medical and line circuit businesses.
In September 2010 it sold a campus located in Jarfalla, Sweden for USD$16M to a company affiliated with the Stendorren group in Stockholm.
In 1996 it introduced the industry's first echo cancellation chip.
In 2002 it unveiled the industry's first high-density CESoP (Circuit Emulation Services-over-Packet) packet processor to allow service providers to carry TDM traffic over IP networks.
In 2003 it significantly expanded its timing portfolio to offer a comprehensive range of digital, analog and module synchronization products.
In 2004 Given Imaging selected Zarlink's ultra low-power RF transmitter chip for use in the world's first swallowable camera capsule. Zarlink's RF chip transmits two movie-quality images per second from the capsule, allowing a more thorough and non-invasive examination of the gastrointestinal tract. In 2009 the company announced that it had shipped over one million RF chips for use in Given Imaging's PillCam SB video capsules.
In 2005 Zarlink launched the industry's first ultra low-power transceiver chip for wireless communication systems designed exclusively to operate in the Medical Implantable Communication Service (MICS) band, used to link implanted medical devices and base stations. In 2008 the chip won an EE Times Product of the Year award. In the same year the company announced that it had already shipped over 30,000 modules incorporating the chip to St. Jude Medical for use in implanted defibrillators. The chip and module is being designed into a variety of medical implantable devices and external instruments such as pacemakers, defibrillators, and devices used to treat dystonia, acute pain, parkinsons, epilepsy, and other advanced monitoring, diagnostic and therapeutic applications.
Zarlink recently announced a Zarlink-led Self-Energizing Implantable Medical Microsystem (SIMM) project which successfully designed and tested an in-body microgenerator that will harvest energy from the heartbeat to power implanted medical devices. In 2009 the project was named winner of the Emerging Technology Award at the Institution of Engineering and Technology's (IET) Innovation Awards in London, England.
In June 2007 Zarlink acquired Legerity, a privately-held former division of AMD, headquartered in Austin, Texas for US$134.5 million in cash. Legerity is a leading supplier of analog voice technologies for carrier, enterprise and residential gateway equipment.
Fabless semiconductor company
A fabless semiconductor company specializes in the design and sale of hardware devices and semiconductor chips while outsourcing the fabrication or "fab" of the devices to a specialized manufacturer called a semiconductor foundry...
specializing in the design and manufacture of communication and medical semiconductor integrated circuits, modules, and other devices. In 2011, Microsemi acquired Zarlink in a hostile takeover and merged it it into its own operations. Zarlink's existence as an independent entity ended then.
In its last years as an independent entity, the company's core capabilities were in network timing, voice enhancement and ultra low-power wireless communication. Its head offices were located in Ottawa
Ottawa
Ottawa is the capital of Canada, the second largest city in the Province of Ontario, and the fourth largest city in the country. The city is located on the south bank of the Ottawa River in the eastern portion of Southern Ontario...
, Canada. Zarlink sold products to 3,000 customers in more than 100 countries. In 2011, it had approximately 500 employees world-wide, including in development centres in Canada and the U.S., and specialized fabrication facilities in Wales. Essentially all of its manufacturing was done off-shore through subcontracting partners.
History
It traces its history through Mitel Corporation which was founded by Terry Matthews and Michael Cowpland in 1973 (officially on June 8, 1973). Conventionally, Mitel's name was regarded as a combination of the founders’ first names and their first product - MIke and TErry's Lawnmowers. Their first shipment of lawnmowers was lost in shipping so they quickly adjusted to create a telephony tone receiver product (a tone-to-pulse converter for central office use) based on Cowpland's Ph.D. thesis. Following the great success of the tone receiver, the founders extended their interest in the telecommunications industry. They combined their tone receiver with LSI chip technology to produce a tone-to-pulse converter that made touch telephones compatible with any telephone system. The product allowed the telephone companies' existing electro-mechanical switches to operate with new touchtone phones, significantly extending the life of older CO (Central Office) equipment. Mitel also developed and patented an Isolated Oxide Silicon Gate (ISO) CMOS (Complementary Metal Oxide Semiconductor) manufacturing process that was unequalled in producing ICs that combine high-speed transmission with low-power consumption.Mitel's new semiconductor capability and its rapid development of CMOS chips enabled the company to enter the PBX (Private Branch Exchange) market. In 1979, the year AT&T began allowing its 23 Bell System companies to buy Mitel telecommunications equipment, the company introduced the device it was to become famous for - the SX200 PBX, a low-power, compact, microprocessor-controlled analog telephone switch for use by small companies, to an astonishing success. It allowed people within a company to make interior or exterior calls, and for incoming calls to be directed to the correct party, without having to go through telephone company wires. When U.S. regulators said that private companies had to be allowed to buy their own switching systems and plug them into existing telephone lines, the demand for PBXs exploded. Within three years, Mitel's PBX products, for companies with 10-160 lines, were the hottest-selling telephone systems in the United States, taking 14 percent of the fast growing PBX market. The company grew exponentially at a rate of over 100% per year for several years. Mitel reached the $100 million dollar annual revenue mark by 1981, at which time it employed more than 6,400 employees in over 56 locations around the world. Mitel enjoyed a decade of steady growth and richly compensated its shareholders.
In 1976, the company expanded further into the semiconductor field with the acquisition of Siltex an ISO-CMOS foundry in Bromont Québec for CDN $56 million. This evolved into a semiconductor division that specialized in mixed signal and thick film hybrid devices. In 1992 Mitel began to execute a strategic decision to aggressively build a merchant semiconductor business. In 1992, its semiconductor division had revenue of about CDN $40 million; 8 years later, the division's revenues reached CDN $600 million. By 2000 the semiconductor and PBX divisions had combined annual revenues of USD $1.4 billion.
In 1996 Mitel purchased ABB Hafo in Sweden, a manufacturer of optoelectronic semiconductor components and mixed-signal ASICs (Applications Specific Integrated Circuits) for medical applications, for example pacemaker circuits.
In 1998 it acquired GEC-Plessey Semiconductor in the UK from the General Electric Company plc for US $225 million in cash, through which it gained significant wireless technology and communications ASIC and systems integration expertise, including a leading position in RF (Radio Frequency) technology. The combined semiconductor businesses at the time ranked Mitel among the top
Divestitures
In 2001, Mitel took a strategic decision to sell its PBX division back to Terry Matthews along with the Mitel name for CDN $300 millionThe semiconductor division was renamed Zarlink to reflect its interest in networking. It derives either from the Latin word "Caesar" or Russian word "Tsar" meaning "one having great power or authority" and the word "link" which means "to connect or be connected". With the sale Zarlink became a pure play semiconductor company focused on specialized markets. Over time it shed virtually all of its fabrication plants and other manufacturing facilities and outsourced the bulk of its production.
In 2002 Zarlink sold its foundry in Bromont, Quebec
Bromont, Quebec
Bromont is a city in southwestern Quebec in Canada, 75 kilometres east of Montreal on Autoroute 10, bordering the Eastern Townships at the base of Mount Brome . The population as of the Canada 2006 Census was 6,049....
, Canada to Dalsa Corporation
Dalsa
Teledyne DALSA is a Canadian company specializing in the design and manufacture of specialized electronic cameras.The company was founded in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada in 1980 by imaging pioneer Dr. Savvas Chamberlain, a former Professor in Electrical Engineering at the University of Waterloo...
, and its wafer fabrication facility in Plymouth, UK to X-FAB Semiconductor Foundries AG.
In 2005 it announced the sale of its RF Front-End consumer business to Intel and in 2006 the sale of its Packet Switching product group to Conexant Systems.
In February 2008 it sold an unprofitable analog foundry in the United Kingdom.
In May 2010 it sold its Optical Products Group in Sweden and Phoenix and set its focus on its timing, synchronization, medical and line circuit businesses.
In September 2010 it sold a campus located in Jarfalla, Sweden for USD$16M to a company affiliated with the Stendorren group in Stockholm.
Expansion
In 1982 the company developed the industry's first T1/E1 framer chip.In 1996 it introduced the industry's first echo cancellation chip.
In 2002 it unveiled the industry's first high-density CESoP (Circuit Emulation Services-over-Packet) packet processor to allow service providers to carry TDM traffic over IP networks.
In 2003 it significantly expanded its timing portfolio to offer a comprehensive range of digital, analog and module synchronization products.
In 2004 Given Imaging selected Zarlink's ultra low-power RF transmitter chip for use in the world's first swallowable camera capsule. Zarlink's RF chip transmits two movie-quality images per second from the capsule, allowing a more thorough and non-invasive examination of the gastrointestinal tract. In 2009 the company announced that it had shipped over one million RF chips for use in Given Imaging's PillCam SB video capsules.
In 2005 Zarlink launched the industry's first ultra low-power transceiver chip for wireless communication systems designed exclusively to operate in the Medical Implantable Communication Service (MICS) band, used to link implanted medical devices and base stations. In 2008 the chip won an EE Times Product of the Year award. In the same year the company announced that it had already shipped over 30,000 modules incorporating the chip to St. Jude Medical for use in implanted defibrillators. The chip and module is being designed into a variety of medical implantable devices and external instruments such as pacemakers, defibrillators, and devices used to treat dystonia, acute pain, parkinsons, epilepsy, and other advanced monitoring, diagnostic and therapeutic applications.
Zarlink recently announced a Zarlink-led Self-Energizing Implantable Medical Microsystem (SIMM) project which successfully designed and tested an in-body microgenerator that will harvest energy from the heartbeat to power implanted medical devices. In 2009 the project was named winner of the Emerging Technology Award at the Institution of Engineering and Technology's (IET) Innovation Awards in London, England.
In June 2007 Zarlink acquired Legerity, a privately-held former division of AMD, headquartered in Austin, Texas for US$134.5 million in cash. Legerity is a leading supplier of analog voice technologies for carrier, enterprise and residential gateway equipment.