Well before they founded their company, engineers Dr. Lothar Rohde and Dr. Hermann Schwarz developed their very first measuring instrument for Hermsdorf-Schomburg-Isolatoren-Gesellschaft (Hescho). The two men had heard of new ceramic materials that exhibited very low dielectric losses in the high frequency range. According to Hescho, various German and foreign institutes had measured differing dissipation factors, however. Right away, Rohde and Schwarz developed a test setup that quickly delivered extremely accurate measurement results: an interference wavemeter with a large wavelength range (6 m to 3600 m). It was the first measuring instrument for ceramic high frequency components.
It all began in a 120 square meter apartment. In the summer of 1933, Dr. Lothar Rohde and Dr. Hermann Schwarz rented an apartment located at Thierschstraße 36 in Munich, where they set up an electrotechnical laboratory. On November 17, "Physikalisch-Technisches Entwicklungslabor Dr. L. Rohde und Dr. H. Schwarz" (PTE) was registered at the Registration Court in Munich. Initially, the two founders' plan was to develop measuring instruments exclusively on behalf of large electronics companies. There were no plans to have their own production operations. The step toward mass production was taken only when demand for instruments began to grow.
The fledgling company had become well-known through publications in trade journals. The articles were published mainly in German, which was the international language of physics at the time. Just six months after the company was founded, and without any advertising or network of representatives, a company in England awarded Rohde & Schwarz its first export contract. A British manufacturer of insulating materials ordered a dissipation factor meter (50 MHz to 200 MHz) to measure the dielectric losses of ceramic disks up to 100 MHz. That same year, a workshop was rented in addition to the existing laboratory, doubling the amount of workspace.
In 1935, the Spanish company REMA Leo Haag S.A. took on sales for equipment made by "Physikalisch-Technisches Entwicklungslabor Dr. L. Rohde und Dr. H. Schwarz" (PTE). The first project was the sale of the WIP interference wavemeter to the Dirección General de Correos y Telecomunicaciones (Directorate General of Posts and Telecommunications), making REMA the oldest Rohde & Schwarz representative outside of Germany.
In August 1937, just three years after its founding, the company moved into a former bread factory located at Tassiloplatz near the Munich East train station. By this time, the company had 35 employees and a product line encompassing 24 different devices. The purchase of the new company building was a bold undertaking for the company, since the price of the building was about twice the value of the assets reported on the previous year's balance sheet. A good investment: at first, there was plenty of space. Soon thereafter, however, new space had to be rented to make room for the additional staff needed to meet the constantly growing demand.
The crystal clocks available at the time were massive and expensive. Thanks to the development of the first portable crystal clock (36 kg), Rohde & Schwarz became famous well beyond Germany's borders. The standard frequency generator had an accuracy of ±0.004 seconds per day, was portable and relatively inexpensive. The device was developed as a precision time and frequency standard for a wide range of applications including an astronomic clock, marine clock, master clock for factories and power plants, and as a synchronization aid in test shops, in laboratories and for calibrating carrier frequencies.
The threat of air raids led to the company founders' decision to move production operations to western Bavaria in December 1941. Messgerätebau GmbH (today, Rohde & Schwarz Messgerätebau) was founded, and the expensive machine tools were in a safe location. In 1943, production started in Kempten. In 1944, operations were moved to Memmingen, where the subsidiary is still located today. In 1960, production capacities were further expanded with the purchase of the Kosmos cigarette factory grounds.
As demand grew, Rohde & Schwarz became increasingly renowned. The company received the order for the production of radio observation receivers. Because the scope of the order exceeded several 1000 units, it was clear that the company would have to be restructured. The step had been taken to move from small batch production to industrial-scale production.
End of the war. Nearly all industrial production in Germany lay idle. The Rohde & Schwarz sites in Munich and Memmingen were also temporarily closed by US troops. However, production was resumed in July 1945: the Americans had set up a central depot for the US Air Force in the city of Erding near Munich. Rohde & Schwarz was the only electronics company in Munich and therefore received the contract for the maintenance and service of all equipment in the depot. A separate department located on Trausnitzstraße near the Munich East train station was set up for this purpose, ensuring the continued existence of the company.
The original name was long: Physikalisch-Technisches Entwicklungslabor Dr. L. Rohde & Dr. H. Schwarz (PTE). Rohde & Schwarz had carried this name since its founding in 1933. In 1937, when the company moved to Tassiloplatz near the Munich East train station, the name was shortened to just "Rohde & Schwarz" in the lettering on the building. However, PTE remained the official company name until it was changed in 1940 to Rohde & Schwarz Physikalisch-Technisches Entwicklungslabor. In the years to come, the extra part of the name was omitted, and in 1945 the company was simply referred to as Rohde & Schwarz just as it is today.
PTE (later Rohde & Schwarz) had already opened an office in Berlin in 1938 for its contacts with government agencies. To intensify relations with the government offices located there as well as allied forces, Rohde & Schwarz founded R&S Vertriebs GmbH in Berlin for the purposes of making sales more professional and independent. In 1949, the product portfolio of the company already encompassed 65 basic types of devices, including various models, associated equipment and accessories.
Rohde & Schwarz recognized early on how necessary internationalization would become as more and more requests were being received from abroad during the post-war era. To establish relationships with customers all over the world and improve its success in the exports sector, a global network of independent sales representatives was developed. Initial focus was on Europe: 1947 Italy, 1948 Switzerland, 1949 Netherlands and 1952 France. The first representative outside of Europe was Toshniwal Bros. Limited in India in 1950, which was then followed by South Africa (1958), the USA (1959), Peru (1965) and finally Japan and Korea (1972).
In 1948, Rohde & Schwarz had around 500 employees who generated DM 2.5 million in turnover. By comparison: a VW Bug cost around DM 5000 at the time, and an employee earned approx. DM 3000 per year. In the years to follow, the company introduced the five-day week and a company pension scheme. Rohde & Schwarz was known to be a socially responsible employer. Although there was no law requiring motorcyclists to wear helmets at the time, the company offered discounted motorcycle helmets to provide for the safety of its staff. The resultant high degree of employee loyalty and motivation contributed to the ongoing success of the company: up until 1958, turnover was growing at a level of 40 to 50 percent annually.
On January 18, 1949, Rohde & Schwarz received an order from Radio Munich (the predecessor to the Bavarian Broadcasting Corporation) to build and test a frequency-modulated VHF sound broadcast transmitter. Barely one and a half months later, Rohde & Schwarz presented a powerful VHF transmitter system, which was put into operation on February 28, 1949, at 4:30 p.m. This gave Rohde & Schwarz a special place in the spotlight because the actual agreement had been to launch the system simultaneously with the VHF transmitter of Northwest German Broadcasting (NWDR) on March 1. Rohde & Schwarz took credit for commissioning Europe's very first VHF FM transmitter.
In 1950, Rohde & Schwarz developed the Zg diagraph, the first complex network analyzer. For the first time, it was now possible to directly measure the phase of the S-parameters of a signal. The Zg diagraph was mainly used for measurements performed on sound and TV broadcast antennas. However, it was also used for testing special cables in communications engineering applications. For microwave engineers, it served as a Smith chart. The ZDU Zg diagraph (30 MHz to 300 MHz), which was introduced in the early 1950s, was followed by the ZDD (300 MHz to 2400 MHz). No featherweight by today's standards: the ZDD weighed 62 kg.
In 1954, Rohde & Schwarz hit the magic mark of 1000 employees – a positive trend that continued quite rapidly. Just six years later, the number of staff had doubled, and in 1969, there were 3000 creative minds working for the Munich-based electronics group.
The first direction finder from Rohde & Schwarz was the NAP1, which was used to supplement radar location in air traffic control because radar alone could not clearly identify a flying object. In addition, the direction finder made it possible to analyze collected data in radiomonitoring and air traffic control, for example, during air emergencies, for ground control of sports aircraft or during radar failures, etc. The system of Germany's Federal Administration of Air Navigation Services, which tested the NAP1 in 1955 at the Munich airport, was described as a visual direction finder because the target object was shown as a line of light on the screen. It was the first development of its kind in Germany during the post-war period.
A company gets a new home: in 1956, a new building was constructed on the grounds on Trausnitzstraße/Mühldorfstraße to house the facilities for communications engineering and broadcasting. This was the starting signal for moving the headquarters and other departments from Tassiloplatz to the new location on Mühldorfstraße. The company's main building was built here in 1960/61, expanding the amount of usable workspace by a good 10,000 square meters or 50 % of the space available previously. The new building housed management, central engineering, production facilities, test shops, administration and the various product divisions.
With a relatively high retail price, rather bulky design and a weight between 53 kg and 66 kg, the shortwave receiver was not exactly destined for the catwalk. Aside from that, however, the EK07 was the star of shortwave technology at the time. The German Armed Forces opted for the EK07 when they needed a standard receiver for the HF range. Excellent receive characteristics, high frequency accuracy and a user-friendly concept were impressive. And the EK07 was rugged too. Deutsche Welle, West Germany's foreign broadcaster, used the receiver in a relay station in Kigali, Rwanda. The EK07 also worked without any problems during a Belgian-Dutch expedition to the South Pole in 1964.
Distribution of Rohde & Schwarz equipment continued to increase over the years. For large systems, Rohde & Schwarz offered on-site service; apart from that, it was possible to send equipment to Munich or Memmingen. In the long term, however, this concept was unable to meet customers' demand for fast and efficient service. The founding of the Cologne Service Center was the first step in the systematic expansion of the service network. Eventually, Cologne not only took over maintenance for Rohde & Schwarz equipment, but for other brands as well. By the end of the 1960s, the company had constructed its own building, which currently accommodates 250 employees.
Air traffic noise monitoring systems are used to dependably measure noise at airports and prevent excessive annoyance. In 1964, Rohde & Schwarz developed this type of acoustic electronic air traffic noise monitoring system for the Frankfurt airport. It was the first of its kind in West Germany. Comparable systems had only been in operation for about two years at the London-Heathrow and New York Kennedy airports.
At the end of the 1950s, the first integrated circuits (IC) were being developed in the United States, with serial production beginning in 1960. The invention of ICs ushered in the era of microelectronics – a challenge for the field of test and measurement because ICs require special measurement methods. The ICMA from Rohde & Schwarz was an IC test system that enabled the automatic testing of semiconductors and integrated circuits. The BMA tested up to 20 parameters of about 1200 semiconductors per hour with the output of a "Yes/No" statement. Until this point in time, semiconductors and printed circuits required cumbersome manual testing. As part of a project for the Tornado fighter jet project, Rohde & Schwarz was commissioned to develop an automatic test system (ATS).
In order to manage the growing order volume, the production of mechanical parts was started inside a leased building shell in Teisnach in November 1969. In 1970, the first production hall, which measured 6000 square meters, was completed and ready for production, and the training of skilled workers began. Over the years, more and more new buildings and other additions were constructed. Today, there is 65,000 m² of production floor space. Teisnach is also more than just a site for mechanical prefabrication. Complete systems such as TV transmitters are produced there as well. The plant makes products for Rohde & Schwarz and for other big-name high-tech companies.
Before 1971, Rohde & Schwarz had successfully developed equipment in line with the specific requirements of Germany's government agencies. The products were purchased in large volumes at the time. Because they were customized to meet very special requirements, they were not very well-suited for the international market. In 1970, Rohde & Schwarz therefore began pursuing the strategy of developing equipment according to its own standards and offering these products to customers. As a result, they were no longer in full compliance with specific customer requirements. However, they could be exported – and they were 30 percent less expensive.
All-in-one: In 1974, Rohde & Schwarz presented the SMPU, the world's first microprocessor-controlled radio tester. It combined the functions of various test instruments and was used in the production of transceivers and assemblies. The SMPU could be automated in steps and offered the ability to integrate the latest computerized controls. Measurement and test times in production had always been a major cost factor, which the SMPU now reduced considerably. In combination with the Tektronix 4051 desktop computer, the SMPU was the only fully automatic measurement monitoring system for the Tornado.
In 1980, a strategic decision was made concerning the company's international presence. In the past, representatives had provided support services to customers all over the globe. The new perspective was that it would be better to develop a network of company-owned subsidiaries. These were founded gradually, with the focus on Europe during the first phase. This decision was accompanied by the establishment and expansion of an international service network. Rohde & Schwarz had always known that a powerful sales and service strategy required equally powerful development. Large investments in R&D ensured that the desired level of growth would be achieved.
When it is also possible for a layman to understand technology, developers have done a good job. This was true for the intelligent ALIS GP 853 communications processor used in the HF 850 transceiver family. The processor made HF radio much easier to handle and more accessible for untrained users as well. This was because the automatic link setup (ALIS) procedure automatically established the links and provided secure, error-free information transfer. The transceivers with ALIS enjoyed international success, particularly in the USA. In 1994, Rohde & Schwarz put the then largest civilian HF communications network into operation in Mexico. Showpieces included the Neumayer Station in Antarctica and the Polarstern research ship.
Silicon Valley: a paradise for bits and bytes. In 1980, Rohde & Schwarz opened an office here to keep up with the state of the art in semiconductor technology, making it possible to use the latest semiconductors for circuits while at the same time giving publicity to the company's own technological advancements – a key step for gaining a foothold in the American market. The office was closed once a strategic alliance was formed with Tektronix in 1993 for sales in America.
Radio engineering – in particular, radios, signal generators and measuring receivers – had always been home territory for Rohde & Schwarz. In 1986, the product line was expanded to include a spectrum analyzer, the FSA. Although there were already several competitors marketing these kinds of instruments, Rohde & Schwarz was still able to quickly assert itself in this new segment. Today, the company has an exceptionally broad product range in the area of spectrum analysis and offers the right instruments for all requirements.
Faster, better, more. In production, this is what matters. To continue developing the Memmingen production site for its customers, Rohde & Schwarz opened its Factory of the Future there in 1988. The goal was to considerably reduce turnaround times and to minimize logistical effort, translating into reduced costs as well. A computerized production process was introduced and optimized for a just-in-time production model. Another central element was the automatic material flow system.
Rohde & Schwarz statistics in 1990: 5000 employees; offices and subsidiaries in over 70 countries; DM 800 million (approx. EUR 400 million) in annual net revenue. A new 19,000 square meter development center for 500 employees was completed, laying the groundwork for a strong in?house R&D tradition at Rohde & Schwarz
In the 1980s, wireless devices were a status symbol for a limited few and mostly seen in the form of car phones used by business travelers. They were bulky, heavy and analog. An international industrial consortium, the Groupe Spécial Mobile (GSM), wanted to change this and developed a digital system. Before its introduction, however, setups for testing the interaction between components were necessary along with the technical features to ensure they functioned in real-life situations. Rohde & Schwarz ventured into unknown territory and was commissioned by the consortium to develop the GSM system simulator, which behaved toward a wireless communications device like a mobile network. Using the simulator, the system specifications were fine-tuned, and all wireless devices in the years to come had to pass the GSM compliance test on the simulator in order to receive approval for selling. The test and measurement equipment developed by Rohde & Schwarz for mobile radio became the most successful segment for the company.
Technological progress was going full speed ahead and innovation cycles were growing ever shorter. That was the electronics industry in the late 1980s. Rohde & Schwarz had to reduce its product development times to keep pace with international competitors. To achieve its ambitious goal of half time to market (HTM), Rohde & Schwarz pursued the "simultaneous engineering" approach. Development, production and procurement processes were arranged in parallel to each other to cut lost time to a minimum.
In 1992, the Munich, Memmingen and Teisnach plants were certified in line with ISO 9001 to demonstrate the compliance of the Rohde & Schwarz quality assurance system with international standards.
The period of transition ushered in by the 1990s had an impact on Rohde & Schwarz as well. The EU single market was created, and the Warsaw Pact disintegrated. Direct targeting of promising markets was crucial to ensuring continued success in the capital goods industry. The primary focus had been on Europe during the first internationalization phase in 1980, but now the non-European countries became the focal point. Rohde & Schwarz International GmbH was created to better support Asia/Pacific, Middle East/Africa and Latin and North America. Over 50 offices and subsidiaries were established between 1993 and 2008. Today, Rohde & Schwarz is present in more than 70 countries.
Digital audio broadcasting (DAB) emerged in 1993 as a new, digital terrestrial broadcasting system. As a member of the EUREKA 147 DAB project, Rohde & Schwarz played a central role in the first field test. The company developed a DAB transmitter and a field strength measuring receiver with modifications for DAB. Following the pilot project's successful completion, it was time to manufacture all of the equipment required for regular operation: from the studio output, satellite feed and transmitter to the transmitting antenna. In late 1995, the Bavarian Broadcasting Corporation started operation of the world‘s largest DAB network at the time, fully equipped by Rohde & Schwarz.
One billion is a magical mark. Rohde & Schwarz reached this level for the first time in fiscal year 1996/1997, when it made DM 1 billion in revenue. In 1998, the company had 4400 employees and an export share of over 70 percent. In 2015, the company meanwhile has nearly 10,000 employees and generated nearly EUR 2 billion in turnover; the export ratio exceeds 90 %.
Secure communications are indispensable for government authorities and rescue services. This is precisely the goal of TETRA – a standard for digital terrestrial trunked radio. Rohde & Schwarz carried out Germany's first TETRA project in 1998, and the German Armed Forces have been using the ACCESSNET-T voice and data communications system ever since. It offers 42 TETRA RF carriers at seven locations as well as terminals for 2500 subscribers. Rohde & Schwarz Bick Mobilfunk GmbH handled the order. Rohde & Schwarz had become a majority shareholder of Neuwirth & Bick GmbH in Bad Münder in 1988. The company started to operate under the name Rohde & Schwarz Bick Mobilfunk GmbH in 1992.
Just about twenty years ago, the now ubiquitous digital TV was still in its infancy. Rohde & Schwarz won the bid for the first nationwide DVB?T project in late 1997. Castle Transmission International (CTI) of the United Kingdom ordered DVB-T transmitter systems with output power between 500 W and 5 kW. The United Kingdom's digital network started operation on November 1, 1998, and was the largest DVB-T project in the world at the time. The network initially provided digital TV to approximately 60 percent of the country's population.
Digital mobile communications in civilian applications were just in its infancy when Rohde & Schwarz started working on a new generation of military transceivers. The goal was to develop the "software radio" that offered as many features as possible using software. Aside from flexibility, the advantage is that instead of many special models and complex logistics, only a few basic models that can be configured using software for every individual application are needed. The product name reflects this quality: M3 stands for "multiband, multimode, multirole". Rohde & Schwarz was the first manufacturer to systematically implement the software radio paradigm for military radio technology.
Rohde & Schwarz faced a welcome problem at the turn of the millennium: too many orders. The production plants in Memmingen and Teisnach were working to full capacity. That is why the company acquired the Tesla Prag a.s. plant in Vimperk in 2001. The plant had been producing for Rohde & Schwarz since 1991, and its 200 employees joined the Rohde & Schwarz family. The new production facility had 42,000 square meters of floor space, but expansions were required in 2003 and 2006. Today, Vimperk's 400 employees work in three shifts with key activities in metal working, cable production, board assembly, instrument assembly, inspection and testing.
Rohde & Schwarz SIT GmbH developed the TopSec GSM, a tap-proof mobile phone. A special encryption system was integrated directly into a GSM mobile phone, making it easy to place secure phone calls. The TopSec GSM was even recommended by the German Federal Office for Information Security. Since then, the next level of secure voice encryption has been reached. The new TopSec Mobile works with just about any mobile phone, as the voice encryption device connects with the phone wirelessly via Bluetooth®.
The ELCRODAT 6?2 crypto system, developed by Rohde & Schwarz SIT GmbH, was approved by the German Federal Office for Information Security for use up to the "top secret" classification level. It enables encrypted transmission of voice, data, ISDN fax and video conferences and is in high demand. All German security agencies, NATO and the European Union use the ELCRODAT 6?2 for communicating. This system employs a hybrid encryption technology comprising symmetric and asymmetric encryption.
Make room for creative minds – that was the objective when Rohde & Schwarz opened its new technology center at its Munich headquarters in 2005. EUR 35 million were invested in the building to send a clear signal for growth and innovation. The 16,000 square meter facility in Munich provided an optimal working environment for the company's employees. The investment was also a clear commitment to Germany in the company's most successful year at that time. Rohde & Schwarz broke the EUR 1 billion barrier in fiscal year 2005/2006.
Rohde & Schwarz became a leader in the mobile radio testing market thanks to its two generations of digital mobile radio communication testers. The R&S®CMW500 was the company's third to enter the race. And it would capture a gold medal. The highlight: only a single device platform for everything – for the protocol and RF development as well as for the non-signaling production test, at one and the same time for all mobile radio and wireless standards. The market eagerly embraced the concept. In the years to come, several thousand testers would be installed in mobile phone factories and always kept up to date. "Tested with Rohde & Schwarz technology" has been the standard for most mobile devices ever since.
The R&S®FSU67 pushed the boundaries of conventional test and measurement. Frequencies beyond 50 GHz previously required cumbersome test setups with external harmonics mixers. The R&S®FSU67 was the world's first spectrum analyzer with a continuous frequency range up to 67 GHz, which made the range between 50 GHz and 67 GHz available for spectrum analysis free of image response. The technical concept ensured clear signal mapping to avoid signal identification problems.
In October 2008, Rohde & Schwarz opened a new development office in Stuttgart-Weilimdorf for creating the next generation mobile radio equipment that will form the backbone of the German Armed Forces' future mobile communications system. This system requires broadband and highly secure voice and data connections, and that is where Rohde & Schwarz comes in. "We will take all of our expertise in software defined radios into the project," said Herbert Rewitzer, at the time Executive Vice President of the Radiocommunications Division. "To do this, we will continue expanding our capabilities and creating highly qualified jobs in Germany." The location in Stuttgart is a visible sign of this commitment.
Regulatory authorities, industry players and the armed forces often have to detect weak or short-duration signals. The R&S®PR100 from Rohde & Schwarz is the only portable receiver in the world that is tailored precisely to the requirements of mobile radiomonitoring. The broad frequency range (9 kHz to 7.5 GHz) of the R&S®PR100 opened diverse applications. The receiver can locate interference sources, but it also provides all of the functions required for communications intelligence and frequency monitoring. Though compact, the R&S®PR100 offers high sensitivity and scan speed (max. 2.0 GHz per second).
Oscilloscopes are the most familiar RF measuring instruments and the T&M segment with the greatest market volume. Nonetheless, for decades Rohde & Schwarz had left this product group to its competitors. To generate additional growth, it was time to let go of this restraint. And so the company pulled up to the starting line with two product families. The technology flagship was the R&S®RTO, an instrument for the high-performance segment. “Our focus here is on high speed and optimum signal fidelity – two hugely important factors in real-life applications,” explained Josef Wolf, at the time Director of the Oscilloscopes Subdivision. The R&S®RTO moved to the top of the field thanks to several features: no other device offered one million traces per second, and the first digital trigger system in a single oscilloscope offered ultra-precise reference values of the trigger event and measurement signal.
On May 11, 2011, Rohde & Schwarz acquired ipoque GmbH of Leipzig. ipoque is a leading provider of software solutions that effectively detect, monitor and optimize network applications. The company focuses on bandwidth management and network monitoring, especially for critical and hard-to-detect protocols. This includes voice over IP (VoIP), peer-to-peer (P2P) file sharing and media streaming. "In acquiring ipoque, we have found a partner whose innovative and globally leading core technology – deep packet inspection (DPI) – blends in excellently with the portfolio of a high-tech company such as Rohde & Schwarz," said Peter Riedel, at the time Head of the Radiomonitoring and Radiolocation Division and member of Corporate Management.
With DVS Digital Video Systems AG, Rohde & Schwarz integrated a top technology player into the group. DVS produces digital video systems and storage solutions for the film and TV industry. The company was the first supplier in the world whose workstations made it possible to process uncompressed digital film material in 4K resolution in realtime. "We are hopeful that valuable technology transfers will take place from studio to broadcast technology and benefit development," said Jürgen Nies. "On the other hand, we are highly interested in seeing DVS continuing to grow under its own power. Our worldwide sales network in over 70 countries will help improve the presence of DVS products on the global market."
Power consumption for large transmitter systems is in the double-digit kW range, and it is understandable that network operators want to reduce their energy costs as much as possible. The new liquid?cooled, high?power transmitters of the R&S®THU9 family are the most energy-efficient transmitters in the world – thanks to a new amplifier technology. Named after its inventor, Doherty, this technology is being used in a TV transmitter for the first time. While it has been around for several decades, it required special engineering ingenuity before it became ready for use in a wideband high-power transmitter.
"Big Data" means more than just storing massive volumes of data; it also requires being able to transfer them. Security to prevent tapping should not come at the expense of performance. The R&S®SITLine ETH40G took care of this with a throughput of 40 Gbit/s, making it the fastest Ethernet encryption device on the market. The device optimizes all performance-critical factors simultaneously: bandwidth, latency, quality of service, port density and power consumption. This new class of devices is especially well-suited for operators of and users in data centers, for use in backbone networks and site-coupling within companies. It offers protection in public and private networks, without compromising performance.
By acquiring Sirrix, Rohde & Schwarz gained new expertise in the growing market of IT security. The technically advanced solutions from Sirrix include user-friendly products for endpoint security and trusted infrastructure. The company's core competences lie in trusted IT security products developed through the latest scientific research. For Rohde & Schwarz, Sirrix is a positive addition to its portfolio in the cybersecurity segment. Peter Riedel, President and COO at Rohde & Schwarz, said: "Our company stands for excellence in technology. To meet this claim, we can extend our commitment to IT security in a highly promising way thanks to Sirrix and its innovative strength."
The trend toward higher and higher frequencies and bandwidths in communications technologies is also forcing T&M manufacturers into a cycle of rapid innovation. The R&S®FSW85 from Rohde & Schwarz is an example of what is currently possible in the area of signal analysis. No previously existing device has been able to cover the entire frequency range up to 85 GHz in a single sweep. A few years back, its 2 GHz analysis bandwidth was still considered utopian. The record-shattering specifications are not an end in themselves, but rather are an urgent market demand, since applications in the (automotive) radar, 5G mobile or WLAN ad require T&M equipment at the cutting edge of what is possible.