Global communications technology company Arris has announced a €4.5m R&D investment for high-value video products to serve the cable industry at its Irish operations in Cork.
Headquartered in the US, Arris develops and manufactures voice, video and high-speed data products for the global cable TV industry and employs 52 people at its R&D centre in the Cork Airport Business Park.
The Irish R&D team’s skills include full turnkey hardware development of RF products, embedded software, testing and integration, as well as contract manufacturing management.
This latest investment, supported by IDA Ireland, is expected to further endorse the Cork operation’s position as a centre of excellence for the development of video products within Arris.
It will be used to improve its D5 Universal edge-quadrature-amplitude-modulation (edgeQAM) product, along with the R&D required to increase its large-volume manufacturing capability and quality.
Universal edge-QAMs can provide bandwidth for multiple services, including switched digital video and video on demand (VOD), whereas traditional QAMs require channels to be dedicated exclusively to one service, like VOD.
“With the additional investment, we will develop solutions across a number of areas that will allow us to increase our production output significantly, reliably and the highest degree of quality,” said Charles Cheevers, ARRIS CTO, Europe.
“This requires significant R&D in new techniques to manufacture high-speed RF-based video and data products and to create new test technologies and platforms to meet the increasing technology and cost expectations of our customers worldwide.”
Minister for Labour Affairs, Billy Kelleher TD, welcomed the investment, stating it would further secure the existing Arris operations and employment at the Cork site.
“It again demonstrates the ability of Irish-based R&D operations to contribute cutting-edge and highly complex solutions as part of a parent company’s strategic future development plans,” he said.
“This project will represent a major shift for Arris into higher-value video products for the cable industry, which is viewed as a key area for growth in the coming years.”
By Sorcha Corcoran
Pictured: a universal edge-QAMs from Arris
