INTRODUCTION

In recent years there has been an explosion in the use of high speed serial links to replace parallel buses and analog connections. This has transformed the way computers communicate both internally, via technologies such as SATA, replacing PATA and PCI Express, replacing PCI, and externally, via USB, firewire, HDMI etc.

As serial data communication speeds increase the electrical loss of the cable (due to cable capacitance, inductance and skin effect) also increases making it difficult to send high speed digital signals over long distances at low power. In other words, the "eye diagram" (left panel, top), a measure of the ability of the receiver to distinguish between '0's and '1's, becomes closed. Eqcologic's analog cable equalizer technology measures this loss and automatically restores the high frequency components of signals degraded by transmission over a long cable (left panel, bottom) and thus is able to "open your eyes™" .

EqcoLogic was founded in June 2005 as a spin-out of the Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB), the Flemish language University in Brussels, based on four years or research by the Micro-Electronics group at the University.

EqcoLogic's initial technical team came to the company via the University. They are led by Professor Maarten Kuijk, the principal inventor of the technology and EqcoLogic CTO. Peter Helfet, an experienced technology entrepreneur from the UK, joined the company as CEO. Professor Roger Vounckx, head of the Micro-Electronics group at the University is also an active Director.

The company became a commercial entity immediately after incorporation thanks to a substantial grant from the Region of Brussels' R&D agency (IWOIB - IRSIB) that funded initial research as well as a survey of business opportunities in the field. Shortly after incorporation, EqcoLogic received additional capital from a number of Belgian investors and immediately moved on to sign its first substantial license agreement.

In September 2005, the EqcoLogic team won first prize for a development project in the prestigious Belgian national "Enterprize" competition.

In mid 2006 EqcoLogic launched its first product, the EQCO400T, a UTP Cable Equalizer for long haul Firewire(1394b) and in January 2007 the company demonstrated the EQCO800SC, a transceiver circuit that sends signals bidirectionally over a single coaxial cable. EqcoLogic continues to move forward with a number of new products addressing applications across a broad range of high-speed serial communications standards.