May 12 2014
ECN announced Humavox™ and PLX Technology as the winners of the 2014 IMPACT Award in the category of Market Disrupter, at an awards ceremony in Las Vegas on May 6 at the Electronic Distribution Show (EDS).
Humavox won for its Eterna™ platform for wireless charging of portable and wearable devices, and PLX won for its ExpressFabric technology, which was developed to position PCI Express (PCIe) as a predominant fabric across the data center.
Humavox’ Eterna charging platform is poised to bring simplicity to wireless charging at a crucial time – as the Internet of Things (IoT) expands dramatically, but also as competing standards and regulations hinder effective mobile charging. It matches the power of a typical USB cord, and can charge several devices simultaneously. Eterna is based on RF charging, which is not, unlike other methods, affected by device size or shape. This gives OEMs the freedom to integrate wireless power into their devices without sacrificing device quality or aesthetics. The Thunderlink receiving antenna prepares the device for RF energy based on its unique needs, and the end user simply places their device into the NEST energy converter for no-fuss wireless charging without worrying about device placement or having to rely on special charging mats or flat surfaces.
"It's an honor to get this kind of recognition from the industry for the work we've done to make this technology as accessible and seamless as possible for hardware developers of any size or capacity," said Omri Lachman, Humavox’s CEO and co-founder.
ExpressFabric, a Market Disrupter from PLX Technology, aims to transform the racks of data centers. Current data center platform approaches waste money and power, and limit performance due to the constraints of their building blocks. ExpressFabric is an enhanced version of PCIe that merges Ethernet and InfiniBand technologies inside cloud and data center racks. It offers the high performance of Ethernet and InfiniBand, but without the higher power or cost. This cost savings is possible since most devices already have a PCIe connection and therefore do not need to be modified. ExpressFabric also lets data center managers replace bridges in data racks with fewer, more affordable PCIe switches, which draw less energy.
“As one of the premier names in electronics publishing, ECN consistently recognizes emerging technologies with the promise of positively impacting markets, then brings them to the attention of a broad industry readership,” said Krishna Mallampati, senior marketing director, PCIe switch products, PLX. “We’re therefore honored that [a panel of judges with expertise in design engineering], noting ExpressFabric’s market-disrupting potential, have selected the technology to receive this prestigious IMPACT award.”
ECN Executive Editor Chris Warner said, “Both of these products are about cutting through the clutter in their prospective target markets. Humavox’s Eterna platform offers a way forward from mobile charging technologies whose competing standards have stalled wider adaptation. Moreover, OEMs and end users do not have to concern themselves with the size or shape of the devices they want to wirelessly charge.
PLX Technologies’ ExpressFabric means system designers for data centers no longer have to choose ‘either-or’ between Ethernet and InfiniBand and their associated tradeoffs. They can now mix different data types on a single pathway and get the performance they need to keep up with today’s unprecedented data demands.”