Crystal a world first, says Rakon

Photo / Martin Sykes

High-tech crystal maker Rakon says a world-first development in its British operation will bridge a gap in the global telecommunications market.

The Mt Wellington company says its latest product - named Mercury - is the world's smallest oven-controlled crystal oscillator. It is 9mm long and 7mm wide.

The firm says it will be sold to telcos and installed in vital infrastructure such as cellular base stations.

Rakon marketing manger Justin Maloney said some areas of telecommunications networks did not require the larger, more costly and energy-hungry standard oscillators.

It would be in those areas of the network that Mercury could be put to use, he said, which would provide telcos with cost savings.

Oven-controlled oscillators must be kept at a high temperature and the new product's size - around 75 per cent smaller than the next smallest on the market - makes it particularly energy efficient. Maloney said the units worked as timing devices in telecommunications infrastructure.

"That infrastructure requires a very stringent timing network sitting behind it," he said. "Our chairman, Bryan [Mogridge], has described it as like traffic merging on the motorway - if you've got perfect timing all the cars slot in together."

Maloney said Mercury - the product of four years' research and development - would enable Rakon to gain a lot more market share in the telecommunications area.

Last month Rakon announced a record quarter in its British operation, partly through increased sales in the telco sector.

The firm became established in Europe when it acquired the Frequency Control Products division of C-Mac MicroTechnology in 2007, which had operations in France and Britain. Maloney said Rakon decided to buy C-Mac to gain a better foothold in the telco market.

Rakon's performance in Europe this year had shown that it was a good decision, he said.

Rakon's share price fell as low as 63c in March last year but the stock has improved, closing unchanged at $1.28 last night.