Irwin Jacobs Providing Chips and Technology for a World with Four Billion Cellular
Subscribers
http://mitworld.mit.edu/video/652
Irwin Mark Jacobs SM '57, PhD '59
Co-founder and Chairman of the Board of Directors, Qualcomm Incorporated
Irwin Mark Jacobs pioneered the development and commercialization of Code Division
Multiple Access (CDMA) digital wireless technology. He served as chief executive officer of
Qualcomm until July 2005. His son, Peter Jacobs has taken the CEO position since then.
Jacobs previously served as co-founder, president, CEO and chairman of LINKABIT
Corporation, directing its growth from a few part-time employees in 1969 to more than 1,400
employees in 1985, and the first introduction of Ku-band Very Small Aperture Earth
Terminals (VSATs), commercial TDMA wireless phones, and the VideoCipher® satellite-to-
home TV system. LINKABIT merged with M/A-COM in August 1980. More than 35 San Diego
telecommunications companies, including Qualcomm, trace their roots back to LINKABIT.
From 1959 to 1966, Jacobs was an assistant/associate professor of electrical engineering at
MIT. From 1966 to 1972 he served as a professor of computer science and engineering at the
University of California, San Diego. At MIT, Jacobs co-authored a basic textbook on digital
communications entitled, Principles of Communication Engineering.
Cellphone and mobile communication aficionados (not to mention the rest of us) appreciate
that our favorite tech gadgets increasingly resemble props from Star Trek. A shout out then to
Irwin Jacobs and Qualcomm, the company perhaps most responsible for such astonishing
gear.
In his talk, Jacobs narrates his journey from MIT, as a faculty member in the early 60s, to
California and his initial entrepreneurial venture, Linkabit. Jacobs and other MIT talent
applied information theory to projects for NASA and JPL, including coding for deep space
probes, and processor designs. Before Jacobs moved on, Linkabit had come up with the idea
for satellites that enabled live data communications between headquarters and retail stores
for both Wal-Mart, 7-11 and gas stations. The company’s designs led to the direct broadcast
satellite systems for XM and Direct TV. Its digital scrambling system fed digital technology
into TV transmissions.
The even bigger story for Jacobs (and the world) involves his next venture, Qualcomm (for
Quality Communications), launched in 1985. This fruitful collaboration among MIT and
Linkabit graduates launched the wireless telecommunications revolution. Qualcomm first
gave the trucking industry OmniTRACS, a satellite-based commercial mobile system, and
then dreamed up a technology for wireless and data devices -- Code Division Multiple
Access (CDMA) -- that has revolutionized business and personal communications.
Qualcomm made it possible for a multitude of users to share a confined spectrum space, and
then for high speed data to fit comfortably alongside voice applications. There are four billion
mobile subscribers around the world, says Jacobs, of which 100 million users get voice plus
data. Even in these dire economic times, new subscribers are growing, and he predicts six
billion subscribers by 2013.
Qualcomm’s hard at work optimizing how data and voice share transmissions, making new
applications possible (and affordable) worldwide. The goal: wireless broadband connectivity
for all, and to each his or her own Smartphone or Kindle. As cellphones proliferate and
merge with mobile computing, we’ll be able to keep tabs on each other via GPS, says Jacobs.
He believes phones “will quickly replace credit cards, even replace money.” He sees
particular opportunities in telemedicine, where phones armed with sensors can transmit
patient information to specialists in hospitals, who then zip back treatment
recommendations. Jacobs takes pride in Qualcomm’s efforts to leverage wireless cellphone
tech for social benefits: helping Indonesian women in business ventures; bringing farmers
and fishermen a way of determining market prices for their goods without a middle man; and
bringing in 3G phones for kids without computer capability in China.
Subscribers
http://mitworld.mit.edu/video/652
Irwin Mark Jacobs SM '57, PhD '59
Co-founder and Chairman of the Board of Directors, Qualcomm Incorporated
Irwin Mark Jacobs pioneered the development and commercialization of Code Division
Multiple Access (CDMA) digital wireless technology. He served as chief executive officer of
Qualcomm until July 2005. His son, Peter Jacobs has taken the CEO position since then.
Jacobs previously served as co-founder, president, CEO and chairman of LINKABIT
Corporation, directing its growth from a few part-time employees in 1969 to more than 1,400
employees in 1985, and the first introduction of Ku-band Very Small Aperture Earth
Terminals (VSATs), commercial TDMA wireless phones, and the VideoCipher® satellite-to-
home TV system. LINKABIT merged with M/A-COM in August 1980. More than 35 San Diego
telecommunications companies, including Qualcomm, trace their roots back to LINKABIT.
From 1959 to 1966, Jacobs was an assistant/associate professor of electrical engineering at
MIT. From 1966 to 1972 he served as a professor of computer science and engineering at the
University of California, San Diego. At MIT, Jacobs co-authored a basic textbook on digital
communications entitled, Principles of Communication Engineering.
Cellphone and mobile communication aficionados (not to mention the rest of us) appreciate
that our favorite tech gadgets increasingly resemble props from Star Trek. A shout out then to
Irwin Jacobs and Qualcomm, the company perhaps most responsible for such astonishing
gear.
In his talk, Jacobs narrates his journey from MIT, as a faculty member in the early 60s, to
California and his initial entrepreneurial venture, Linkabit. Jacobs and other MIT talent
applied information theory to projects for NASA and JPL, including coding for deep space
probes, and processor designs. Before Jacobs moved on, Linkabit had come up with the idea
for satellites that enabled live data communications between headquarters and retail stores
for both Wal-Mart, 7-11 and gas stations. The company’s designs led to the direct broadcast
satellite systems for XM and Direct TV. Its digital scrambling system fed digital technology
into TV transmissions.
The even bigger story for Jacobs (and the world) involves his next venture, Qualcomm (for
Quality Communications), launched in 1985. This fruitful collaboration among MIT and
Linkabit graduates launched the wireless telecommunications revolution. Qualcomm first
gave the trucking industry OmniTRACS, a satellite-based commercial mobile system, and
then dreamed up a technology for wireless and data devices -- Code Division Multiple
Access (CDMA) -- that has revolutionized business and personal communications.
Qualcomm made it possible for a multitude of users to share a confined spectrum space, and
then for high speed data to fit comfortably alongside voice applications. There are four billion
mobile subscribers around the world, says Jacobs, of which 100 million users get voice plus
data. Even in these dire economic times, new subscribers are growing, and he predicts six
billion subscribers by 2013.
Qualcomm’s hard at work optimizing how data and voice share transmissions, making new
applications possible (and affordable) worldwide. The goal: wireless broadband connectivity
for all, and to each his or her own Smartphone or Kindle. As cellphones proliferate and
merge with mobile computing, we’ll be able to keep tabs on each other via GPS, says Jacobs.
He believes phones “will quickly replace credit cards, even replace money.” He sees
particular opportunities in telemedicine, where phones armed with sensors can transmit
patient information to specialists in hospitals, who then zip back treatment
recommendations. Jacobs takes pride in Qualcomm’s efforts to leverage wireless cellphone
tech for social benefits: helping Indonesian women in business ventures; bringing farmers
and fishermen a way of determining market prices for their goods without a middle man; and
bringing in 3G phones for kids without computer capability in China.
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