In today’s episode of the ‘Start-up of the Week’, International Finance will talk about Israel-based NexTenna, which is using ‘Phased Array Antenna Technology’ to make its ‘Flat Panel Antennas’, known as very thin, requiring much less power than traditional antennas. The innovation’s application areas consist of cellular systems (including 5G), along with Wi-Fi access points.
The start-up’s product, ‘nexTenna V’ enables broadband/IoT (Internet of Things) connectivity on the move. The venture’s other product, ‘nexTenna LEO’, is for home internet purposes. Last but not least, ‘nexTenna MP GEO’, which requires the minimum power, is compatible to work with solar panels.
Knowing the vision and mission
NexTenna is a product of a group of visionaries coming together, visionaries like researchers and innovators from diverse engineering and scientific disciplines, who are known for covering materials science, electro-magnetics, electrical engineering and artificial intelligence (AI) software. The group is now designing and building the most advanced wireless and SaTcom communication systems the telecom industry has ever seen.
NexTenna’s founder and CEO, Dedi David Haziza, was part of Google’s efforts to design a new satellite network that would bridge the digital divide, while enabling direct internet access to the 3.5 billion people around the world.
“After solving problem number one which was reducing the cost of the satellite to sub USD 1 million, so a network of hundreds of satellites would be feasible, He (Dedi) struggled with making the Phased Array User Terminal cheap, low power and efficient, which was a major challenge, and by forming NexTenna winning team, this challenge was solved and today, we are in a race to take that into mass production delivering the only sub 1000 Phased Array SATCOM Terminal with 1GBps data Rate and lowest service cost sub USD 50 per month,” the start-up commented, while recalling its initial days of the journey called ‘Internet from Space’.
NexTenna’s ‘Phased Array Antenna Technology’ has been the Key enabler for providing Internet from Space, with the lowest power consumption the telecom industry has ever seen, along with terminal cost and spectral efficiencies.
“The world’s most advanced antenna technology. NexTenna, through years of fundamental research and development, has invented and built an incredibly thin, extremely low power, low cost, high rate of production, rapidly steering flat panel antenna technology. NexTenna is a fast-growing company developing unique wireless communication systems for various applications, ranging from cellular systems and products (current and 5G) to Wi-Fi access point, including our flagship products Ku and Ka User Terminals for Providing Internet from Space,” the venture added further.
Product line-up ‘Better Than All the Rest’
NexTenna is all about providing cutting-edge technology, which enables the most advanced user terminals for end users featuring the lowest power consumption, ultra-thin and electronically steerable antennas.
NexTenna’s flagship products are ‘NexTenna V’ (providing broad-band/internet of things-related connectivity on the move), ‘NexTenna LEO’ (direct to home enabling internet from space, which is bridging the digital divide for 3.5 billion people), ‘NexTenna MP LEO/GEO’ (providing connectivity anywhere on Earth with zero carbon emission capabilities) and nexTenna S (which is providing steerable technology for space segment, low power, low weight Diameter Routing Agent).
NexTenna’s product baseline, known as ‘NexTenna Adaptive Technology’ has been fully embedded into the antennas and devices that the telecom venture is building as of January 2024. It has acknowledged space as the ‘Final Frontier’, which has the potential to become the birthplace of ‘how humanity will connect’, through a network of satellites.
“Connecting Everyone and Everything using our adaptive steerable antenna technology, be it a 5G cellular network or a cell in space, NexTenna is there making sure you have high-quality connectivity anywhere anytime and affordable to all, like air and water, connectivity and access to knowledge is essential for life,” the business commented further.
Game changing partnerships
In the first half of 2023, NexTenna signed a pact with VSAT (Very Small Aperture Terminal) manufacturer SpaceBridge, for the latter’s satellite equipment. SpaceBridge is known for deploying small-sized earth stations for the transmission of data, voice and video signals through a satellite communication network.
NexTenna will be helping SpaceBridge to develop a new line of wireless communication systems targeting IoT, mobility IoT, broadband, and fixed broadband solutions for consumer, enterprise, and military services.
NexTenna will also be integrating SpaceBridge’s U7720 modem into its antennas.
“SpaceBridge partnering with NexTenna will create a new paradigm in how we address IoT, mobility, and broadband markets. Installation of these terminals, in conjunction with our iPoint auto-provisioning tool, commissioning of these terminals will significantly reduce rollout costs, eliminating one of the main impediments to rapid deployment,” commented SpaceBridge CEO David Gelerman.