In 1988 a group of researchers and faculty at the University of Idaho Microelectronics Research Center started an electronics company focusing on technologies for improving data transfer and storage. They chose to locate this startup company on the Palouse because of the 2 universities in the area and the quality of life that the region offers. Comtech AHA Corporation (AHA) a technology company in the Palouse Knowledge Corridor has had a number of successes since its founding 20 years ago.
AHA occupies a unique technology niche, it specializes in hardware accelerators for lossless data compression and forward error correction. The original technology that AHA produced were Reed-Solomon error correction integrated circuit chips (IC) but AHA engineers have continued to lead the way in forward error correction and created the world’s first Turbo Product Code IC in 1998 and in 2007 they produced the world’s fastest Low Density Parity Code IC for satellite communications systems. In the lossless data compression arena, AHA first partnered with industry stalwarts like Hewlett Packard and Xerox to develop original compression ICs in the early 1990’s but soon began developing its own hardware compression solutions for both storage appliance and networking. Most recently it has introduced the first GZIP compression IC and a line of plug in GZIP compression boards for use in networking appliances and data storage systems.
“The majority of our products are custom ICs and printed circuit boards perform the coding or compression operation in hardware. This enables them to operate at speeds 10x to 100x faster than the equivalent software solutions while keeping power consumption at a minimum. “Markets for our forward error correction products are primarily in satellite communications systems while our data compression products are finding application in a variety of networking and data storage systems,” say Bill Thomson, president of Comtech AHA Corporation.
After a number of notable successes, AHA was acquired by Comtech Telecommunications Corp, a satellite communications systems company in August 2002. The acquisition was a positive development for AHA and the Palouse region. “Comtech kept the employees of AHA in the Palouse region because they did not want to risk losing any of the key personnel in the company in a move. Comtech also recognizes the great value that a location such as the Moscow-Pullman area can provide to a high tech company because of the strong engineering programs at both Washington State University and the University of Idaho. In fact a majority of the employees of AHA are graduates of one of these two universities,” says Thomson. In addition the company has active research programs at both universities as well.
“Because of its location in the Palouse Knowledge Corridor, Thomson continued, AHA is uniquely positioned to recruit the top graduates and forge strong research relationships at both WSU and the U of I”. The close proximity to campus allows AHA to engage students and faculty in a variety of research areas resulting in innovative new technologies that can be used in future products. The company location in the Palouse Knowledge Corridor affords high quality of life and as a result, there is very low employee turnover at Comtech AHA and typically engineers stay with the company for many years.