Our Clients

Who does Bekera work with?

We work primarily with three types of businesses:

• Hardware companies who are designing their own high-speed digital PCBs, backplanes and systems
• Companies or independent contractors developing PCBs and backplanes for other companies
• Digital designers needing assistance with signaling

Located in San Carlos, California, Bekera Consulting primarily works with clients in northern California, but welcomes inquiries from companies in other areas.

Representative clients

Spirent Communications
Zultys Technologies
Turbo Instruments
HV Design
Aura Communications

Spirent Communications
(acquired Zarak Systems in November 2000)
www.spirentcom.com

Spirent Communications, a subsidiary of Spirent plc, offers products and services to help companies develop and deploy new networking technologies more efficiently. Its Abacus family of products provides functional and performance testing of voice-enabled devices to service providers and communications equipment manufacturers.

Abacus1 Problem Evaluation and Turnaround. After completion of Spirent’s Abacus1 product, signal integrity issues were detected on the backplane and individual PC boards. Ludvik Kindl was brought in to diagnose and resolve these problems.

To examine the possible causes of the problem, Ludvik employed computer simulations, using SPICE and IBIS models. To correlate the simulation results with actual measurements and to achieve the highest level of accuracy in his analysis, he used a high-speed oscilloscope and a VNA (vector network analyzer). Using these instruments, models and analytical tools, Ludvik was able to predict how each new component would perform.

To resolve the issues, Ludvik changed the values of the backplane termination resistors and designed matching circuits to compensate for the existing backplane and PCB connectors. By staying within the scope of the original design, Ludvik saved the company the cost of designing and fabricating a new backplane.

Abacus2 New Design. Having learned the importance of including a signal integrity engineer in the early stages of product development, Ludvik was asked to help with the design of Spirent’s next generation product, Abacus2.

Ludvik assisted in the design and generation of layout rules for the backplane and PC boards. He also helped select the most appropriate drivers and receivers, IC packages, PCB materials, and backplane connectors to use in the design to ensure high quality backplane signals and a solid power distribution system.

While the design was in progress, Ludvik performed extensive SPICE and IBIS modeling and simulations before the prototype was built, and then did further testing of the waveforms on the prototype. This ensured that individual components were properly chosen and the layout was configured correctly. Only minor changes to the prototype were needed before the first production run.

Spirent is very pleased with the success of its Abacus2 product. It is an advanced test platform that meets the most demanding requirements for performance, capacity, and density testing of TDM and VoIP equipment and networks. It is designed to handle unparalleled 10,000+ channels of call generation and switching, generating traffic at the rate of 20 million calls per hour.

"During the design of our new Abacus2 product, Ludvik played a key role in helping us resolve our signal integrity issues quickly. Working side-by-side with our engineering team, he skillfully guided us through the signal integrity analysis process."

Fred Nikolac
VP of Engineering

Zultys Technologies
www.zultys.com

Zultys Technologies, a Silicon Valley-based company, designs and manufactures products that integrate telecommunications and data communications for enterprise networks.

Troubleshoot MX1200 Product. Zultys’ MX1200 product brings together the functionality of a PBX, voice mail server, switch router, and internet gateway. When intermittent problems were detected with the product, Zultys called on Ludvik to troubleshoot the signal integrity issues.

Ludvik used both SPICE and IBIS modeling, as well as testing with a high-speed oscilloscope, in order to analyze the problem. He also used a VNA to measure and characterize the SDRAM connectors and IC packages. Ludvik’s analysis resulted in several improvements to the MX1200 product to achieve high reliability.

SI Analysis for MX250 Product. Zultys’ MX250 product combines the functionality of a PBX, voice mail server, voice gateway, and internet gateway. Built with the same technology and the same productivity tools as the MX1200, the MX250 provides smaller sites with all premium features at attractive prices. While the MX1200 does not have a backplane, the MX250 was designed with one.

During the development of the MX250, Zultys called on Ludvik to bring SI expertise to the project while the layout was in progress. Using the Gerber files for the PC boards and backplane, Ludvik performed IBIS simulations and did measurements of the backplane connectors and other components.

To provide optimal reliability, Ludvik recommended changes to the layout of the backplane and the individual boards, as well as to the terminating resistors and several components. Profiting from Ludvik’s contributions to both the MX1200 and MX250 products, Zultys plans on including Ludvik on their engineering teams for the development of new products.

"When we ran into problems with our MX1200 product, Ludvik Kindl helped us resolve several SI problems on the PC boards. We were so pleased with his work that we called on him again to assist our engineering team in the design of our new MX250 product."

Iain Milnes
President

Turbo Instruments
www.turboinstruments.com

Turbo Instruments is a German company that manufactures electro-magnetic and ultrasonic flow meters, data acquisition boards, temperature and pressure sensors, and other industrial instruments.

Redesign for US Market. Turbo Instruments wanted to sell its instruments to corporations in the United States. To meet the unique requirements of the U.S. market, Ludvik helped Turbo Instruments design a new analog board and resolve several signal integrity and noise issues associated with the original design.

Customization for Clients. Ludvik played a major role in customizing Turbo’s instruments to meet the unique needs of individual customers located in North and South America, as well as in Asia. His personal involvement with key clients was instrumental in closing several major sales.

"Ludvik's assistance in solving the SI problems with our high-speed digital boards in our industrial instrumentation systems was invaluable. He is a true professional and a pleasure to work with."

Claus Huebel
President

HV Design
www.hv-design.com

HV Design is a well-established company providing high-quality engineering and PCB layout services for over twenty years. The firm specializes in large, complex, high-speed digital boards, as well as analog and high-frequency RF PCBs. They meet the stringent requirements of military and space organizations.

Layout Simulation. On several occasions, HV Design has called on Ludvik to assist its clients with pre-layout and post-layout simulation for high-speed digital boards. Ludvik has also provided SPICE modeling for RF and analog boards. Clients are provided with the simulation results, as well as suggestions for possible changes. HV Design and its clients can always count on Ludvik to deliver high-quality results.

"Our clients — NASA, Lockheed, and other Silicon Valley companies — depend on us to provide expert quality layout work. In turn, for over four years, we have looked to Bekera Consulting to provide pre-layout and post-layout signal integrity analysis. In every case, Ludvik has exceeded our expectations."

Mila Vesely
Founder & CEO

Aura Communications
www.auracomm.com

Aura Communications provides a new generation of wireless connectivity for portable consumer electronics. Utilizing 'near field' magnetic communication rather than conventional radio frequency technology, Aura enables the design of the lowest power, most affordable wireless products on the market today – including headsets, mobile communication devices, and MP3 players.

Aura’s DockerTM Wireless Headset is being acclaimed as the most innovative headsets to appear on the market in the past decade.

Prepare Products for Manufacturing in Asia. The prototype for the Docker Wireless Headset was designed in the U.S. However, in order to be able to mass produce the product inexpensively and price it competitively, Aura decided to manufacture the product in Asia.

In order to accomplish this goal, the company needed the help of an expert who understands the unique challenges associated with engineering design, testing, and manufacturing of PC boards in Asia. Chip Marshall, the Chief Operating Officer, hired Ludvik Kindl to provide this unique expertise. In the past, Ludvik helped several other companies work through the challenges of taking an electronic product that was designed in the US and prepare it to be manufactured in Asia.

Ludvik flew to Asia and worked closely with the Aura Communications design team and Asian manufacturing companies. It was necessary to convert the American parts used in the original design to inexpensive Chinese components.

Ludvik helped troubleshoot problems associated with analog circuit design, noise reduction, and "Asianizing" the bill of materials (BOM). He was also instrumental in selecting appropriate local vendors and manufacturing companies.

During the four months that Ludvik worked on this project, he helped with PCB fabrication and antenna manufacturing in China, plastics enclosure manufacturing in Malaysia, and PCB and product assembly in Indonesia.

"When we decided to mass produce the Docker Wireless Headset product in Asia, we needed the help of an engineer who not only was experienced in analog design, but also understood the challenges involved in taking a US product and adapting it for manufacture in Asia. Ludvik Kindl brought us expertise we needed in this area. He produced high-quality results and helped us meet our deadlines. The Docker Wireless Headset, manufactured in Asia, is becoming a market success in the USA. I would not hesitate to call on Ludvik to help us with similar projects in the future."

Chip Marshall
Chief Operating Officer