What Do Bill Gates, Holographic Beam Forming and $50M Have in Common?

 Pivotal, developer of 5G mmWave infrastructure products, announced yesterday the closing of a $50 million C-round led by an affiliate of tech-investor Tracker Capital. One of Pivotal’s existing investors participating in the financing, is Microsoft founder Bill Gates. The company is laser-focused (sorry, couldn’t resist) on Holographic Beam Forming® (HBF) technology and its use in developing communications platforms, systems and applications. The technology is used to deploy and accelerate 5G millimeter Wave (mmWave) networks for mobile and fixed wireless access.

HBF is described as multiple high-intensity theater spotlights focusing their radiated energy on separate targets without illuminating adjacent users. Current cellular systems, conversely, use antennas that form 60-90 degree stationary sector beams. The narrow beam allows for multiple concurrent transmissions using the same frequency without interference, thus allowing for abundant spectrum reuse with higher intensity signals delivered to both stationary and mobile users. Continue Reading