Paving the way to a well-connected world: Whizpace Pte Ltd.

Communication had always been vital to the evolution of mankind. Since the prehistoric era, humans have created languages to communicate and understand each other better. However, with the industrial revolution and the subsequent internet era, the world has seen a series of communication devices which has been made in awe with the technology as well as the brilliance of the human mind. With the dawn of the new millennium, inventions and innovations have skyrocketed. Connected devices and emerging technologies are changing the world as the world is getting increasingly interconnected. We can connect and communicate with a person on the other side of the globe with the press of a button. Connected devices are the next big thing, and it is no denying that it would forever reshape how people and devices communicate.

In the light of the above mentioned, it is indeed our pleasure to introduce Whizpace Pte Ltd., a company that uses TVWS (TV White Spaces) technology to develop communication solutions to connect more people and things in more places.

Whizpace was co-founded by the dept head and lab head of White Space Communications Dept from Singapore’s premium research organization, A*STAR. They developed the state of the art technology, TV White Space (TVWS), a.k.a. Super WiFi in A*STAR and developed the product which were deployed at many sites in Singapore & the Philippines. The team led by Dr. Oh Ser Wah has achieved many successes like licensing the TVWS technologies to industry players that deployed TVWS at Gardens by the Bay, HDB, NUS in Singapore. Ser Wah and Pankaj Sharma subsequently spun off from A*STAR to form Whizpace. The founders got blessings from A*STAR and investments by Enterprise Singapore (ESG), then Spring Singapore and other very renowned private investors.

Whizpace: A mindset to propel you to success

Whizpace understands that people spend a significant part of their lives at their workplace, and therefore, it makes efforts to deliver a positive experience and growth for its employees. It cultivates respectful and collegial work culture among the team putting the company in the position for authentic development and success. While fostering a sense of oneness, common purpose and meaning at work, Whizpace is building a great workplace and society overall, where employees can feel proud to be a part of.

As Whizpace seeks to move further on its path to a better future, the company makes sure that every staff has his/ her own ownership of scope of work and is given autonomy to propose solutions. In addition, three interns have joined the company after their graduation and one of the interns is doing his second internship with Whizpace again.

Dr. Oh Ser Wah, CEO, and Pankaj Sharma, CTO spoke exclusively to The Silicon Review. Below is an excerpt.

Can you tell us about how your company is positioned in the present market scenario?

After forming the company, the team has successfully launched 3 TVWS products for broadband and IoT verticals, covering applications such as smart energy, remote Internet, smart farming, Industry 4.0, smart building, etc. This helps the clients to enable many applications that were previously impossible or too costly to deploy. Whizpace is the only TVWS company with products addressing the customer needs for low data rates to high data rates, small form factor to long range, low power consumption to high performance and low cost to high value serving several IoT applications to rural connectivity and wireless video surveillance.

Presently, we are focusing on Rural Internet, Smart Energy, Smart Farming and Safety & Security markets while maintaining a foothold in other market segments as well. In a short span of less than 2 years, we have secured customers from 10 countries with many more under discussions.

How do your service and product offerings benefit your clients?

Our products harness underutilized TV bands for wireless communications. The idea is similar to other sharing economies such as Airbnb and Uber / Grab. For example, Airbnb shares apartment resources with visitors whenever the apartment is vacant. Similarly, car resources are being shared to fetch passengers for Uber / Grab. The key idea behind these sharing economies lies in the better utilization of valuable resources.

The same applies to the frequency spectrum. Research showed that the frequency spectrum is much underutilized. In Singapore, spectrum utilization is on average only 6.5%. By harnessing these underutilized spectrum, TVWS is able to provide wireless communication without needing new spectrum to be allocated. As TVWS operates in TV bands, which is the sweet spot of the frequency spectrum, it can travel very long distance and penetrate through obstacles. With the contributions from the team led by the Founder Dr. Oh Ser Wah back in A*STAR, US and Singapore TVWS regulations were established and being used as a reference for other countries worldwide.

What is it in you that make you different from others in the domain?

Whizpace leverages advanced technology to make efficient use of the underutilized spectrum. We have spent years developing our technology, and our dedication to R&D has enabled us to refine our core product to include the following leading technologies:

• Being the only company in the world to have full range of TVWS solutions covering long-range high data rates to low-power low data rates to serve different applications
• Having the world’s smallest and cheapest TVWS module measuring the size of a stamp to address large opportunities in low-power low-rate IoT applications
• The first to design and launch mesh TVWS equipment with self-forming and self-healing features to increase robustness of network deployments
• The only TVWS equipment with built-in antenna to improve aesthetics, speed up deployment and reduce potential point of failures
• Patent-pending technology with much simplified architecture to enable Wi-Fi connectivity with direct conversion between TVWS and Wi-Fi signals (WhizDirect)
• Patent-pending technology to provide physical separation to protect TVWS private networks from potential cyber attacks

Meet the Founding Duo

Dr. Oh Ser Wah, CEO

Dr. Oh is a pioneer in TV White Space (TVWS) a.k.a. Super Wi-Fi technology having participated and contributed as the lead in the early field trials conducted by the FCC and subsequently IMDA, that indirectly helped in the respective TVWS regulations. Dr. Oh is also the Co-Chair of IMDA TVWS Task Force that shaped the TVWS specifications for Singapore, Telecommunications Standards Advisory Committee and Working Committee of Singapore Infocomm Media Masterplan 2025 on Infrastructure.

Dr. Oh was previously the Head of White Space Communications Department at the Institute for Infocomm Research (I2R), and the Advisor for Smart Energy and Environment Department. In his previous role as the Deputy Director of Strategic Planning Office (SPO), Dr. Oh assisted the Executive Director to run the strategy for the institute and assumed the lead for the Smart Nation Innovations which included various government engagements.

Pankaj Sharma, CTO

Pankaj has more than 20 years of experience in the wireless industry and more than 5 years of experience in the TVWS industry. Armed with years of experience and winner of countless awards, Pankaj has also managed, delivered and executed various products in the TVWS industry, putting him in a good position to utilize his expertise to guide Whizpace to greater heights.

“Our solution is an enabler to connect the 3 billion people worldwide that presently lack internet access, while also addressing the huge opportunities in IoT and smart city markets.”

keep in touch: www.whizpace.com