Peter A. Franaszek

This award recognizes Peter Franaszek's seminal and sustained contributions to the theory and application of constrained channel codes for data recording and transmission. These codes enforce constraints on the sequence of signals in order to enable clock synchronization or ensure signal properties such as DC balance. Dr. Franaszek's theoretical work is at the core of several codes that are incorporated in ubiquitous industry standards. His contributions range from fundamental theory to detailed implementation at the physical link layer. He is the co-inventor of the 8B/10B code that is currently used in the Gigabit Ethernet and Infiniband standards, as well as in several standards for data transmission in storage networks including the Fiber Channel Standard, IBM's ESCON architecture and Hitachi's channel extender. His work has led to revolutionary advances in the recording density of digital media and the transmission bandwidth of digital communication systems.