Around the Circuit

Around the Circuit

Industry News

Commercial and defense electronic supplier Raytheon Co. has entered into a definitive agreement to merge with Hughes Aircraft, Hughes Electronics Corp. 's defense operations. The consolidated company will be known as Raytheon Co. and will have headquarters based in Raytheon's Lexington, MA facility. The $9.5 B transaction comprises approximately $5.1 B in common stock and $4.4 B in debt. The new company will operate in conjunction with the newly developed Raytheon TI Systems , a consolidation of Texas Instrument's (TI) defense operations.

Telecom equipment provider Glenayre Technologies Inc. , Charlotte, NC, has completed its merger with CNET , a provider of integrated operational support systems, network management, traffic analysis and RF propagation software products and services for the global wireless communications industry. Based in Dallas, TX, CNET will operate as a wholly owned subsidiary of Glenayre as part of the recently formed Integrated Network Group .

German ovenized crystal oscillator manufacturer Quarzkeramik has been acquired by KVG of Neckarbischofsheim, Germany, a subsidiary of Vectron International . Rohde & Schwartz , Quarzkermik's former parent company, selected KVG for its complementary line of temperature-compensated and voltage-controlled crystal oscillators. In related news, Vectron's crystal and surface acoustic wave (SAW)-based products group Vectron Technologies Inc. of Hudson, NH has been certified to the ISO 9001 quality system standard.

Andersen Laboratories Inc. , Bloomfield, CT, has begun volume production of SAW wafers in its new Auburn, NY facility. The facility doubles the company's current wafer production capacity. Volume production of complete SAW assemblies is scheduled for late spring.

Semiconductor solution provider Power Integrations Inc. , Sunnyvale, CA, has formed Power Integrations K.K. , a wholly owned subsidiary of the company established to support the Japanese market. The subsidiary is located at Keihin-Tatemono 1st Bldg., 12-20 Shin-Yokohama 2-Chome, Kohoku-ku, Yokohama-shi, Kanagawa 222 Japan 81 (0) 45-471-1021, fax 81 (0) 45-471-3717 or e-mail: pi-kk@jsn.justnet.or.jp.

Lightwave and microwave semiconductor component supplier Fujitsu Compound Semiconductor Inc. , San Jose, CA, has moved its East Coast regional sales office. The office is now located at 55 Schanck Rd., Suite B-19, Freehold, NJ 07728 (908) 303-0282, fax (908) 431-3393.

Integrated Measurement Systems Inc. , Beaverton, OR, is developing a suite of its DANTES integrated virtual test software tools for Hewlet-Packard Co.'s (HP) mixed-signal test systems and the HP 83000 digital IC test systems. The equipment will be used to develop and verify test programs in simulation prior to IC fabrication to reduce test development time. The DANTES system is a test design and verification environment that supports test capture, modeling, rule checking, simulation, automatic test equipment-specific code generation, fixture design, verification and documentation for mixed-signal tests.

Merix Corp. , Forest Grove, OR, and Amkor Electronics Inc. , Chandler, AZ, have formed a long-term partnership calling for Merix to supply laminate-based IC packages to Amkor for chip packaging assembly. Under the terms of the agreement, Merix will become Amkor's primary North American substrate supplier for laminate-based ball-grid array chip packages. Merix has also acquired substantially all the assets of Amkor's Laminate Products Division in Carrollton, TX. In related news, Merix has announced that its Loveland, CO- and San Diego, CA-based manufacturing plants have been certified to the ISO 9001 quality system standard.

Remote intelligent communications (RIC) developer Micron Communications Inc. , Boise, ID, has authorized Michigan-based Computer Methods Corp. to incorporate Micron's MicroStampTM RIC products into integrated systems solutions in the automotive industry. Computer Methods Corp. will provide site-specific designs, customized software interface design and development, systems installation and post-installation service.

Mitsubishi Electronics America's Electronic Device Group , Sunnyvale, CA, and Motorola's Microprocessor and Memory Technologies Group , Austin, TX, have announced an agreement to jointly market Mitsubishi's DINOR Mobile FLASH^TM memory devices. Motorola's Dynamic Memory Products Division will market flash memory devices that use the DINOR Mobile FLASH technology. Initially, Motorola will purchase Mitsubishi's finished products for resale. Later this year, Motorola will purchase bare die to package, assemble and test. The first product Motorola will offer is an 8 Mbit CMOS boot-block DINOR flash memory device designed for use in high density, low power applications such as PC, mobile telephone, local area networking, telecom and flash PC-card applications. In related news, Motorola and TekNow Inc. , Phoenix, AZ, are jointly developing a comprehensive set of integrated products to enhance the performance of Motorola's next-generation wireless messaging system. Using TekNow's Telocator Message Entry (TME) server, TME client and software development kit, and an Internet gateway for e-mail-based paging, developers will be able to create applications for sending and receiving data to and from subscribers in an advanced messaging system that includes Motorola's Wireless Message Gateway.

RF Prime , Sacramento, CA, has signed Future Electronics of Montreal, Quebec, Canada to distribute its line of electronic components in North America.

Trimmer capacitor manufacturer Sprague-Goodman Electronics Inc. , Westbury, NY, has appointed East Coast Microwave , Stoneham, MA, as a franchised distributor. The company will distribute Sprague-Goodman's products throughout New England.

BizTel Communications Inc. , Fort Lee, NJ, reports that its BizTel Inc. subsidiary has the largest coverage footprint of any 38 GHz fixed wireless broadband local distribution service provider in the US. This announcement comes after the subsidiary inaugurated the 38 GHz service in its 150th market nationwide. Using advanced GaAs-based mm-wave technology, BizTel delivers two-way broadband data, voice and video, private-line network interconnection, high speed access to the Internet, local backhaul among cellular telephone transmitters and personal communications service (PCS) cell sites, and interconnection between customers' premises and points of presence of long-distance networks.

CableLabs , Louisville, CO, reports that several standards have been achieved in the cable industry from various bodies, including the Society of Cable Telecommunications Engineers (SCTE) Digital Video Subcommittee, which approved the quadrature amplitude modulation transmission standard for downstream digital video delivery; the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.14 cable data modem standards-setting group, which adopted the downstream transmission standard by including the extended J.83 Annex B in its physical layer specification; and the International Telecommunications Union Study Group 9, Working Party 1, which accepted the extensions adopted previously by the IEEE and SCTE.

According to a recent Frost & Sullivan report, Lucent Technologies of Murray Hill, NJ is the leading wireless office systems supplier in the US. The report, which comprises sales of in-building and building-to-building wireless voice and data systems in 1995, gives Lucent and its original equipment manufacturers (OEM) a 32 percent share of the wireless office market, including a 48 percent share of the wireless local area network (LAN) market. The report forecasts 1996 revenues will be $390 M for the wireless office market and $218 M for the wireless LAN market.

PCB Engineering Inc. , Milpitas, CA, has moved its photo-plotting capability in-house with the installation of a Gerber Crescent 40 photo-plotter and Escort 30 automatic loader, and a Kodak Kodamatic 66S+ processor. The company has also enhanced its optical inspection capability by installing a Gerber Insight 2020 automated optical inspection system. The photo-plotter will be housed in the company's engineering department in an environmentally controlled room. The automated optical inspection system will be housed in PCB Engineering's electrical test department in a newly constructed clean room.

OEM component supplier Aerovox Inc. 's New Bedford, MA operation has received a renewal of its ISO 9002 quality system certification. The renewal was awarded for three years and also includes certification for the company's Mexican operation.

The US Patent Office has awarded Metawave Communications Corp. , Redmond, WA, a patent for its narrow-beam antenna system with angular diversity. Reportedly, the multibeam antenna system, covered by patent number 5,563,610, improves the performance of code-division multiple access (CDMA) systems by using increased antenna gain, and reduces interference by using narrow-angle antenna beams.

Finacial News

Raytheon Co. reports sales of $12.3 B for the year, ended December 31, 1996, compared to $11.7 B last year. Net income was $787.3 M ($3.23/share) last year. Sales were $3.4 B for the fourth quarter, compared to $3.4 B for the same period last year.

Andrew Corp. reports sales of $231.7 M for the first quarter, ended December 31, 1996, compared to $177.9 M for the same period last year. Net income was $24.3 M (40¢/share), compared to $16.9 M (28¢/share) for the same period last year.

The Allen Group Inc. reports sales of $95 M for the third quarter, ended September 30, 1996, compared to $85.4 M for the same period last year. Income from continuing operations was $6.2 M (23¢/share), compared to $7.6 M (28¢/share) for the same period last year.

Littelfuse Inc. reports sales of $241.4 M for the year, ended December 28, 1996, compared to $219.5 M last year. Net income was $19.3 M ($1.55/share) last year. Sales were $61 M for the fourth quarter, compared to $52.4 M for the same period last year. REMEC Inc. reports sales of $22.5 M for the third quarter, ended November 3, 1996, compared to $15.1 M for the same period last year. Net income was $1.4 M (15¢/share), compared to $494 K (7¢/share) for the same period last year.

ANADIGICS Inc. reports sales of $68.9 M for the year, ended December 31, 1996, compared to $51.5 M last year. Net income was $7.3 M (64¢/share) last year. Sales were $22.4 M for the fourth quarter, compared to $14.5 M for the same period last year. The company reports these results represent a record for fourth-quarter earnings.

Vitesse Semiconductor Corp. reports sales of $66 M for the year, ended September 30, 1996, compared to $42.9 M last year. Net income was $1.5 M (9¢/share) last year. Sales were $19.1 M for the fourth quarter, compared to $12.1 M for the fourth quarter last year.

General Microwave Corp. reports sales of $6.1 M for the third quarter, ended November 30, 1996, compared to $5.7 for the same period last year. Net loss was $387.5 K (32¢/share), compared to a net loss of $1.1 M (88¢/share) for the same period last year.

Comtech Telecommunications Corp. reports sales of $5.2 M for the first quarter, ended October 31, 1996, compared to $4.5 M for the same period last year. Net income was $81 K (3¢/share), compared to a net loss of $186 K (7¢/share) for the same period last year.

Vari-L Company Inc. reports sales of $12.2 M for the year, ended December 31, 1996, compared to $9.5 M last year. Net income was $860 K (27¢/share) last year. Sales were $4.4 M for the fourth quarter, compared to $3 M for the fourth quarter last year.

Microwave signal collection and direction-finding equipment manufacturer Condor Systems Inc. , San Jose, CA, has announced a leveraged recapitalization of the company with proceeds scheduled for future acquisitions and internal growth. New York investment firm Behrman Capital is funding Condor with approximately $117 M in aggregate financing.

Test equipment manufacturer Wandel & Goltermann Group , Eningen u.A., Germany, reports that a consolidated turnover of DM 350 M in the 1995-1996 business year, compared to DM 332 the previous year, has put the company back into a profitable range. After a five-year period of negative results and a loss of more than DM 20 M in 1994-1995, Wandel and Goltermann claims a turnaround due to successes with new product platforms for the global communications market, from consistent restructuring and from an increase in turnover per employee from DM 208 K in 1994-1995 to DM 228 K in 1995-1996. The company anticipates that developments for the coming year should lead to a growth in turnover of more than 15 percent.

Contracts

Voice, data, video and multimedia telecom product manufacturer Alcatel Telecom , Richardson, TX, has received a contract from MFS Communications Company Inc. with a potential value of $100 M. The two-year contract calls for Alcatel to install 1603/12 SM and 1648 SM synchronous optical network equipment multiplexers for use in MFS ring networks in Canada and the US.

Advanced digital telecom product and system supplier Stanford Telecom Inc. , Sunnyvale, CA, has received two Defense Satellite Communications System (DSCS) contracts totaling $58 M. The first DSCS Operations Control System (DOCS) Support Services contract from the US Army Space Command is valued at $44 M. The contract calls for Stanford Telecom to provide on-site support, training and depot support services at 12 Army Space Command sites worldwide. The second DSCS DOCS contract from the US Army Communications and Electronics Command is valued at $14 M with production options. Under the terms of the contract, Stanford Telecom will supply the Army division with a replacement for the BATSON II ground-operating equipment for satellite commanding and data transmission. In related news, Stanford Telecom's Telecom Component Products Group has been awarded a $1.5 M contract from Com21 Inc. for community antenna television return path modulator application-specific ICs and receiver assemblies. The products will be used in Com21's ComPORT and ComCONTROLLER systems designed for use in cable television head-end and subscriber applications. The contract calls for the products to be delivered during the coming year.

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) has announced that Sanders , a Lockheed Martin company based in Nashua, NH, has been awarded a $10.5 M contract by the US Naval Air Systems Command. The contract calls for the development and demonstration of an X-ray stepper integrated with a dense plasma focus source and beamline interface. Approximately $5.3 M of contract funds will go to SUSS Advanced Lithography Inc. (SAL) of Waterbury Center, VT, which will work in conjunction with Science Research Laboratory Inc. and the Center for X-Ray Lithography at the University of Wisconsin to develop equipment and technology to achieve sub-0.15 mm MMIC working resolution and overlay goals of less than 50 nm by improving current 1 nm X-ray lithographic techniques. SAL will design and build a prototype X-ray stepper to demonstrate the total integrated package, which extends the capability of existing manufacturing technology. The contract is being managed by DARPA under the Navy Defense Advanced Lithography Program.

Raytheon Electronics Systems , Bedford, MA, has received a $52.4 M contract from Motorola for 25 additional main mission antennas (MMA). The MMA is a phased-array antenna that provides L-band RF links to individual subscriber units in the IRIDIUM® satellite-based wireless telephone program. Currently, Raytheon is under contract to develop and produce 80 satellites for the MMAs. The additional MMA panels for the 25 satellites increase the contract total to approximately $272.9 M.

Power amplifier manufacturer Microwave Power Devices Inc. , Hauppauge, NY, has received a $4.5 M follow-on contract to supply highly linear, single-channel PCS CDMA amplifiers to Lucent Technologies. Lucent plans to use the amplifiers in its PCS-CDMA wireless telecom base stations. Shipments of the amplifiers are expected to be completed later this year.

Comtech Telecommunications Corp. has announced that Power Systems Technology (PST) , a division of the company's Comtech Microwave Products Corp. subsidiary in Melville, NY, has received a $1.7 M contract from COMSAT-RSI. The contract calls for Comtech PST to develop computer-controlled, solid-state high power amplifiers for use in multiple-gateway satellite communications earth stations supplied to ORBCOMM for worldwide satellite messaging and data transmission. Comtech PST is scheduled to begin delivering the subsystems in June.

Space Electronics Inc. , San Diego, CA, has been awarded a $464 K contract from LABEN, an Italian partner of Space Systems Loral, to supply radiation-hardened microcircuits for the GLOBALSTAR program. The contract calls for Space Electronics to deliver 1 MB static random access memory and analog-to-digital converter devices during the first quarter of the year.

Rep Appointments

Microwave Development Company Inc. , North Andover, MA, has appointed Nexos Electronic Systems SrL , Rome, Italy, to represent its full line of products in Italy.

Palomar Products Inc.'s Assembly and Test Products division, Carlsbad, CA, has announced an expansion of territory for its product representative Resources for Microelectronics (RFM) (formerly Lyons & Associates Midwest ), Dayton, OH. In addition to representing Palomar in western Pennsylvania, Ohio, West Virginia, Indiana, Kentucky and Michigan, RFM will now cover Illinois and southern Wisconsin. RFM markets the Assembly and Test Products division's line of welders, hot-bar solder reflow systems, anistropic film bonders, fine wire bonders, die attach and pick-and-place machines.

SRC Cable Inc. , Santa Rosa, CA, has appointed Russett Associates Inc. of North Andover, MA to represent its products in Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Connecticut. The company will market SRC Cable's full line of custom-designed semirigid and flexible coax cable assemblies.

Wavesat Inc. , Montreal, Quebec, Canada, has hired Microvolt Electronics Inc. of Montreal, Ottawa and Calgary, Canada to market and sell its high power amplifiers and amplifier systems in Canada.

New Market Entries

J-Tec is a new company formed by Jim Andem to provide technical sales and marketing services as a manufacturer's representative in Texas, New Mexico and Oklahoma. The company will focus on communication/electronic intelligence systems, and signal processing equipment and subassemblies for prime contractor system requirements. The company is located at 2979 Oak Dr., Rockwall, TX 75087 (972) 771-0468.

Switching Test Solutions AG of Zürich, Switzerland is a new company formed by Wandel & Goltermann Management Holding GmbH of Eningen u.A., Germany and Alcatel Schweiz AG of Zürich, Switzerland. The company develops and markets test solutions for communications switching systems worldwide. The new company's test platforms are designed for resource and development in systems manufacturing and for telecom network providers. For more information, contact Wandel & Goltermann Management Holding GmbH, Postfach 12 62, D-72796 Eningen u.A., Germany +49 7121 86-1816, fax +49 7121 86-1848 or e-mail: martin.lenk @wago.de.

Personnel

Joe Reichbach has been named senior VP, sales in North America by Merix Corp. Previously, Reichbach was an outside sales executive at Analog Devices.

Fujitsu Compound Semiconductor Inc. has appointed Eugene R. Brannock VP, marketing. Brannock brings more than 20 years microwave and lightwave semiconductor experience to the company, holding previous positions at TRW, Avantek, Hewlett-Packard Co. and Spectrian.

Illinois Superconductor Corp. has named Dennis Craig to its newly created VP, manufacturing position. Most recently, Craig was manufacturing operations manager in the component products group of Motorola Inc.

Oak Frequency Control Group has announced two new staff members, including John Jutila , VP, sales and marketing, and William Shartle , VP, human resources. Previously, Jutila was VP, international sales at Laser Communications, and Shartle was sales director at Lear Corp.

James S. Cable has joined Peregrine Semiconductor Corp. as VP, technology and operations. Formerly, Cable was manager, technology and fab operations at Hughes Microelectronics Center.

Ted Bettes has been named VP, marketing at SUSS Advanced Lithography Inc. Most recently, Bettes was senior product marketing manager at Silicon Valley Group.

American Microsystems Inc. has named John Rankin sales manager for Japan and Southeast Asia. Most recently, Rankin was marketing/operations manager of the company's Standard Products Division.

NEC America Inc. has appointed Becky Coyne manager, marketing and sales for the microwave radio department of the radio communications systems division. Previously, Coyne was responsible for sales of microwave products, systems and services at Harris Corp.'s Farinon Division.

Michael D. Magidson has been named to the board of directors at General Microwave Corp. Currently, Magidson is the executive VP at Gerald Metals Inc.

Magnum Microwave, a subsidiary of REMEC Inc., has named Christopher J. Prior director of space products. Most recently, Prior led the space program and business development efforts at Watkins-Johnson Co.

Arthur R. Ekroos has joined RF Neulink, a division of RF Industries Ltd., as director of marketing and sales. Previously, Ekroos was VP of Saber Equipment Corp.

New Web Sites

B+K Precision has formed a new Web site at http:// www.bkprecision.com/. The company's e-mail address is gelmore@bkprecision.com@enteract.

Environmentally safe manufacturing and service product supplier CAIG Laboratories , San Diego, CA, has developed a Web site to feature products, photographs, technical information, material safety data sheets, and frequently asked technical questions and answers. The site can be accessed at http://www.caig.com.

Version 6.0 of Electronics Search FAQ , a resource that provides information concerning the locations of FAQ reports on electronic engineering, how to search the Web and the best Web sites for design engineering information, is available for free access on the Internet. New in the version is Smart Semiconductor Search, a Web search engine that uses HARVEST technology to query the Web sites of major vendors simultaneously. The site can be accessed at http://www.eetoolbox.com/srcnet.htm.

High performance analog IC provider Linear Technology Corp. , Milpitas, CA, has launched a new Web site providing access to the company's technical publications, including data sheets, application notes, design ideas and articles in the company's publications. Other areas in the site include help, news and information about the company and its sales offices. The site address is http://www.linear-tech.com.

Microwave laminate, HV/RF capacitor and engineering-grade plastic supplier Polyflon Co. , Norwalk, CT, has launched a new Web site. The site provides product and processing information, and includes data sheets that can be printed from the site. The Web address is http://www.polyflon.com.

SRC Cables Inc. 's new Web site features free samples of its semirigid and flexible cable assemblies, and microwave absorber products. The site can be accessed at http://www.src-cables.com

SSB Technologies Inc. , Union, NJ, has designed a new Web site that includes information about the company and its two divisions, Stealth Microwave , a producer of RF/microwave amplifiers and Mobile Heat , a supplier of RF induction generators. Other sections include product specifications, a technical review of linearized amplifiers, business links to other sites and job opportunities. The home page can be accessed at http://www.ssbtech.com.

Storm Products Co. , Hinsdale, IL, has developed a Web page that includes information about its RF/microwave flexible and semirigid cable assemblies through 40 GHz, and an overview of fiber-optic wire, cable, discrete assemblies, power cord and tubing products. Quotes and literature can also be requested from the site. The site address is http:www.stormproducts.com.

The correct Web site address for Piezo Crystal Co. is http://www.piezo-crystal.com not http://www.piezocrystal. com as published in the February issue.