Around the Circuit

Around the Circuit

Industry News

Microwave transmission system module provider REMEC Inc. , San Diego, CA, has completed its merger with microwave component manufacturer Radian Technology Inc. Jim Mongillo, CEO of Radian, will become a VP at REMEC and will continue in his current position at Radian. Radian shareholders and optionholders were expected to receive approximately 700,000 shares of REMEC common stock in the transaction.

Electromagnetic absorbing material manufacturer Emerson & Cuming Microwave Products Inc. , Canton, MA, has opened two new European offices in the UK and France. The new facilities, located in London and Issy Les Moulineaux, respectively, will provide direct sales engineering and applications support for the company's microwave materials and anechoic chamber products.

Circuit-protection device developer Littelfuse Inc. , Des Plaines, IL, has opened a sales office and warehouse in Sao Paulo, Brazil. The facility will service customers in Brazil, other South American countries and Littelfuse's global partners with facilities in South America.

Electronic design automation (EDA) software manufacturer MicroSim Corp. , Irvine, CA, has formed a wholly owned subsidiary in Japan, Microsim Japan Company Ltd. All documentation, manuals and software will be translated for the Japanese EDA market and the company will provide full customer support to Japanese designers.

San Jose, CA-based RF identification proximity reader manufacturer Indala Corp. , a wholly owned subsidiary of Motorola Inc. , has developed four European sales offices in France, Hungary, Poland and Russia. The office in France will provide sales and support to central and southern Europe, and the offices in Hungary, Poland and Russia will serve the emerging eastern European markets, including Romania, the Czech Republic and Baltic States.

Melville, NY-based high power amplifier designer Comtech Microwave Products Corp. , a subsidiary of Comtech Telecommunications Corp. , has changed its name to Comtech PST Corp. The name is derived from the productive relationship between the subsidiary and its primary operating unit, Power Systems Technology Division .

In a attempt to consolidate manufacturing, COMSAT RSI Plexsys Wireless Systems , Corinth, MS, is moving its manufacturing facility to Sterling, VA. The company reports that a Virginia facility will bring production closer to its research and development work, and sales and marketing activities. The company is also introducing a new product line in Virginia.

Field-programmable gate array provider (FPGA) Actel Corp. , Sunnyvale, CA, has named I&C Microsystems Company Ltd. , Seoul, Korea, its new distribution partner in Korea. I&C will assume responsibility immediately for all FPGA customers supported previously by ANAM S&T Company Ltd. , Actel's former distributor. In related news, Actel has announced it is donating 10 of its designer series 3.1 systems to the University of Fudan in Shanghai, China for use in the university's electrical engineering curriculum. Students will use the comprehensive electronic design automation tool in application-specific IC and FPGA design courses.

The Antenna Specialists Division of Allen Telecom Group , Cleveland, OH, has expanded its inventory management agreement with wireless communications equipment provider Brightpoint Inc. Under the expanded agreement, Brightpoint's feature distribution program will include Antenna Specialists' APM 923 On-Glass®, ASPM 917 elevated-feed, ASPM 1950 rooftop and ASPM 1954 magnet-mount antennas from the division's new line of personal communications service (PCS) mobile antennas. The original agreement called for Antenna Specialists to exclusively supply private-label cellular antennas nationally and internationally for Brightpoint's Mobile America and Brightlink product lines.

Analog Devices Inc. (ADI) , Norwood, MA, has licensed military and aerospace IC manufacturer TEMIC Semiconductors to manufacture its ADSP-21020 digital signal processor (DSP). TEMIC is also developing a radiation-tolerant version of the product that will be pin and code compatible with ADI's standard products. TEMIC's version of the DSP will be marketed as the TSC21020E and fabricated in the company's Nantes, France IC foundry.

Electronic communications media supplier Aydin Corp.'s Aydin Yazilim subsidiary in Ankara, Turkey has signed an agreement with Turkish Aerospace Industries , the sole aircraft manufacturer in Turkey. The agreement calls for Aydin Yazilim to support several projects for the Turkish air force that require the company's knowledge in air and ground telemetry. The company expects the agreement to expand its opportunities for new business in Turkish military and civilian markets, as well as in Turkic countries of the former USSR.

Wireless and opto-electronic device producer California Eastern Laboratories (CEL) , Santa Clara, CA, has named MCD Electronics Inc. , Albuquerque, NM, a distributor of its line of NEC products. MCD will offer NEC photocouplers, optocoupled metal-oxide semiconductor FETs, photo transistors, PIN photo diodes and infrared GaAs light-emitting diodes throughout New Mexico, Colorado, Wyoming, Montana, Idaho, Washington, Oregon, Nevada, Arizona and California.

Ecliptek Corp. , Costa Mesa, CA, has signed Capstone Electronics as a North American distributor of its crystal, oscillator and inductive product lines.

Bell Labs , the research and development division of Lucent Technologies , has ordered a tower-mountable multichannel receive/transmit filter subsystem from superconductive electronic supplier Conductus Inc. of Sunnyvale, CA. The filter/cryocooled amplifier subsystem for PCS base stations utilizes Conductus' compact ClearSite^TM split-architecture front-end transmitter/receiver platform that incorporates filters with sharp frequency response to remove interfering signals from base station receivers. In related news, the DSP team of Lucent has selected the TAS code-division multiple access (CDMA)-LAB test system from Telecom Analysis Systems (TAS) , Eatontown, NJ, for developing its CDMA mobile station equipment. Lucent's DSP team is writing code for processors found in CDMA standard cellular telephones.

Space-qualified microelectronic supplier Space Electronics Inc. , San Diego, CA, is acquiring Megatek Corp. 's two-dimensional (2D) graphics accelerator product line for an undisclosed amount. Terms of the acquisition include all of the assets, 2D technology, production capability, inventory and key personnel required to continue the availability of the 2D series products. The companies report the sale allows for the 2D products to remain available in commercial and government projects.

High power amplifier manufacturer Wavesat Inc. , Montreal, Quebec, Canada, has signed financial partnerships with Business Development Bank of Canada and Manitex Capital Inc. Wavesat reports the deals will accelerate its research and development efforts in high power amplifier system designs, and increase manufacturing capacity.

Wireless Logic Inc. , Palo Alto, CA, and Hewlett-Packard Co. have jointly developed a customized communication test solution to ensure consistent product reliability, and save manufacturing time and costs associated with bringing new, long-range, spread spectrum cordless telephones to market. The test system comprises the HP 89020A RF communications test set, other HP instrumentation, a custom testhead with a hydraulic-assist closure and customized test-automation software.

Illinois Superconductor Corp. , Mount Prospect, IL, has conducted the first customer tests of its new PCS receiver front-end designed to extend PCS uplink cell site range. The company reports the range extension may translate into a potential 20 to 30 percent reduction in the number of cell sites required to provide complete coverage in uplink-limited PCS service areas. In related news, Illinois Superconductor has received orders for its SpectrumMaster^TM ultra-high performance RF filter equipment for cellular base stations from a major cellular operator to retrofit two urban cell sites in the US.

Wafer processor and die distributor Semi Dice Inc. , Los Alamitos, CA, is supplying radio transmitters with Sprague tantalum capacitors to American Wildlife Enterprises of Tallahassee, FL. American Wildlife will use the radio transmitters, which weigh only one gram, to track a variety of animals.

Wireless component solution provider M/A-COM Inc. , Lowell, MA, was honored recently by Lockheed Martin for delivering ahead of contract deadline. Lockheed presented M/A-COM's UK-based MAL Business Unit with a plaque for completing its contract to produce I-band transponders 12 months ahead of schedule.

Compact cooling equipment manufacturer Lytron Inc. , Woburn, MA, has been certified to the ISO 9001 quality system standard. The company reports that the certification aids in its attempt to maintain its zero-defect supplier status.

Connector manufacturer Molex Inc. , Lisle, IL, has achieved ISO 9002 certification for several of its facilities, including Molex Mexico in Nogales, Magdalena and Rio Rico; Molex Brazil in Sao Paulo and Manaus/Amazonas; and Molex Electronics Ltd. in Ontario, Canada.

High performance IC developer Peregrine Semiconductor Corp. , San Diego, CA, has announced qualification of a 3 V, 1.1 GHz integer-N phase-locked loop device manufactured using the company's CMOS UTSi® process. The device was qualified to commercial industry standards using commercial external vendor supplies. The qualification included reliability test results that show the small outline IC device meets or exceeds industry-standard reliability requirements with zero rejects on the two life tests after 1000 hours, and zero rejects after other environmental stress tests.

Finacial News

Northrop Grumman reports sales of $8.1 B for the year, ended December 31, 1996, compared to $6.8 B last year. Net income was $252 M ($5.11/share) last year. Sales were $2.3 B for the fourth quarter, compared to $1.8 B for the same period last year.

Glenayre Technologies Inc. reports sales of $390.2 M for the year, ended December 31, 1996, compared to $321.4 M last year. Net income was $76.4 M ($1.22/share) last year. Sales were $104.2 M for the fourth quarter, compared to $98.5 M for the same period last year.

Watkins-Johnson Co. reports sales of $438.3 M for the year, ended December 31, 1996, compared to $387 M last year. Net income was $31.4 M ($3.54/share) last year. Sales were $94.2 M for the fourth quarter, compared to $96.5 M for the fourth quarter last year.

Stanford Telecommunications Inc. reports sales of $42 M for the third quarter, ended December 31, 1996, compared to $36.4 M for the same period last year. Net income was $2 M (30¢/share), compared to $1.6 M (25¢/share) for the same period last year. In related news, Stanford Telecom's board of directors declared a two-for-one stock split recently in the form of a stock dividend. Shareholders of record as of February 10 were issued an additional share of common stock for each share held already.

Robinson Nugent Inc. reports sales of $20.1 M for the second quarter, ended December 31, 1996, compared to $20 M for the same period last year. Net income was $138 K (3¢/share), compared to a net loss of $56 K (1¢/share) for the same period last year.

Ansoft Corp. reports sales of $3.6 M for the third quarter, ended January 31, compared to $2.2 M for the same period last year. Net income was $467 K (6¢/share), compared to $187 K (3¢/share) for the same period last year.

Due to a three-for-two stock split by declaration of a stock dividend paid in February, ANADIGICS Inc. has filed a registration statement with the Securities and Exchange Commission regarding a proposed common stock offering of up to approximately 2.3 million shares. Approximately 1.9 million shares are expected to be offered by the company and 166,513 shares are expected to be offered by selling stockholders. ANADIGICS has granted the underwriters an over-allotment option to purchase up to an additional 306,226 newly issued shares.

Andrew Corp. has split its common stock three shares for two for shareholders of record as of March 11. The company reports this is the fifth year it has been able to split the stock. Reportedly, the action will increase the number of the company's shares in the marketplace substantially.

Wiltron Co. , a wholly owned subsidiary of Anritsu Corp. of Tokyo, Japan, achieved $101.3 M in sales in 1996 - a 35 percent increase from 1995.

Wireless cable system supplier Finline Technologies Ltd. has closed an equity financing consisting of one million common shares. The Alberta Stock Exchange (ASE) in Canada approved the listing of the company's shares, which began trading on the ASE in January under the abbreviated name FIN.

Personnel

AJA International has appointed John P. McGuire VP, sales. Previously, McGuire was a product manager with MKS Instruments.

Norm Feigenbaum has been named VP, marketing at KMW Inc. Formerly, Feigenbaum was director of marketing and engineering at Sensor Systems.

Stanford Telecommunications has named Kent Vandenberg worldwide sales director. Prior to joining the company, Vandenberg was director of marketing and strategic account sales at Synergy Semiconductor Corp.

Alpha Industries has made two new personnel appointments, including Cheryl Ducharme as marketing com-munication manager, and Ralph Marrone as digital radio receiver business center director. Formerly, Ducharme was marketing communication manager at M/A-COM Inc., and Marrone was new business development manager, RF communications at Hewlett-Packard Co.

Jon Siann has been named director of marketing at Peregrine Semiconductor Corp. Prior to joining the company, Siann was product line manager at the Brooktree Division of Rockwell Semiconductor Systems.

SiCOM Inc. has made two new personnel appointments, including Rene Savalle , director of marketing, and Dan Vannatter , director of business development. Most recently, Savalle was business development manager at Andrew Corp. and Vannatter was a colonel in the US Army.

The Indala Corp. subsidiary of Motorola Inc. has named Mark Mabee central regional sales manager for its line of access-control products. Previously, Mabee developed sales force automation for a subsidiary of IBM Corp.

Quantum Epitaxial Designs Inc. has added four GaAs molecular beam epitaxy engineers to its technical staff, including Arthur Cornfeld as staff scientist, Larry Leung as senior engineer, W.K. "Amy" Liu as senior research engineer and Fred Towner as senior engineer. Previously, Cornfeld was with the US Army Night Vision Laboratory, Leung was with Alpha Industries, Liu was with the University of Oklahoma's Laboratory for Electronic Properties of Materials and Towner was with Lockheed Martin.

Manfred J. Schindler has been appointed engineering manager at ATN Microwave Inc. Previously, Schindler managed the Microwave Circuits Research Laboratory at Raytheon Microelectronics.

Monty Rohde has been named plant manager at the battery division of Centurion International Inc. Most recently, Rohde was engineering manager at the company.

Semflex Inc. has named R.E. "Bob" Davies manager, quality assurance. Most recently, Davies was director, quality assurance at ITT Cannon.

Contracts

Nashua, NH-based Sanders , a Lockheed Martin company, has been awarded a $70.7 M contract from the Joint Airborne Signals Intelligence (SIGINT) program office to develop and demonstrate the joint SIGINT avionics family low band subsystem (LBSS). The LBSS is a key element in the upgrade of the US Army, Navy and Air Force airborne SIGINT capabilities. Terms of the contract call for Sanders to design, develop, integrate and flight test four demonstration units. Work will begin immediately and the first development unit is scheduled to be delivered in June 1999. Sanders will serve as prime contractor and system integrator, and will also develop signal-processing hardware and software for the system. In related news, Sanders has received a $56 M contract from the Department of the Navy for continued production of AN/SRS-1A combat direction-finding systems for installation on Navy ships. Under the terms of the contract, Sanders will provide seven systems consisting of distributed deck-edge and mast-mounted antenna arrays and equipment racks, and three upgrade field kits for deliveries over the next two years. The contract also includes options for 16 additional systems to be delivered through 2002.

Raytheon Electronic Systems (RES) , Bedford, MA, has been awarded a $44.5 M contract from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) for its integrated terminal weather system. The contract calls for the design, development and production of four prototype systems, and options for an additional 33 systems. The system will acquire data from various FAA and National Weather Service terminal area weather sensors to provide a unified set of automated safety and planning/capacity improvement weather products for use by pilots, air traffic controllers and supervisors, and terminal area automation systems. In related news, the US Navy's Space and Naval Warfare Systems Command has selected RES to provide AN/WSC-6 super high frequency (SHF) satellite communication antennas, which provide secure command and control communications over military or commercial satellites. The contract calls for an initial award of $1.1 M to provide four 2.4 m shipboard SHF antennas. Options for 26 additional antennas include the potential for $7.3 M in funding.

Design software developer Tanner Research Inc. , Pasadena, CA, has been awarded a three-year Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) contract totaling $5 M. The contract calls for the development of a comprehensive and affordable microelectrical-mechanical system design tool suite, which will include full custom layout and editing; solid model generation; three-dimensional and cross-section visualization; mechanical, electrical and thermal mixed-domain analysis; and behavioral model generation. The award is part of the DARPA composite CAD program to help fund design tools for mix-technology chips.

Microwave, electronic and fiber-optic product developer General Microwave Corp. , Amityville, NY, has been awarded two contracts with a combined value of $4.5 M for the delivery of integrated microwave assemblies to undisclosed customers. The contracts call for the design and production of more than 1600 units over a one-year period for use in electronic warfare simulators for the US Government.

Rep Appointments

Microwave & Video Systems Inc. (MVS) , Danbury, CT, has appointed Peninsula Technical Sales of Mountain View and Sacramento, CA to represent its products in northern California and northern Nevada. Additional representation is being sought to service foreign and domestic markets.

Space Electronics Inc. , San Diego, CA, has appointed Rep' France to represent its products in France. Products Rep' France will market include Space Electronics' memories; FIFOs; processors; coprocessors; and analog, logic and interface devices.

New Web Sites

Channel Microwave Corp. , Camarillo, CA, has developed a new Web site to provide information about the company and its products designed for PCS, cellular and microwave applications. The Web address is http://www.channelmicrowave.com. The company can also be reached via e-mail at info@ channelmicrowave.com.

Comtech Antenna Systems Inc. and Comtech Systems Inc. , St. Cloud, FL, have established a new Web site to provide information about the companies' satellite and troposcatter antennas, and antenna systems. The site address is http://www.comtechsystems.com.

Ecliptek Corp. , Costa Mesa, CA, has redesigned its Web site to feature a part number generator for standard and custom products, price and delivery requests, application notes, a rep and distributor locator, and corporate information. The interactive part number generation guide allows the user to enter key parameters to generate any of the company's part numbers. The pricing and delivery section of the site allows the user to submit a request to the company for a response within 24 hours. The site address is http://www.ecliptek.com and the company's e-mail address is ecsales@ecliptek.com.

Oscillator and crystal manufacturer Fox Electronics , Fort Myers, FL, has developed a new Web site that provides detailed technical data on the company's product line, a list of sales representatives and distributors, a company overview, details on delivery programs, and quote requests and e-mail response forms. The site can be accessed at http://www.foxonline.com.

Terrestrial microwave antenna producer Gabriel Electronics Inc. , Scarborough, ME, has designed a Web site with three categories, including general information about the company's history, technical information on products, and e-mail and coming events. The site address is http://www.gabrielnet.com.

International Manufacturing Services Inc. (IMS) , Portsmouth, RI, has established a new Web site that can be accessed at http://www.ims-resistors.com. The company's e-mail address is ims@ims-resistors.com.

LCF Enterprises , Camarillo, CA, has established a Web site that highlights its transmit/receive amplifier subsystems, amplifier modules and rack-mounted amplifier systems. The site address is http://www.lcfamps.com. The company can also be reached via e-mail at info@lcfamps.com.