INDUSTRY NEWS
SEMX Corp.'s wholly owned subsidiary Polese Co., San Diego, CA, recently acquired the technology and assets of Engelhard Corp.'s electroless gold plating business in Anaheim, CA. Operations will continue in this facility until July, when the business will be relocated to San Diego. Specific terms of the cash transaction were not disclosed.
American Zettler has purchased the Siemens production line for the D2 telecom relay. More than 250 million of these relays have been sold worldwide under the P/N V23042. During the last several years, it has been used more and more in signal and industrial applications and is now offered under American Zettler P/N AZ832.
Powertel Inc. has agreed to purchase a 49.9 percent equity interest in Eliska Wireless Ventures I Inc., an entity in which Eliska Wireless Investors I L.P. and Sonera Corp. are also investing. Sonera has agreed to purchase approximately $125 M in Powertel common stock to help fund Powertel's investment in Eliska. In a separate transaction, Eliska Wireless Ventures I Inc. has agreed to purchase the assets and assume certain liabilities relating to the PCS operation of DiGiPH PCS Inc. for $375 M, subject to certain adjustments.
Applied Wave Research Inc. (AWR), El Segundo, CA, has signed a definitive agreement to acquire ICUCOM Corp., a privately held EDA firm headquarted in Troy, NY. AWR will also acquire ICUCOM's sofware development engineers and technical support personnel. Financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed.
Smiths Industries is expanding its interconnect activities with the purchase of Florida RF Labs Inc., a leading US supplier of microwave resistor products and cable assemblies for the telecom and defense industries. The $25.8 M cash transaction includes the freehold of land and buildings occupied by the company.
SoFast has agreed to purchase Vyyo Inc.'s second generation DOCSIS+ system for its Great Falls, MT customers. The system will enable SoFast to take advantage of a series of wireless enhancements allowing for robust service in the wireless MMDS frequencies licensed for two-way communications.
Microcosm Technologies Inc., Cary, NC, has acquired Coyote Systems Inc., San Francisco, CA. The purchase was made for an undisclosed amount of Microcosm stock. All Coyote employees have been offered and accepted positions with Microcosm.
The underwriters of Vyyo Inc.'s recent initial public offering have exercised their option to purchase the entire over allotment of 1,012,500 shares of common stock. The additional shares bring the total offering size to 7,762,500 shares at $13.50 per share. The initial offering of 6,750,000 shares was completed on April 10.
MITEQ Inc., Hauppage, NY, announced that it has reached an agreement to acquire substantially all of the assets of MCL Inc., Bolingbrook, IL. The alliance of the two companies will facilitate and accelerate new product development, improve customer service and expand capabilities in the growing communication market.
Comtech PST has acquired Hill Engineering Inc., Topsfield, MA. This acquisition complements and augments its established product line of solid state high power RF amplifiers and amplifier subsystems.
CTS Corp.'s CRS Wireless Components Business Group has completed the structuring of the group into four individual strategic business units. The four units that now comprise the CTS Wireless Group are: CTS RF Integrated Modules; CTS RF Crystal and Oscillator Products; CTS RF Ceramic and SAW Filter Products; and CTS Piexoelectric Products.
Volex Group p.l.c. has formed a new operating unit for RF products to be called Volex RF Technologies. The unit will provide the engineering expertise, customer support and excellence in manufacturing processes for RF products on a global bases for the rapidly growing telecommunications market segment.
RF Micro Devices Inc., Greensboro, NC, announced a major organizational change with the establishment of its Advanced Development Group, a research and development group that will focus on next-generation technology in the areas of RFIC design, packaging and semiconductor processes. In related news, the company announced the opening of a new 6000-square-foot engineering design center in the Phoenix, AZ area. Located in Chandler, AZ, the new facility will feature engineering offices, fully equipped labs and CAD equipment. Designs will be manufactured using GaAs HBT, Si and SiGe technologies. In related news, the company has established its first local European sales and support center. The office, located at Reading along the M4 corridor, houses a UK-based support staff of sales representatives and design engineers.
Intercept Technology Inc. has opened a new office in Scottsdale, AZ. The office will drive the West Coast marketing and support of the company's PCB/Hybrid/ MCM software applications.
TEMEX Components announced the establishment of a subsidiary company in the Philippines. Initially, the workshop will employ about 50 people with the number growing to 150 when new product lines are added.
CST of America Inc. and SONNET have established a worldwide technical, marketing and sales cooperation. Through this agreement a software bundle containing the very best planar and 3D simulation tools is now being marketed.
QUALCOMM CDMA Technologies and Ericsson Technologies announced an agreement to jointly develop and market the world's first technology solution supporting the Bluetooth standard and the CDMA digital wireless standard.
Karl Suss has extended an agreement with International SEMATECH that will continue International SEMATECH's review and evaluation of Suss' Falcon Microlithography Coating Cluster system. While the tool is currently qualified for 0.25 mm CD production processes, International SEMATECH will continue its evaluation procedures until the Falcon is qualified for 0.18 mm CD production. Financial details of the new agreement were not announced.
EMCORE has entered into agreement with Motorola to supply it with epitaxial tools, wireless electronic materials and technology. The relationship includes supplying Motorola with epitaxial process technology and multiple MOCVD tools, as well as purchase orders for electronic device epitaxial wafers.
Chomerics, a division of Parker Hannifin Corp., and Cambridge Tool, a division of Leggett and Platt Corp., have formed a strategic alliance to provide electromagnetic interference shielding housings for electronic equipment such as telecommunication base stations. Both companies will continue to independently provide their respective products.
Ace Technology, Chatsworth, CA, has selected Parker RF Technologies (PRT), Tampa, FL, as an authorized distributor of the company's new PCS Ultra Slim In-building Repeaters and accessories. PRT will be responsible for sales in a 16 state territory primarily in the southern US. They will also have sales responsibility for Mexico.
Lucent Technologies USA and KMW Korea have reached a general-purchase agreement under which Lucent has named KMW a worldwide supplier of high technology components for IMT-2000. Lucent Technologies' audit team reviewed KMW and its facilities for a six-month period before granting KMW this status.
ANADIGICS Inc. has begun production volume shipments of two power amplifiers to support Ericsson's award-winning A1228d TDMA mobile phone.
Broadband wireless Internet access provider Sioux Valley Wireless, Coleman, SD, has installed a second-generation multichannel multipoint distribution system developed by Vyyo Inc. into its network. This installation marks the first commercial deployment of Vyyo's second-generation systems. Sioux Valley Wireless has made high speed Internet access available to its subscribers using Vyyo's wireless hub and wireless subscriber modems.
Motorola Broadband Communications Sector has selected ANADIGICS' ARA1400I reverse amplifier for use in its CentriQ 1000 Communications Gateway product. The CentriQ 1000 links home-based communications systems to an external cable television system, delivering voice, data and video to the home.
Gabriel Electronics, Scarborough, ME, was chosen to manufacture and provide microwave antennas for the longest continuous wireless network in the world. This reallocation system project clears the 1.9 GHz band for the new PCS licensees in Chile. Originating from the city of Arica, on the northern coast of Chile, this telecommunications network stretches 1863 miles to Puerto Montt in southern Chile.
Circuit Assembly (CA) received patent number 5,971,793 as the second in a series of patents covering its Ultra ATA connector. The first one covered the internal ground bus bar technology and this one focuses on the company's unique method of mass-terminating ribbon cable to a connector.
Comtech PST Corp. a division of Comtech Telecommunications Corp. has successfully completed a recertification audit of their ISO 9001:1994 Quality System.
Pascall Electronics has won the Queen's Award for Enterprise, the highest honor given to a UK company.
ISO 15693-2, a communications protocol proposed by Texas Instruments and Philips Semiconductors was unanimously voted an international standard by the International Standards Organization. The protocol defines the way data is exchanged between the RF tag and reader.
FINANCIAL NEWS
ANADIGICS Inc., Warren, NJ, reported a record net sales of $43.0 M for the first quarter ended April 2, 2000 compared to $25.0 M for the first quarter last year. Net income was $5.7 M for the quarter (18¢/diluted share) compared with a net income of $1.2 M (5¢/diluted share) for the same period last year.
Alpha Industries Inc. reported record net sales of $56.9 M for the fourth quarter ended April 2, 2000 compared to $34.3 M for the fourth quarter last year. Operating income for the quarter was $9.7 M (20¢/share) up 74 percent over the same period last year.
SEMX Corp. reported a net income of $843 K (14¢/share) for the three month period ended March 31, compared to $250 K (4¢/share) for the same period last year, a 237 percent increase excluding the gain on the sale of the company's connector business in February 1999.
Murata Electronics North America Inc., Smyrna, GA, announced 50 percent growth in its Design Win Registration Products Program. This program, primarily targeted for specific wireless components, helped the company reach record overall sales. Both HF inductors and microwave increased over 100 percent in unit growth (50 percent revenue increase), ceramic filters climbed 36 percent in unit growth (31 percent revenue increase) and resonators grew 20 percent (10 percent revenue increase).
American Technical Ceramics Corp., Huntington Station, NY, announced record sales of $18.424 M for the third quarter ended March 31, 2000 compared to $9.954 M for the same quarter last year. Net income was $3.202 M (78¢/diluted share), compared to a net income of $966 K (25¢/diluted share) for the third quarter of 1999.
Ansoft Corp., Pittsburgh, PA, announced sales of $10.8 M for the fourth quarter ended April 30 up 40 percent for the same quarter last year. Revenue for the full fiscal year was $33.5 M, compared to $24.5 M for the prior fiscal year. Pro forma net income for the fourth quarter was $1.7 M (13¢/diluted share), compared to a net income of $565 K (5¢/diluted share) for the same quarter last year. Pro forma net income for the fiscal year was $1.8 M (14¢/diluted share) compared to a pro forma net loss of $1.6 M (14¢/diluted share) last fiscal year.
Super Conductor Technologies Inc., Santa Barbara, CA, reports sales of $2.281 M for the first quarter, ended April 1, compared to $1.491 M for the same quarter last year. Net loss was $2.9 M (25 cents/share), compared to a net loss of $2.616 M (34 cents/share) for the first quarter of 1999. In related news, the company has received commercial product purchase orders for the month of April in excess of $1 M.
PERSONNEL
Christopher C. Bernhardt
Stellex Technologies, New York, NY, has announced the hiring of Christopher C. Bernhardt as its president and CEO. Most recently, Bernhardt served as president of Litton Data Systems.
SEMX Corp.'s parent company division SPM appointed Charles P. Cochran president effective June 1. Previously, Cochran worked with Polese Company in San Diego, CA. In related news, the company announced that its wholly owned subsidiary American Silicon Products has appointed James L. Wallis VP of sales and marketing. Previously, Wallis was at Komatsu Silicon where he held positions as director of sales and marketing and regional sales director.
The board of directors for Micro Networks Corp. has elected Michael J. Ferrantino as chairman. Ferrantino assumes the title in addition to his current position as president and CEO. In related news, the company has appointed Al Tassone East Coast regional sales manager and Dr. Frank Z. Bi director of SAW R&D. Most recently, Tassone worked as the product marketing manager at Linx Communications while Bi held a senior SAW technical position at Vectron International, USA. The company also hired Lee Ann Gibree as customer service supervisor. She was previously the supervisor and customer advocate at Data General Corporation.
Jeffery Wheeler has joined TestMart as CFO and Michael Comstock has been appointed the VP of op- erations. Wheeler has a long career of building start-ups to leading turnarounds in mature industries while Comstock joins the company after a 23-year logistics career at DHL.
Microwave Power Devices Inc., Hauppauge, NY, has appointed Thomas Gilboy as VP and CFO. Gilboy's career includes more than 20 years of experience in public accounting, banking and industry, most recently as an independent consultant working with public and private companies in interim CFO or business systems development roles.
Gregory J. Smith
Gregory J. Smith has been named VP, operations at VertexRSI. Smith brings more than 25 years experience in engineering, marketing and operations management to VertexRSI. Most recently, he served as VP of worldwide operations for AVEX Electronics Inc.
Murata Electronics appointed Jiro Miyazaki VP of marketing. In this newly created position, Miyazaki will be responsible for product marketing, segment marketing, geographic marketing as well as marketing systems. Most recently, Miyazaki served as the GM for sales and marketing in the western region of Japan.
Michael J. Gregory
James K. Wood
Barry Industries named Michael J. Gregory VP of manufacturing. Gregory has been with Barry for 12 years and is the former GM of the Teflon Circuits Divion. In related news, James K. Wood has been appointed director of marketing. Wood has more than 25 years experience in international marketing and distribution of communications systems.
CTS Corp. has named James A. Hart VP and GM of the RF Crustal and Oscillator Products business unit. Hart comes to the company with over 15 years of engineering, manufacturing and general management experience within the electronics industry.
Edward Mathieu
IFR Systems Inc. has made a series of personnel appointments. Edward Mathieu was named director of marketing and business development. Rob Barden was appointed senior product marketing manager for radio test systems and Jerry Mendez head of the company's technical services group.
Dave Fryklund
Mark Comerford
Alpha Industries Inc. has announced a pair of new personnel appointments. Dave Fryklund was promoted to GM, RF GaAs control IC products. Previously, Fryklund held the position of director of commercial IC products. Also, Mark Comerford was promoted to GM discrete semiconductor and passive integrated circuit division. Most recently Comerford was business unit director, discrete products.
Pavel A.Kolodin
Channel Microwave Corp. named Pavel A. Kolodin chief engineer for new products. He joined the company after leaving P & H Laboratories.
James M LaNeve has been named Controller for CTS Corp.'s RF Integrated Modules business in West Layayett, IN. LaNeve has over 15 years of federal tax, acquisitions/di- vestitures, SEC reporting, financial planning and strategic planning experience, most recently as planning and budgeting manager at CTS Corp.'s corporate offices.
Hidetoshi Toya
Champion Technologies Inc. has appointed Hidetoshi Toya manager of Asian affairs. Toya will assume a broad spectrum of responsibilities involving marketing, sales, materials, supply and joint ventures between the company and Asian-based companies.
James Smelcer was named director of manufacturing, North America at Robinson Nugent Inc. Smelcer was promoted from plant manager for the company's Dallas, TX manufacturing plant.
Rangestar Wireless has appointed Bruce Bishop director of Bluetooth and Wireless Internet and Skip Powers director of Bluetooth Business Development. Previously, Bishop held various senior management positions at TECOM Industries, EATON Corp. and Hewlett-Packard while Powers co-founded Silicon Wave Inc. and held senior management positions with Peregrine Semiconductor Corp. and Xtar Corp.
CONTRACTS
Superconductor Technologies Inc. has received a new contract from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) to develop "Totally Agile RF-sensor Systems" (TASS). The initial 18-month contract is for $7.3 M and DARPA has authorized an initial funding increment of $3.4 M.
Karl Suss has completed a significant multiple tool contract for track and cluster systems from a leading global chip maker headquartered in the US. The new equipment is part of an overall expansion of the customer's European facility. The value of the contract is in excess of several million dollars.
Nokia of Finland has selected Comsearch's premier microwave path design software tool IQ-Link to assist in the design of the microwave interconnect for Italy's BLU GSM network. The deal is valued at more than $200 K in software licenses and support.
Signal Technology Corp., Danvers, MA, has been awarded a $3.6 M contract to manufacture 112 x 112 audio/video switches for Raytheon Systems, Green- ville division. The contract not only procures additional switch matrices, but also provides funding for system enhancements.
Interstate Electronics Corp., a division of L-3 Communications Corp., has entered into an agreement with Systems & Electronics Inc. (SEI) to provide its Warrior Vision flat-panel displays for the US Army's Striker Program, which allows increased ability for forward observation and reconaissance. Initial shipments of the 12.1" ruggedized flat displays are scheduled to begin in September.
Communications and Power Industries Satcom Division, Palo Alto, CA, has signed an agreement to supply equipment to Unique Broadband Systems, which will in turn provide equipment to Hughes Network Systems for the XM Radio DARS system. The contract is valued at nearly $14 M.
Aethercomm Inc., San Marcos, CA, was awarded a contract by Metric Systems Corp., Fort Walton Beach, FL, for the manufacture of 70 S-band, 100 W solid state power amplifiers for use on URITS system. Financial terms were not disclosed.
RF Micro Devices Inc., Greensboro, NC, announced that it has received production orders to supply the RF2132 power amplifier to Ericcson for use in their first cellular CDMA handset, the A1228c. Terms of the agreement were not disclosed.
Andrew Corp. has been selected by Ericsson Radio Systems AB as a preferred supplier for Ericcson's global buildout of new and existing GSM wireless communications sites. The multimillion dollar ongoing agreement will include several thousand sites throughout the world.
EMS Technologies Inc. has received an order through its Space and Technology Group in Montreal for more than 15,000 broadband satellite interactive terminals from Kokua Communications Inc. The order is valued at $52 M.
REP APPOINTMENTS
Barry Industries Inc., Attleboro, MA, announced a series of sales representative appointments. Link Microtek Ltd. has been appointed representative for the United Kingdom, C-Wave Inc. has come on board for Southern California and TK Technologies Inc. will cover Northern Illinois and Eastern Wisconsin.
Fujitsu Compound Semiconductor Inc., San Jose, CA, has named S&S Technology Inc., Northridge, CA, as its new sales representative to sell microwave products in its southern California territory. The company also appointed Arthur, Harris & Associates to sell the company's products in North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi and Tennessee.
Hittite Microwave Corp., Chelmsford, MA, has appointed Seki Technotron Corp. as its official representative in Japan and MicroElit S.P.A. as its official representative in Italy.
American Technical Ceramics (ATC) is now the first RF/Microwave capacitor manufacturer to offer customers secure on-line ordering for capacitor design kits. The complete line of new multilayer capacitor design kits may be ordered using Visa, Mastercard or American Express. The Web site, www.atceramics.com, also provides pdf files of complete product data sheets and technical notes as well as the latest company news.
Sapphire Design Automation, Santa Clara, CA, has launched a new Web site, www.NoiseCorrect.com. The site is set up to provide electronic chip and system designers a way to avoid and correct noise in their semi-custom designs using the Web. It gives designers access to tutorial as well as services and software that eliminate noise from designs.
Powercube's Web site www.powercube.com now features a new look for easier navigation, updated product information, comprehensive new product reviews and a literature request page for easy receipt of datasheets and application notes. In addition to the new offerings, the site provides all of the latest information on power converters and their use in power supplies, including standard usage and operating basics.