INDUSTRY NEWS
* Rockwell Collins, a business of Rockwell International Corp., has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire display solution supplier K Systems Inc. The purchase price is approximately $300 M.
* Cree Inc. has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire UltraRF, a division of Spectrian Corp., through an asset purchase transaction. Under the terms of the agreement, Cree will purchase UltraRF assets and assume certain liabilities in exchange for approximately 908,000 shares of common stock and $30 M cash.
* REMEC Inc. has sold all of its interest in SkyOnline Inc. for $12 M to other SkyOnline shareholders. SkyOnline provides satellite and terrestrial wireless-based data, voice and Internet services in developing markets. In related news, the company has signed a development and license agreement with Cisco Systems Inc. Under the agreement, REMEC will develop, produce and market access radio transceivers, which will allow enterprises such as corporate campuses, colleges and universities to obtain high speed Internet access and exchange data, voice and video.
* Anritsu Co. has announced a corporate restructuring designed to meet increasing customer needs and an escalating customer base. The restructuring will result in accelerated product development, and enhanced sales and marketing efficiency. Part of the restructuring will also place a stronger commitment and focus on mobile communications and the Internet, two segments in which the company is experiencing tremendous growth.
* Seavey Engineering Associates Inc. has formed SEA Consulting Services, a new division of antenna engineering experts to help both small and large businesses in the microwave, wireless or satellite communications fields.
* Coherent Inc. has created two new groups, Coherent Photonics Group (CPG) and Coherent Telecom-Actives Group (CTAG). The photonics group merges the operations of Coherent's Auburn Group, Laser Group and Semiconductor Group.
* Research Triangle Institute has spun off a company to commercialize a technology that could change the way electronics companies integrate semiconductors in their products. The company, Ziptronix Inc., has secured $6.5 M in venture capital.
* Tensolite RF/Microwave Division, formerly Quality Microwave Interconnects (QMI), has moved to 23 Frontage Rd., Andover, MA 01810 (800) 362-3539, fax (978) 475-1583. Additional information is available at www.tensolite.com.
* RIFOCS Corp. has moved its Components Division to a new 20,000 square-foot facility in Camarillo, CA. The facility provides additional manufacturing space for the rapidly growing division, which currently employs 60 people.
* Alpha Industries has delivered additional volume shipments of GaAs and RF components for Metricom Inc.'s high speed Ricochet™ mobile data network. Alpha's shipments include GaAs switches, silicon RF semiconductor devices and other components.
* Quad Systems Corp. will cooperate with Ryoko Sangyo, a Mitsubishi company, to develop the Japanese market for soldering ovens. The two companies are committed to define and respond to the Japanese market's requirements.
* QUALCOMM Inc. and Spirent Communications have entered into a CDMA test equipment license agreement. Under the terms of the agreement, QUALCOMM has granted Spirent a royalty-bearing license to use its CDMA technology and patents to design and market test equipment products for current and third-generation CDMA and 1xEV (HDR) applications.
* NurLogic Design Inc. has signed an agreement with IBM to offer high performance standard cell and I/O components to customers of IBM's silicon germanium (SiGe) 0.25-micron process technology. Under this agreement, IBM will have access to NurLogic's full 1000+ element standard cell and I/O library components.
* Schaffner EMC Inc. has expanded its distribution network for electromagnetic interference filter products through a North American distribution agreement with Pioneer-Standard Electronics Inc.
* DaimlerChrysler and Vishay Intertechnology Inc. have signed a licensing agreement that will enable Vishay to undertake the high volume manufacture of semiconductor products using DaimlerChrysler's Silicon Carbide technology.
* RF Monolithics Inc. (RFM) has signed manufacturing agreements with Automated Technology (Phil.) Inc. (ATEC) and Cirtek Electronics Corp..
* Lucent Technologies and Ensemble Communications Inc. have entered into an original equipment manufacturer (OEM) agreement to provide complete broadband wireless solutions to LMDS carriers and other broadband wireless spectrum license holders worldwide. Under the agreement, Lucent will resell Ensemble broadband wireless equipment as part of a complete, point-to-multipoint broadband wireless network solution.
* MEGA Industries has formed an alliance with A-Alpha Waveguide Co., El Segundo, CA, to become exclusive North American distributor of A-Alpha products.
* Solid State Electronics Center and RF Integration Inc. have combined forces to develop a line of high performance, low cost standard RFIC products for the wireless and broadband communications industries. The products will integrate digital and RF functions into single chips.
* Semi Dice Inc. has been named the US franchised distributor of commercial die and wafer products for HEXFET® Power MOSFET, IGBT, control IC, Schottky diode and ultra-fast recovery diode semiconductor products from International Rectifier (IR).
* Wireless Technologies Corp. has accepted an order of several thousand diplexers from Cellular Specialties Inc. (CSI). These diplexers will be used in CSI's SMR high performance repeaters and cellular extenders.
* Superconductor Technologies Inc. has received an order for $850 K of SuperFilter® Systems from a continuing customer to be deployed primarily in suburban and urban sectored CDMA cell sites across a digital network. The order brings total orders received during the quarter to $2.8 M, a record for the company.
* Harmonix Corp. has received the first Part 15 Type Certification from the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) for its flagship product, GigaLink,™ the world's fastest point-to-point wireless link to fiber.
* Rohde & Schwarz and Tektronix celebrated their seventh year in alliance for the development and distribution of leading-edge technology products for the wireless communications test market.
* Merrimac Industries Inc. has been granted a patent for its Multi-Mix™ waveguide filter from the US Patent and Trademark Office entitled "Multilayer Dielectric Evanescent Mode Waveguide Filter Utilizing Via Holes." These filters are typically found in wireless applications such as basestations, mobile radios, pagers, point-to-point and point-to-multipoint radios.
* Elanix Inc. announced that its system design and simulation software SystemView by ELANIX® and Real Time DSP Architect has passed Texas Instruments Inc. eXpressDSP™ compliance testing. This strengthens the company's partnership with Texas Instruments by providing a complete DSP development solution, from top-level system design to chip-level DSP implementation.
* American Microsystems Inc. (AMI) has delivered two million control-logic application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs) for use with the Intel® and mobile Pentium® III processors featuring Intel SpeedStep™ technology. The company expected to ship nearly three million of the ASICs by the end of 2000.
FINANCIAL NEWS
* Andrew Corp. reports record sales of $283.7 M for the fourth quarter ended September 30, 2000, compared to $215.1 M for the same period last year. Net income was $24.6 M (30¢/diluted share) compared to $13.4 M (16¢/diluted share) for the fourth quarter of 1999.
* American Microsystems Inc. (AMI) reports record sales of more than $100 M for the third quarter, up 51 percent compared to the same period last year.
* ANADIGICS Inc. reports record sales of $51.1 M for the third quarter ended September 30, 2000, compared to $35.5 M for the same period last year. Net income was $7.1 M (23¢/diluted share), compared to $2.5 M (10¢/diluted share) for the third quarter of 1999.
* American Technical Ceramics Corp. reports sales of $20.9 M for the first quarter ended September 30, 2000, compared to $11.9 M for the same period last year. Net income was $2.6 M (33¢/common share), compared to $830 K (11¢/common share) for the first quarter of 1999.
* SEMX Corp. reports record sales of $19.1 M for the third quarter, a 16.8 percent increase from the same period last year. Net income was $314 K (2¢/share).
* Advanced Power Technology Inc. reports sales of $12.1 M for the third quarter ended September 30, 2000, compared to $7.3 M for the same period last year. Net income was $1.3 M (16¢/diluted share), compared to $118 K (2¢/diluted share) for the third quarter of 1999.
* Ansoft Corp. reports sales of $9.7 M for the second quarter of FY 2001 ended October 31, 2000, compared to $7.4 M for the same period last year. Pro forma net income was $773 K (6¢/diluted share), compared to a pro forma net loss of $26 K (0¢/diluted share) for the second quarter of FY 2000.
* Merrimac Industries Inc. reports sales of $6.44 M for the third quarter ended September 30, 2000, compared to 5.33 M for the same period last year. Net income was $219 K (9¢/diluted share), compared to $119 K (6¢/diluted share) for the third quarter of 1999.
* Microwave Power Devices Inc. reports sales of $13.008 M for the third quarter, ended September 30, 2000, compared to 16.417 M for the same period last year. Net income was $277 K (3¢/diluted share), compared to $345 K (3¢/diluted share) for the third quarter of 1999.
* Illinois Superconductor Corp. reports sales of $22 K for the third quarter ended September 30, 2000, compared to $1.13 M for the same period last year. Consolidated net loss was $5.28 M (16¢/share), which included $1.62 M of non-cash interest expense, compared to $2.63 M (21¢/share), which included a non-cash interest expense of $248 K for the third quarter of 1999.
* The Board of Directors at Cree Inc.'s has approved a two-for-one stock split. The record date for the split was December 1, 2000, and the common stock was expected to begin trading on a post-split basis on December 11.
CONTRACTS
* Wireless voice and data turnkey technical consultant LCC International Inc. has been selected by Egypt's Misrfone Telecommunications Co., S.A.E., Click GSM to provide operation and maintenance services for approximately 275 sites within its Cairo network. The contract calls for LCC to provide overall supervision, coordination and administration tasks associated with the operations and maintenance of Click-GSM's cell sites.
* The US Air Force has awarded Rockwell Collins an engineering services contract to provide continued technical support of the avionics systems installed on its fleet of C/KC-135. As part of the contract, Rockwell Collins will provide engineering support for the C/KC-135 avionics suite, maintain oversight of all C/KC-135 avionics integration and assist in preserving the operational safety, suitability and effectiveness of C/KC-135 aircraft. Financial details were not disclosed.
|
PERSONNEL
* Smart antenna start-up Antenova has announced its management team. Graham Cooley was appointed CEO, Anthony Winter non-executive chairman and Gary Compton company secretary. Cooley joins the company from National Power, where he was business development manager; Winter is currently non-executive director responsible for electronics strategy at Kymata; and Compton brings 10 years in project and sales management roles in electronics manufacturing with one of Europe's largest independent manufacturers. * Robert C. Pearson has been elected to Advanced Power Technology Inc.'s Board of Directors. Pearson is currently a senior VP with Renaissance Capital Group Inc. * Keith Lobo has joined Numetrics' Board of Directors. Lobo is chairman of Summerhill Holdings and the former president and CEO of Quickturn Design Systems. * SEMX Corp.'s Materials Group has appointed Cuong Van Pham to the newly created position of group VP of engineering. Most recently, Pham served as senior technical specialist in microelectronic interconnection at Ford Motor Co. and Visteon Corp. * BMI Inc., a leading supplier of metal electronic components and EMI/RFI shielding solutions, has made a series of personnel appointments. Valerie L. O'Connor has been named VP of people centered services. O'Connor is responsible for development of the company's employee-centered programs. Ronald Thompson has been named general manager of the BMI Metronics Shields division. Most recently, Thompson served as VP of operations at Knowles Electronics Inc. Robert M. McCoy has been appointed logistics manager. McCoy is responsible for supply chain management, including inventory, purchasing, shipping and receiving. * American Microsystems Inc. announced that Glenn Fraser has joined its senior management team as VP of standard products. Fraser will manage the company's Standard Product division, which is retooling to extend its focus to the wireless communications market. * Integration Associates Inc. has appointed Jan Nilsson VP, marketing. Previously, Nilsson served as director of marketing for Vishay Intertechnology Inc.'s power IC and Telefunken infrared data communications business units.
|
REP APPOINTMENTS
* CPI Europe has selected Albacom Limited, Dundee, Scotland, to represent its complete Instrument TWT Amplifier range in the UK with immediate effect.
* L-3 Communications' Celerity Systems division, Cupertino, CA, has appointed two new sales rep organizations to support its worldwide sales team. GenTek will represent the company in Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Alabama, Tennessee and Mississippi, while Testech was selected for Texas, Oklahoma, Louisiana and Arkansas.
* Circuit Assembly Corp. (CA), Irvine, CA, has added three independent firms to represent its sales team. The McGhee Group, Spring, TX, will handle the territory including Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas and Louisiana. Apex Technologies, Beaverton, OR, will cover the Northwest including Oregon, Washington and Idaho, and Intech Electronic Sales, Encinitas, CA, will provide support for selected accounts in Southern California.
* PACE Inc., Laurel, MD, has appointed Future Electronics Inc., Montreal, Canada, as an authorized distributor for North America.
NEW MARKET ENTRY
* Eastern Wireless TeleComm Inc. (EWT) designs and manufactures filters and duplexers for all major telecommunications markets. Filter topologies include cavity, comb-line, interdigital and waveguides. Additional information is available at www.easternwirelesstelecomm.com, (410) 749-3800, fax (410) 749-4852.
WEB SITES
* Interconnect Devices Inc. has expanded and redesigned its Web site, www.idinet.com. The site presents a whole new look and feel, and provides many personalized and interactive tools. Exclusive features include the ProbeBuilder to match product with application and the ability for customers to track quotes and order history.
* Wireless B2B advertising agency STRAND Marketing recently launched a new service aimed at connecting engineers and manufacturers via product specific satellite Web sites. This service, IDentity Domain, makes it easy to find products because of the obvious domain names.
* J.W. Miller has added a comprehensive, searchable magnetic components cross-reference database to its Web site, www.jwmiller.com. Design engineers, purchasing agents and distributors can now correlate part numbers from 22 other manufacturers to the corresponding J.W. Miller part. Once the part is located, a direct hot link is provided to give full details on the product's features, performance specifications and dimensional drawings.
* Wireless Technologies Corp. has added several new products to its Web site, www.diplexers.net, to offer easy access to its world-class line of filters and diplexers. The site provides pictures and data sheets of these products for the following applications: AMPS, DCS, GSM, ISM and PCS. Actual data plots of the most popular models are featured. Mechanical dimensions and engineering data are also presented.
* Lambda, an Invensys company, has recently redesigned its Web site, www.lambdapower.com. The site provides a user-friendly, on-line resource for more technical data and faster download times. It features more than 3000 products along with a featured product-of-the-month section to keep users informed of the company's latest advances.