INDUSTRY NEWS
* Karl Suss has acquired MFI Technologies, San Jose, CA. MFI manufactures advanced electrical analysis products for the semiconductor industry. This acquisition will allow Suss to expand its product line to offer a cost-effective internal node probe solution down to 0.10 micron.
* Tektronix Inc. has reached an agreement to acquire the Bluetooth special interest group (SIG) approved protocol analyzer product from Digianswer, a subsidiary of Motorola Inc. In addition, the companies will form a five-year partnership to further advance Bluetooth technology and applications. Financial details of the transaction were not disclosed.
* Cree Inc. has completed the acquisition of UltraRF, formerly a division of Spectrian Corp. UltraRF will operate as a wholly-owned Cree subsidiary and plans to expand its product offerings to include RF power semiconductors based on Cree's proprietary silicon carbide technology.
* IQE plc, a leading outsource supplier of epitaxial wafers to the compound semiconductor industry, has acquired Wafter Technology Limited. The acquisition will allow IQE to offer a unique and secure range of outsource wafer products and will provide direct access to key Indium Phosphide wafer products.
* Ferro Corp. has acquired EMCA-Remex from National Starch and Chemical Co. EMCA-Remex produces thick film pastes for hybrid microelectronics markets. Terms of the agreement were not disclosed.
* REMEC Inc. has entered into an agreement to acquire microwave electronics manufacturer Pacific Microwave Corp. (PMC). PMC has approximately 850 employees, including microwave engineers, technicians and assemblers.
* Smiths Group plc expanded its interests in specialized equipment for wireless broadband communications with the $25.2 M acquisition of Radio Waves Inc. A leading US supplier of antennas for high frequency microwave communications, Radio Waves is the fifth interconnect products acquisition by Smiths this year, totaling $156 M.
* Rockwell Collins, a business unit of Rockwell Collins International has completed the acquisition of K Systems Inc., parent company of Kaiser Aerospace and Electronics. The acquisition strengthens Rockwell Collins' offerings to military display customers. Now known as Kaiser, a Rockwell Collins company, the product lines will be integrated with Rockwell Collins' existing portfolio.
* Nurad Technologies Inc. has acquired the Transco electronic warfare (EW) and communications, navigation and identification airborne antenna systems product line from Datron/Transco Inc., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Datron Systems Inc. This combination creates a company that can offer hardware solutions for all airborne antenna requirements.
* TDK Semiconductor Corp. has acquired Sierra Research and Technology Inc., a designer of intellectual property and cores for the high speed networking and display driver markets. Terms of the acquisition were not disclosed.
* Shason Microwave Corp. has changed its name to Mimix Broadband. The corporate name and organizational change reflects the company's new business initiative to supply GaAs MMICs and modules to broadband wireless access manufacturers. In related news, the company acquired Tadiran Microwave Network's Australian Design subsidiary at an undisclosed amount.
* Ericsson Cables AB has changed its name to Ericsson Network Technologies AB. The company offers system solutions for telecommunication networks, with emphasis on fiber optic infrastructure and the integration of copper, fiber optic and wireless technologies.
* Ferrite components supplier EPCOS has dedicated a plant for production of ferrite cores in Sumperk, Czech Republic. The new 130,000 square-meter facility is located approximately 200 km east of Prague and is rapidly being expanded into an advanced production center for ferrites.
* The International Microelectronics and Packaging Society (IMAPS) has moved from its Reston, VA headquarters to a new facility in Washington, DC. The new offices are centrally located and offer the organization a number of advantages that make it a suitable permanent location.
* Dielectric Laboratories Inc. (DLI), a Dover company, is continuing construction on its headquarters facility in Cazenovia, NY. The current expansion increases the existing 60,000 square foot facility to a total of 120,000 square feet. Building completion is scheduled for the end of first quarter 2001.
* Andrew Corp. has completed construction of the first broadband wireless network in South America. The new network brings the first high speed, wireless data and Internet connection to Lima and Callao, Peru.
* CMC Wireless Components has announced a major capital expansion of the company's manufacturing capabilities to keep pace with the growing demand for high thermal performance, aluminum nitride based electronic packaging. This expansion will focus on increasing capacity and expanding the company's level of automation.
* Motorola Inc. and Celestica Inc. have entered into a strategic manufacturing alliance that has a total estimated value of more than $1 B over a three-year period. Under the terms of the agreement, Motorola will sell its manufacturing operations in Dublin, Ireland and Mt. Pleasant, Iowa to Celestica for approximately $70 M subject to post-closing adjustments and will outsource the manufacturing of some cellular phone handsets, messaging devices, two-way radio products and accessories to the company.
* Embedded Wireless Devices Inc. and Japan-based Matsushita Electronic Components Co. Ltd. (Panasonic) are co-developing a Bluetooth-enabled cordless telephony reference design that will allow OEMs to quickly develop wireless single- and multi-line, multi-handset telephony systems for residential and small
office use.
* Illinois Superconductor Corp. and KMW Inc. have signed an agreement to jointly develop an advanced-design cryogenic receiver front-end (CRFE) system to meet the requirements of third-generation (3G) W-CDMA wireless systems to be deployed in Japan and Korea
this year.
* Silicon Wave Inc. has formed a strategic alliance with Philips Components, a division of Royal Philips Electronics to expedite the deployment of Bluetooth wireless communications.
* Intel Corp. and Analog Devices Inc. have agreed to jointly design a digital signal processor (DSP) core architecture. The companies will develop a fixed-point low power DSP core ideal for processing video, image, voice and data in emerging embedded communication and computing devices. Under the terms of the agreement, the two companies will combine design engineering teams into a joint design group located primarily in Austin, TX.
* QUALCOMM Inc., the Computer Systems Group of Toshiba America Information Systems Inc. and Ericsson Microelectronics announced the first over-the-air demonstration of a Bluetooth equipped laptop communicating wirelessly with a CDMA handset via a Bluetooth dial-up network. The demonstration will use Toshiba's Portege laptop, QUALCOMM CDMA Technologies' MSM3300 Mobil Station Modem (MSM) chipset and system software and Ericsson's Bluetooth radio technology.
* RF Monolithics Inc. has received the first high volume order for its Virtual Wire® short-range transceiver. Volume shipments were expected to begin in January and are expected to ramp to a multimillion-dollar level through the remainder of this year.
* Sprirent Communications, in conjunction with the acquisition of InfoSOFT Technologies Inc., has released InfoDM v2.0. InfoDM is a diagnostic monitor tool that provides extensive monitoring, logging and control capability for CDMA handsets and terminals.
* Atmel Wireless & Microcontrollers, a division of Atmel Corp., has upgraded its high volume production silicon-germaninum (SiGe) technology for foundry. The new upgrade, SiGe2, provides a higher frequency of up to 82 GHz for communications applications.
* 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." These filters are typically found in wireless applications such as basestations, mobile radios, pagers, point-to-point and point-to-multipoint radios. In related news, the Factory Mutual Research has awarded the ISO 9001 certification to the company's RF/Microwave Products Group manufacturing facility.
* Illinois Superconductor Corp. has shipped an initial order of eight ATP Classic systems to Verizon Wireless. The eight systems, deployed in select analog cell sites in Verizon's Indiana region, support range extension requirements.
* Applied Epi Inc. received an order for a GEN200 MBE System from Agilent Technologies. Agilent will use the system in support of its testing and measurement equipment for RF and IR wireless communications devices.
* Fluke Corp. received accreditation to ISO/IEC 17025-1999 and ANSI/NCSL Z540-1-1994 from the American Association for Laboratory Accreditation for its precision measurement service facility and calibration laboratory, San Diego, CA.
* Storm Products-Microwave, Hinsdale, IL, a unit of Storm Products Co., has been awarded ISO 9001 registration.
* Atheros Communications Inc. has agreed to help define specifications, and participate in a royalty-free intellectual property rights (IPR) pool, for the proposed CableLabs® CableHome initiative to bridge cable and networking technologies within the home. This initiative seeks to define a common set of operational guidelines and technical requirements to which any company can build cable-enabled, home networking products.
* Cambridge Silicon Radio (CSR) demonstrated the first true single chip implementation of Bluetooth wireless system. The BlueCore01 single chip Bluetooth IC uses standard CMOS processes in its implementation combining the 2.4 GHz radio, baseband processing, microcontroller and RAM components needed for Bluetooth. The design team at CSR uses Tanner Tools for physical design and verification of analog, mixed-signal and RF cells.
* Labtech, part of the Intelek Group, has received the "Investors in People" award from the MP for Brecon and Radnorshire, Richard Livsey.
* Integration Associates Inc. has been ranked as the 26th fastest growing private company in Silicon Valley by the San Jose Business Journal. In addition, the company was ranked 48th in terms of percent revenue growth for all companies in the San Francisco Bay Area by The San Francisco Business Times.
FINANCIAL NEWS
* National Semiconductors Corp. reports sales of $595 M for the second quarter ended November 28, 2000, compared to $513.9 for the same period last year. Net income was $106.7 M (56¢/diluted share) compared to $70.4 M (37¢/diluted share) for the second quarter
of 1999.
* REMEC Inc. reports sales of $78.8 M for the third quarter ended October 27, 2000, compared to $48.4 M for the same period last year. Net income was $5.0 M (11¢/share) compared to a net loss of $1.1 M (3¢/share) for the third quarter of 1999.
* Ansoft Corp. reports sales of $9.7 M for the second quarter of FY 2001, 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.
* 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.
* Peregrine Semiconductor Corp. has raised a total of $37.5 M in its Series G Preferred financing. The round, which was led by Morgenthaler Ventures, included investments from CDIB Ventures, Global Alliance Venture Capital and Intel Capital.
* Summit Partners has invested $15 M in Hittite Microwave Corp., Chelmsford, MA. This funding will enable Hittite to continue to execute its rapid growth strategy, including the expansion of its design and manufacturing capabilities.
CONTRACTS
* SEMX Corp.'s Materials Group has received a significant product order at Polese Co., San Diego, CA, from an industry-leading, fiber-optic component manufacturer valued at approximately $5 M. The order is the single largest initial order of one specific product in SEMX's history. Production is expected to begin in the second quarter of 2001 after completion of product qualification.
* EMS Technologies Inc. has received an order worth $4.3 M from Boeing Space systems to design, manufacture and test a Ka-band multi-element transmit antenna for the ANIK F2 satellite. The satellite is being built by Boeing for Canada's national satellite operator, Telesat Canada Inc.
Merrimac Industries Inc. has been awarded a $1 M contract from Lockheed Martin Corp. for the GPS antenna retrofit program. The program is designed to enhance the output power of older satellites for broader coverage and superior accuracy.
* Andrew Corp. is to supply WildBlue Communications Inc. with turnkey services for 12 Ka-band systems to be deployed in WildBlue's broadband service network access across the US. Andrew will supply, install, test and provide ongoing maintenance for each gateway. The first six gateways are scheduled for completion by the end of this year.
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PERSONNEL * American Microsystems Inc. (AMI) promoted Brent Jensen to chief financial officer. Jensen joins a senior executive team that is preparing to take the company public this year. Most recently, Jensen was AMI's corporate controller. * SiGe Microsystems Inc. appointed Dennis Fielder chief technical officer of its Wireless Business Unit. Fielder brings more than 25 years of experience in electronic design and is a former founder and technical director of Symbionics. * Unitek Miyachi International (UMI) named Victor H. Prushan chief marketing officer. Prushan is responsible for the marketing vision, as well as the definition and coordination of the sales and marketing programs for the company and its subsidiaries worldwide. * Sensors Unlimited Inc. named Clifton Draper to its executive team. Draper will be retiring from Lucent Technologies, bringing to Sensors over 23 years experience in optical fiber and semiconductor device manufacturing research, as well as fundamental research in the field of laser interactions with materials. * SEMX Corp. appointed Michael R. Best VP, finance and chief financial officer. Best has worked for high tech firms in strategic planning, capital structuring, investor relations and finance for the past 10 years.
* RF Monolithics Inc. (RFM) has appointed Jon S. Prokop VP of manufacturing. Prokop has over 30 years of experience in technology development and manufacturing in high tech industries, and joined RFM in 1998 as director of manufacturing engineering. * NEC Electronics has promoted Norman Osumi to associate VP of finance and corporate controller for the company's Santa Clara headquarters. Previously, Osumi served as the director of internal audit responsible for the development of several business process re-engineering efforts that enhanced the company's financial position.
* Amistar Corp. appointed Joseph Pult western regional sales manager and Kurt Bodley northeast regional sales manager. Previously, Pult has worked with AT&T, Sprint, MCI WorldCom, Qwest, Lucent Technologies and Cisco Systems, while Bodley has been with Sentinel Business Systems, W.H. Brady Corp., Peak Technologies and Intermec. * American Microsystems Inc. (AMI), Pocatello, ID named Steve Hayes director of Eastern Area Sales, Andover, MA. Most recently, Hayes was a partner and president of I Squared Inc. * Decibel Products appointed Javier Staffanell regional sales manager for the mid-Atlantic region. Staffanell will be directly responsible for the mid-Atlantic states, including Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Maryland, Delaware and the District of Columbia.
* Rockwell Collins named Douglas C. Wagner manager, media relations. Previously, Wagner served as press secretary for US representative Jim Leach of Iowa. * TestMart named Ken Pine alliance programs manager. Pine will oversee the development, expansion and maintenance of the company's growing worldwide supplier relationships, which currently number more than 70 alliance partners. * Morgan Advanced Ceramics (MAC) appointed Kevin McAloon application engineering manager for its North American division. Previously, McAloon was the applications engineer for Wesgo/Duramic. * Exatron named Bo Mendoza customer relations manager. Most recently, Mendoza worked in the finance department with the County of Santa Clara. In related news, the company expanded its Particle Interconnect department with the appointment of Bob Garcia to PI product manager and Denise Smith PI co-coordinator. * Everett Charles Technologies promoted Craig Ellis to senior sales engineer. Ellis has been with the company for four years in an account management capacity and has demonstrated an ability to successfully grow the test fixture business in the UK sales territory. * Peter Cronin has been appointed sales engineer by MRSI and will be based in MRSI Group world headquarters in North Billerica, MA. Previously, Cronin worked as a process engineer for Lockheed Martin, where he worked on space and military microwave applications, including aerospace and missile systems. * Steve Dillingham, Radio Frequency Investigation (RFI) Ltd.'s regulatory and technical support group manager, has been appointed by the Bluetooth Qualification Review Board (BQRB), establishing RFI Ltd. as a Bluetooth Qualification Body (BQB). BQB appointment is awarded on an individual basis making Dillingham among the first in the UK, and one of only 24 globally to hold BQB status. * CTS Corp. named Matthew W. Long assistant treasurer. Long brings more than 14 years of accounting and financial experience to the company. |
REP APPOINTMENTS
* Advanced Control Components Inc., Eatontown, NJ, has made a series of new manufacturing representative appointments. Beacon Technical Sales Inc. will cover Massachusetts, Rhode Island, New Hampshire, Vermont, Maine, and northern and eastern Connecticut. EDS Inc. will cover Florida, Georgia and Alabama, while VP Engineering will handle Maryland, Virginia and the District of Columbia. Eltech Sales Associates LLC will be responsible for northern New Jersey, metro New York and Long Island, Fairfield County, Connecticut, and upstate New York. MB Electronique will cover France, Metro Elettro Sud sas will cover Italy, and Rikei Corp. will cover Japan.
* Techtrol Cyclonetics Inc., New Cumberland, PA, has appointed E-Squared Marketing Inc., Kings Park, NY, to represent its line of crystal controlled oscillators and microwave frequency sources and multipliers in New York City and Long Island, NY. RF Associates Inc., Van Nuys, CA, has been appointed to cover Southern California.
WEB SITES
* SaRonix has added an e-store to its Web site, www.saronix.com. A link from its main site is provided where design engineers can purchase parts in limited quantities using a credit card.
* Seiko Instruments USA Inc. has launched a newly redesigned Web site for its Fiber Optic Group, www.seikofiber.com. The site incorporates e-commerce solutions for online purchasing and the latest fiber optic products and technical information.
* test4safety.com Inc. has launched its new Web site, which provides engineers a way to access information, products and interactive technical support for global product safety compliance. Test4safety.com is a site for the design, development and test engineer. It provides services to individual design and test engineers who need technical information or technical assistance for worldwide product safety compliance.