INDUSTRY NEWS
* Rogers Corp. has entered into an agreement with Taconic to acquire its Advanced Dielectric business. Taconic's Advanced Dielectric business manufactures and markets high frequency printed circuit material laminates. Under the terms of the agreement, Rogers will acquire the manufacturing facilities and offices located in Petersburgh, NY, and Mullingar, Ireland. The company expects to finalize the acquisition around the end of the first quarter of 2001.
* E/M, a subsidiary of The Morgan Crucible Company plc., acquired Diamonex Inc..
* Tektronix Inc. has an agreement to acquire the Bluetooth Special Interest Group (SIG) approved protocol analyzer product from Digianswer, a subsidiary of Motorola. 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.
* KOA Corp. of Japan announced its intention to acquire Tama Electric Co. Ltd. (TAMA) as a wholly owned subsidiary through an exchange of shares. This acquisition will be effective August 1, and will facilitate KOA's continued growth as a major supplier in the electronic components industry.
* Remtec Inc. has acquired TecMark Plating Services, and equipped the 13,000 square foot facility with state-of-the-art electrolytic and autocatalytic plating lines. The expanded facility is also supported by an on-site analytic laboratory and x-ray system for advanced quality control and research and development activity. The enhanced facility now offers improved product cycle times, and a production capability of 50,000 metallized ceramic panels per month.
* The US Department of Justice will permit the merger of JDS Uniphase Corp. and SDL Inc.. The merger now remains subject only to the approval of JDS Uniphase and SDL stockholders.
* Vytek Wireless Inc. has acquired Telamon Inc. as part of its wireless data solutions acquisition strategy. The combination of Vytek and Telamon will address the market of wireless connectivity and application integration that is being created by the mobilization of the workforce and the emergence of new wireless technologies and devices.
* Micronetics Wireless Inc. has completed the purchase of the hand-held power meter line of test equipment from Giga-tronics Inc.. The acquisition allows Micronetics to make products that are more cost-competitive while expanding the company's market presence.
* A new company, Zentrix Technologies Inc., has been created by Brush Wellman Inc. to better reflect the business direction and fiber-optic industries, and encompasses three existing business groups: Electronic Packaging Products Group, Newburyport, MA; Circuits Processing Technology Inc., Oceanside, CA; and Power Metallurgy Products Group, Tucson AZ.
* Anaren Power Products Inc. is a newly formed subsidiary of Anaren Microwave Inc., which has recently relocated to a larger and more modern facility in Eatontown, NJ.
* GHz Technology Inc. has modernized its wafer fab and added state-of-the-art assembly and test capabilities to its Santa Clara, CA facility. The additional capacity supports the growth the company has experienced from its entry into the high volume wireless infrastructure market.
* Agilent Technologies Inc. is building a dedicated six-inch wafer fabrication line in its Newark, CA facility for its innovative film bulk acoustic resonator (FBAR) filter products. The company is also outfitting high volume automated back-end manufacturing capabilities in its Penang, Malaysia facility, and is increasing engineering and production staffing to support this manufacturing ramp. In related news, Agilent has selected Maxsys Technologies as a key Premier Solution Partner (PSP) for Bluetooth 802.11, home RF and other wireless networking test applications. Maxsys now becomes a primary global delivery mechanism for Agilent's wireless networking RF test instruments employed in high volume manufacturing.
* Altra Broadband Inc., a subsidiary of Ansoft Corp., has opened a research and development facility in Burlington, MA. The Boston Technology Center will focus on mathematical modeling and algorithm development for broadband fiber-optic and wireless communications.
* GEL-PAK has moved its Quik-Pak division in San Diego into a new, state-of-the-art manufacturing facility. The move doubles the facility size of Quik-Pak and offers additional manufacturing space to GEL-PAK, which currently manufactures in Sunnyvale, CA.
* Merrimac Industries Inc. is expanding both its US and Central America Multi-Mix® production facilities to meet the growing demand for wireless telecommunications products. The new facility in Costa Rica will be fully operational by July, while the West Caldwell expansion will be complete by the end of the year.
* Tropian Inc. plans to collaborate with Infineon Technologies Corp. on next generation baseband processors and multi-mode RF transmitters integrated circuits. The two companies will work together on defining and implementing a digital interface on select Infineon wireless baseband processors and Tropian's TimeStar multi-mode RF transmitter chipset. Products incorporating this interface will be available to each company's customers this year.
* IFR Systems Inc. and GenRad have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) outlining their intent to cooperate on developing and marketing manufacturing test systems for wireless handsets. The MoU outlines cooperation between the two companies for engineering and marketing, as well as information sharing towards the continued development of production test platforms for cellular handset manufacturing.
* MRSI is implementing demand flow manufacturing technology to meet the increased customer demand for its products. Demand flow manufacturing is well suited for the customer-configured systems requiring the utmost in quality at high volumes.
* Siemens AG has selected Analog Devices Inc.'s SoftFone DSP-based GSM baseband processor and Othello direct-conversion RF chipset for use in their next generation of GSM phones and terminal phones. These new phones will feature extended battery life and include advanced GSM network features such as SPRS wireless Internet access.
* Rangestar Wireless has upgraded its membership position in the Bluetooth SIG, building on its early adopter status in the wireless standards organization. This will enable the company to expand its level of involvement in the Bluetooth SIG.
* Zeevo Inc., formerly known as TelenComm Inc., announced that its Bluetooth baseband, link manager and associated software has been granted Bluetooth qualification and is now included on the Bluetooth Qualified Product List (BQPL).
* Radio Frequency Investigation Ltd. (RFI) is now accredited by the United Kingdom Accreditation Service (UKAS) for its SAR test facility for mobile phones. The accreditation for 900, 1800 and 1900 MHz bands enables RFI to offer a fully accredited service across the whole range of mobile communications equipment for Europe, North America and Australia.
FINANCIAL NEWS
* American Technical Ceramics Corp. reports sales of $21.33 M for the second quarter ended December 31, compared to $14.94 M for the same period in 1999. Net income was $2.45 M (30¢/share) compared to $1.66 M (22¢/share) for the second quarter of 1999.
* SEMX Corp. reports record sales of $20.90 M for the fourth quarter ended December 31, compared to $16.23 M for the same period in 1999. Net income was $631 K (10¢/share) compared to $1.07 M (18¢/share) for the fourth quarter of 1999.
* Ansoft Corp. reports sales of $10.8 M for the third quarter ended January 31, compared to $8.4 M for the same period last year. Pro forma net income was $1.4 M (11¢/diluted share) compared to $458 K (4¢/diluted share) for the third quarter of 2000.
* Superconductor Technologies Inc. reports sales of $3.5 M for the fourth quarter ended December 31, compared to $842 K for the same period in 1999. Net loss was $3.5 M (83¢) compared to $3.0 M (42¢) for the third quarter of 1999.
* Paratek Microwave Inc. has finalized its third round of funding totaling $24 M from a top-tier group of leading companies and venture capitalists. This round of funding includes new investors Morgenthaler Ventures, Investor AB and JP Morgan Partners.
* Summit Partners, a leading private equity investor, has invested $15 M in Hittite Microwave Corp. This funding will enable Hittite to continue to execute its rapid growth strategy, including the expansion of its design and manufacturing capabilities.
CONTRACTS
* EMS Technologies Inc. has received a contract worth over $23 M to supply Russian satellite and builder Khrunichev State Research and Production Center with three flight satellite repeaters and one engineering model. The repeaters are expected to be delivered over a 48-month schedule.
* DMC Stratex Networks has received contracts totaling approximately $9.8 M to supply high capacity wireless equipment for cellular network infrastructure build-out to China Unicom. In related news, the company has received contracts totaling approximately $4 M to supply wireless equipment for cellular network infrastructure build-out to China Mobile. DMC Stratex won the orders in partnership with PTIC Capitel Group (Beijing Telecommunications Equipment Factory).
* Andrew Corp. has been awarded a contract by Loxley Ltd., a Thai conglomerate responsible for supplying the country's military with communications equipment. Loxley will equip the Royal Thai Navy with three Andrew HF antennas to boost ship-to-share communications. The installation is due for completion in the middle of this year.
PERSONNEL
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* Sargon Assurian and Hamid Azmi were appointed as the president and VP, respectively, of the newly formed Trilab Inc. company in Gaithersburg, MD. * Jack Benz has resigned as RF Industries board chairman to pursue other interests. * Cymer Inc. has named William G. Oldham to its board of directors, which now consists of seven members. Oldham currently serves as the Robert S. Pepper Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at the University of California, Berkeley.
* Ansoft Corp. has named Thomas A.N. Miller to its senior management team. Miller will be responsible for communicating the company's achievements and business strategy to Wall Street and the financial community. He will also be responsible for exploring and assessing corporate finance opportunities for Altra Broadband, a subsidiary of Ansoft. Miller brings more than 25 years of financial experience to the position.
* Zeevo Inc., formerly TelenComm Inc., has made a pair of appointments to its corporate executive management team. Greg Ravenscroft has joined the company as VP of worldwide marketing. Most recently, Ravenscroft was director of marketing for the Wireless Communications Group at National Semiconductor. Samuel Dapper has joined the company as VP of worldwide operations. Previously, Dapper was business unit director for the Programmable Logic division at Cypress Semiconductor. * Advanced Control Components (ACC) named Ron Galli VP. Galli has served as manager of the company's controlled components division for the past four years. In related news, the company appointed Don Wheat senior design engineer. Wheat brings multi-industry experience as well as vast knowledge in the field of engineering to ACC. * Applied Wave Research (AWR) appointed Ronald W. Patston VP of marketing. Previously, Patston held the position of solution services manager for the Agilent EEsof EDA product line at Agilent Technologies. * Comdisco Electronics, a division of Comdisco Inc., named Jack Stellhorn equipment sales manager for the company's midwestern and southeastern US territories. Previously, Stellhorn held account sales and management positions with Universal Instruments for 19 years.
* F&K Delvotec USA has opened a direct sales and service office to service the Silicon Valley and surrounding area. Rick Bailey has been hired as the Northwest Sales and Service manager and will be responsible for managing the Northwest territory, which includes Northern California, Oregon, Washington and Idaho. Bailey has 20 years experience in the wire bonding industry. * Peter Alfano has joined Compel Electronics SpA as business development manager-North America. Alfano spent 15 years as director of sales and marketing and, more recently, product line manager-wireless infrastructure for Sage Laboratories Inc. |
Brian Watson director of business development. Watson is a founding member of RFI and previously served as operations director. Richard Jacklin will step into Watson's position as director of operations
Renaissance Electronics Corp. appointed Charles A. McCauley to the position of VP and general manager. McCauley has served as the company's VP, sales and marketing for the past year. Stepping in to fill that role will be Rich Crabtree. Crabtree joins Renaissance from Signal Technology Corp., where he served as director of sales/director of new business development-components. 
NEW MARKET ENTRY
Trilanb Inc. is a newly formed company in Gaithersburg, MD, with expertise in the design and manufacturing of switch matrix/PC for the automated testing of the wireless systems and subsystems. The automated test fixturing include the hardware as well as the software, customized to the customer's requirements. The company is located at: 8031 Cessna Ave, Gaithersburg, MD 20879 (301) 519-3660, fax (301) 519-2447.
REP APPOINTMENTS
* Champion Technologies Inc. has made a series of sales and marketing appointments. Koebert Associates Inc., Glenside, PA, will be responsible for the entire state of New Jersey and the eastern half of Pennsylvania. Novacom Microwave Ltd., Lincoln, UK, will be Champion's representative and distributor responsible for the UK. Tritech Ltd., Ra'anana, Israel, was named as the representative and distributor for Israel.
* Barry Industries Inc., Attleboro, MA, has made sweeping changes to its sales representative force. Arthur, Harris & Associates will cover Southern VA, NC, SC, GA, TN, AL and MS; BWS Microwave Marketing Inc. will handle Florida while Centech Inc. will cover southern IL, KS, MO and NE; C-Wave Inc. will handle Southern California; CTC Sales Corp. will be responsible for AK, HI, ID, MT, OR, WA and British Columbia, Canada; Koebert Associates will cover Washington DC, DE, MD, southern NJ, PA and northern VA; Steward Technology will handle northern California while Thorson Desert States Inc. will be responsible for AZ, NM, southern NV and TX; TK Technologies Inc. will cover northern IL and eastern WI; RF Spectrum Inc. will handle the Canadian provinces of Maritimes, Quebec, Ontario, Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta.
* ClearComm Technologies Inc., Salisbury, MD, has made a series of rep appointments. Peak Devices, Fort Collins, CO, will cover Colorado, Utah, Wyoming and Montana. Disman Bakner, Mountain View, CA, will handle northern California and northern Nevada. Cain-Sweet Co., Bellevue, WA, will be responsible for Washington, Oregon and Canada. Phasecom Inc. will cover Oklahoma, Arkansas, Texas and Louisiana and Southern Marketing Associates Inc., Longwood, FL, will handle North and South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Florida, Mississippi and Tennessee.
WEB SITES
* QuoteHunter.com is a Web portal for RF, microwave and wireless engineers and procurement professionals. The site can be used to immediately identify candidate suppliers for specific requirements. Research suppliers can utilize the site's quick-link feature and send an e-mail request message to the supplier of choice. The site can also be used to enact effective supplier identification, efficient design-to-cost and second sourcing, and enhance productivity.
* Arrow Electronics Inc. has further enhanced its online tools for engineers with its radio frequency/microwave Web sitethe RF/Microwave Solutions Technology Centerat www.arrowrfvision.com. A quick and easy reference source, this site provides valuable technical data and enables engineers to conduct research from one location online. Additionally, the site allows users to buy prototype parts instantly, using a credit card for next-day delivery.