INDUSTRY NEWS

Aeroflex Inc. has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire IFR Systems Inc. The transaction is valued at approximately $60 M in cash, including the payment of $48.8 M in satisfaction of IFR's bank indebtedness. Under the terms of the agreement, Aeroflex will offer to purchase, though a cash tender offer, all outstanding shares of IFR's stock for $1.35 a share.

Rockwell Collins Inc. has acquired Communication Solutions Inc. The $23 M acquisition expands Rockwell Collins' product portfolio for customers in the area of signals intelligence and surveillance solutions.

The management of Herley Communication Products has formed a new company named Terrasat Communication Inc. and in a transaction concluded on March 1, has acquired the commercial satellite and microwave product lines from Herley Industries of Lancaster, PA. The management team is comprised of key individuals who have been responsible for the design and manufacture of the company's line of block upconverters and RF transceivers.

Saint-Gobain Performance Plastics has expanded its operations with the opening of a new radome testing and repair center in Seattle, WA. The repair facility and test range at both this site and the original Ravenna, OH, site are FAA certified to maintain almost any make, model or brand of aircraft radome.

Keithley Instruments Inc. has opened an office in Tokyo, Japan, for direct sales and support of its test, measurement and data acquisition solutions. Although Keithley instrumentation has been sold in Japan for more than 40 years, it was sold through a distributor.

BT has announced plans to create a network of WLAN hotspots in the UK using license exempt spectrum in the 2.4 GHz band. The company intends to have some 400 hotspots within the year and 4000 within three years using IEEE 802.11b technology. Its equipment suppliers are Motorola and Cisco Systems .

MI Technologies has partnered with the Anritsu Co. for the supply of vector network analyzers, spectrum analyzers and other products for use in the MI-3600 family of antenna test and measurement systems. Included in this OEM agreement is the Anritsu Scorpion® Vector Network Analyzer.

W.L. Gore & Associates Inc. and AB Tradex Converting have reached an agreement to partner in the supply of products to the cell phone industry. Under this agreement, Tradex will convert, sell, support and automate the installation of GORE ALL-WEATHER™ membranes, felts and GORE-SHIELD" EMI gaskets.

Credence Systems Corp. has formed a partnership with the Chinese government-sponsored Nation IC Design Industrial Base (NICD IB) in Beijing, China. NICD IB, with the help of Credence, will provide technology resources to over 65 local design houses and 10 major universities. Under the partnership, Credence will provide NICD IB with testing technology with the installation of a Quartet™ system-on-chip production test system.

Avnet RF & Microwave plans to distribute a new family of RF components from Conexant Systems Inc. The components are designed to meet the performance, functionality and cost requirements of current and next generation cellular/PCS/GSM, 2.5 and third-generation 3G base stations.

Link Microtek Ltd. has set up a new European "hub" arrangement that is enabling customers in the UK and across the continent to benefit from much shorter delivery times for products manufactured by Narda Microwave .

Centurion Wireless Technologies Inc. has expanded its customer service and technical support capabilities. The company's toll free call center now serves OEMs, distributors and other Centurion customers coast-to-coast, throughout the entire business day. In addition, the company has increased its customer service staff by 100 percent. To supplement this, the company has created a new technical support line to be serviced by engineers who will address technical questions and issues.

Dage Corp. has been awarded the US Small Business Administration's "CT Exporter of the Year" title for 2002. Dage, an export management company representing US manufacturers for their global business in the microwave and RF fields, was cited for its 55-year contribution to US exports, for providing stable employment and for its creative marketing strategies and continuing expansion of US business into new countries.

Agilent Technologies Inc. has received a supplier award from Logitech in recognition of Agilent's contribution to Logitech's success in the optical mouse and PC camera markets.

Wood & Douglas has been awarded ISO9001 certification. This relates to the company's quality administration systems for design, manufacture and product support.

Palomar Technologies Inc. announced that its Laser Diode Attach Cell (LDA) was selected as a Fiberoptic Product News 2001 Technology Award winner.

FINANCIAL NEWS

Andrew Corp. reports sales of $199.7 M for the second quarter ended March 31, 2002, compared to $239.1 M for the same period in 2001. Net income was $3.3 M (4¢/diluted share), compared to $8.2 M (10¢/diluted share) for the second quarter of last year.

Somera Communications Inc. reports sales of $58.8 M for the first quarter ended March 31, 2002, compared to $47.8 M for the same period in 2001. Net income was $4.0 M (8¢/share), compared to $3.0 M (6¢/share) for the first quarter of last year.

SEMX Corp. reports sales of $5.3 M for the fourth quarter ended December 31, 2001, compared to $15.0 M for the same period in 2000. Net loss was $3.8 M (63¢/diluted share), compared with a net income of $700 K (8¢/diluted share) for the fourth quarter of 2000.

Superconductor Technologies Inc. reports sales of $4.6 M for the first quarter ended March 30, 2002, compared to $2.8 M for the same period in 2001. Net loss was $5.8 M (33¢/diluted share), compared to $3.9 M (26¢/diluted share) for the first quarter last year.

Paratek Microwave Inc. has raised $17 M in new financing, bringing the company's total capitalization to $53 M. The capital raised will be used to further enhance the commercialization of the company's product portfolio. The investor group was led by Morgenthaler Ventures and Novak Biddle Venture Partners .

CONTRACTS

DMC Stratex Networks Inc. will supply Atrium 311 and XP4 licensed radios to build a network backbone in Allegany County, MD, a rural area in the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains. The "AllCoNet 2" network will provide broadband access to 85 percent of the residents, 90 percent of the businesses and 100 percent of the industrial parks in the country. Stratex Networks values the contract at $21.1 M. The network is expected to be complete within six months.

A $9.65 M contract for production of AN/WLR-1H (V)7 countermeasure receiving set modification kits has been awarded to Wide Band Systems Inc. by the Naval Surface Warfare Center. This effort will be performed at Wide Band's Defense Systems Division in Neshanic Station, NJ.

Filtran Microcircuits Inc. , a subsidiary of Merrimac Industries Inc. , has received a production order from a leading supplier of telecommunications equipment to provide customized circuitry that will be deployed in wireless base station transceivers. The potential revenue to be derived from this order is approximately $500 K and anticipated follow-on orders for the next 12 months are currently estimated at $1.7 M. In related news, Merrimac Industries has received a contract from Lockheed Martin Corp. NE&SS-Surface Systems to provide a subsystem for use in the company's high band multifunction receive system.

Telaxis Communications Corp. has selected Agilent Technologies Inc. 's Advanced Design System (ADS) as its primary microwave and millimeter-wave circuit design software for its FiberLeap products. Telaxis designers will use ADS' simulation capabilities to design microwave and millimeter-wave components for its FiberLeap wireless fiber optic connectivity products.

Boonton Electronics , a subsidiary of Wireless Telecom Group Inc. , has received an order from the US Navy for its 1121 audio analyzers. These orders are for approximately $500 K and are scheduled to ship in the second quarter of 2002.

Farran Technology Ltd. , Cork, Ireland, has won a contract to supply Alcatel Space Industries, Cannes, France, with state of the art millimeter-wave transmitter and receiver equipment. The frequency extenders provided allow the extension of the existing antenna range equipment at the Alcatel Espace Test Range to operate at frequencies beyond 100 GHz.

Modelithics Inc. has received a contract from Motorola's Plantation, FL, operation to provide microwave computer-aided-engineering models and characterization data sets for a wide range of commercial diodes, transistors, and passive components in support of Motorola's company wide CAE model library database. Development by Modelithics will utilize Agilent's ICCAP modeling system and ADS software for this evolving activity.

Rockwell Scientific Co. (RSC) has selected StratEdge to provide the packages and assembly services for its high performance dual track and hold chip for ultra-wideband data acquisition. The Rockwell Scientific package is based on the patented StratEdge leaded LCC family of DC to 23 GHz amplifier packages.

RF Micro Devices Inc. has begun high volume production shipments of two GaAs HBT amplifiers to a leading handset manufacturer for use in a CDMA 1X handset for the Americas. Shipments are expected to ramp to a multi-million dollar level this calendar year.

ASAT Holdings Ltd. and ASAT Inc. have chosen Ansoft Corp. 's high frequency structure simulator (HFSS™) for their high frequency 3D simulations and signal-integrity analysis. Adoption of the HFSS™ software is currently being implemented throughout ASAT's worldwide design centers.

PERSONNEL

ARC Technologies has appointed Robert L. Welch to the new position of VP, International. Welch will be responsible for building and managing the company's activities in international markets. Welch comes to the company from Schlegel Systems Inc., where he spent 20 years in various sales and marketing management positions.

Microwave Dynamics has named Allan Esses director of sales and marketing for worldwide operations. Esses will implement a new marketing and sales strategy that will augment the company for the future. Esses has an extensive background in sales, marketing and finance and was president/CEO of two companies.

Presidio Components Inc. (PCI) has appointed Gunter Vorlop sales and marketing manager, microwave products. Vorlop joins PCI from Dielectric Laboratories and brings a wealth of experience in worldwide sales, marketing, business strategy and planning.