Industry News
Winchester Electronics Corp. announced that it has acquired the assets of Advanced Interconnect Inc., Franklin, MA, and Kings Electronics Co. Inc., Rock Hill, SC. Terms of the transactions were not disclosed.
Tyco Electronics announced a strategic alliance with KeyTone Technologies aimed at providing comprehensive solutions to companies who need to meet the Department of Defense’s (DoD) mandate on the use of radio frequency identification (RFID) for electronic product codes (ePC) on all products. The expertise of Tyco Electronics in RFID labels, hi-memory tags, readers and antennas combined with the strength of KeyTone Technologies in enterprise-level RFID software enables companies dealing with the DoD to meet the RFID mandate efficiently and cost effectively.
Agilent Technologies Inc. announced a strategic partnership with Mentor Graphics, licensing to Agilent certain products in the Mentor Graphics Volcano® product line. The Agilent LIN Tester, derived from Mentor’s Volcano LIN Spector™ product, and the Agilent Vehicle Protocol Tester Series 500, derived from Mentor’s Volcano TELLUS® product, help automotive engineers develop electronic products faster and under budget while meeting quality requirements.
Anite, a leader in testing technology for the wireless industry, and Beceem Communications Inc., a leading provider of chipsets for the mobile broadband market, announced that they have entered into a collaboration to enable customers to more effectively use their respective products. The collaboration is built upon solid foundations with Beceem already using Anite solutions to accelerate the verification of its reference designs. Anite and Beceem will align product roadmaps as part of a deep technical collaboration for WiMAX™ 802.16e and also introduce a dedicated customer support program to ensure that Beceem customers have access to complementary testing tools for subscriber and base station development.
Fujitsu Ltd. (Fujitsu), Fujitsu Microelectronics of America Inc. (FMA) and Jazz Semiconductor (Jazz), a wholly owned subsidiary of Jazz Technologies Inc., announced that they will work together to manufacture System-on-Chip (SoC) products for RF CMOS devices. Under a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed by the companies, the collaboration is designed to combine superior RF and mixed-signal expertise from Jazz and leading-edge existing 90 nm and 65 nm manufacturing technology from Fujitsu, enabling both companies to deliver high performance Customer Owned Tooling (COT) foundry services to SoC customers. The alliance will enable Fujitsu to offer Jazz’s high precision RF models and design kits using Fujitsu’s 90 nm and 65 nm low leakage, leading-edge LSI manufacturing process.
AR RF/Microwave Instrumentation announced that a new 15,000 square foot building has been completed at the site of AR’s worldwide headquarters in Souderton, PA. This $2.2 M building expansion will allow increased production capabilities. AR RF/Microwave Instrumentation will be able to fulfill new orders, as well as perform in-house service and repairs, and manufacture replacement parts quicker and more expediently.
Linear Technology, a California-based maker of linear integrated circuits, announced that it has opened a new 20,000-square-foot design facility in Manchester, NH. Linear said that it had outgrown its prior New Hampshire design center. The new design center is focused on high performance analog integrated circuits, and includes design facilities, lab and test development floor.
Rohde & Schwarz was named the Indirect Supplier of the Year 2007 by Rockwell Collins. The award was presented by chairman, president and CEO Clay Jones during the Annual Supplier Conference. The Supplier of the Year award is an acknowledgement of significant contributions made during the year by suppliers and is based upon quality, delivery, total cost of ownership, lead time and customer service.
Teledyne Relays has been recognized as the Relay/Switch Commodity Supplier of the Year by Rockwell Collins. Teledyne Relays, producer of industry-leading switching products, was cited for significant contributions made during the year based on quality, delivery, total cost of ownership, lead time and customer service. Rockwell Collins chairman, president and CEO Clay Jones presented the award to Teledyne at the recent Annual Supplier Conference in Cedar Rapids, IA.
Gowanda Electronics, a manufacturer of high performance electronic inductor components for RF and power applications, announced that the company is now registered as conforming to AS9100 quality management standard. Certification was granted by NSF International Strategic Registrations (NSF-ISR) after completion of an audit earlier this year.
Contracts
LNX Corp. announced that it has been recently selected by BAE Systems, Wayne, NJ, to supply sophisticated solid-state power amplifiers, valued in excess of $4 M, for the F-22 Program.
Merrimac Industries Inc. announced that it received both an Internal Research And Development (IRAD) and a new co-design contract as a follow-on to the IRAD contract for multi-function integrated modules from General Dynamics Advanced Information Systems, a business unit of General Dynamics. The initial design effort is valued at approximately $500,000. Final design and manufacture of the subassembly modules from the IRAD contract was completed and delivered in April 2007.
Richardson Electronics Ltd. announced that it has received a contract from Globalstar Inc., Milpitas, CA, to produce antenna assemblies for a line of SATCOM asset tracking products. The contract represents a total of 60,000 antennas to be delivered over the next two years.
Financial News
Ansoft Corp. reports sales of $28.6 M for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2007 ended April 30, 2007, compared to $24.7 M for the same period in 2006. Net income for the quarter was $7.9 M ($0.30/per diluted share), compared to a net income of $8.3 M ($0.32/per diluted share) for the fourth quarter of last year.
An impressive series of events appears to have moved RFID Ltd. from startup to possible major player in a short time. The company attracted major media and industry attention when it announced its two new niche market RFID tags: the BagChip for lost airline luggage, and the SurvivalTag to monitor firemen at the scene. An LOI with RFID Leasing that offered to establish a $75 M credit facility was reported on March 19, 2007. The company then stated on March 27 that it had teamed up with 3M to pursue medical, legal and government offices.
Endwave Corp. reports sales of $14.8 M for the first quarter ended March 31, 2007, compared to $13.7 M for the same period in 2006. Net loss for the quarter was $780,000 ($0.07/per share), compared with a net loss of $1.2 M ($0.10/per share) for the first quarter of last year.
Superconductor Technologies Inc. reports sales of $4.2 M for the first quarter ended March 31, 2007, compared to $4.8 M for the same period in 2006. Net loss for the first quarter was $2.9 M ($0.24/per diluted share), compared with $3.2 M ($0.26/per diluted share) for the first quarter of last year.
New Market Entry
ST Design LLC specializes in custom-designed quartz crystal-based oscillators and custom-configured automatic test systems. The staff of ST Design has over 55 years’ combined experience in the design and manufacture of custom oscillators and test systems. The company has extensive design experience with XOs, VCXOs, TCXOs and OCXOs over the frequency range from less than 1 Hz to greater than 1 GHz. Product capabilities include modest-stability, surface-mount clock oscillators to ultra-high stability, ovenized crystal oscillators. ST Design LLC designs and manufactures automated test systems for multiposition testing at HF, VHF and UHF. These test systems can be stand-alone or networked, open-air or imbedded into environmental chambers. For more information, contact: sales@stdsn.com.
Personnel
Dr. Reinhard Ploss has been appointed to the management board of Infineon Technologies AG. He takes responsibility for operations, comprising advanced logic and power logic front-end manufacturing, back-end manufacturing, logistics and quality management units previously assigned to different responsibilities. After receiving undergraduate and doctoral degrees from the Munich University of Technology, he began his career at Siemens. When the company spun off its Semiconductor Group to form Infineon Technologies AG in 1999, Ploss was appointed to manage eupec, a wholly owned subsidiary of Infineon Technologies AG and has since held key positions within the company.
On August 1, 2007, Michael Knopp takes up the post of chief financial officer of SUSS MicroTec AG. He is a business leader with proven financial expertise who is relinquishing his position as managing director of Kemmax GmbH, an industrial chemicals company based in Essen, Germany. It is part of the publicly listed Canadian company Chemtrade Logistics Group that reports annual sales of around €370 M. Previously Knopp worked at REALTECH AG in Walldorf, Germany, first as managing director and then as chief financial officer.
Rich Beeber has joined KOR Electronics as vice president, advanced development. Beeber joins KOR with 39 years of experience having held technical, general management and sales, marketing and business development roles at Raytheon, Hughes Aircraft Co., M/A-COM, Alpha Industries, California Microwave and Crane/Signal Technology. In his new position, Beeber will be focusing on strategy development/deployment and business development.
Credence Systems Corp. announced the appointment of Patrick J. Brady to senior vice president, engineering. Brady will lead Credence’s worldwide engineering organization, with implementation responsibility for all product lines. A 24-year veteran of the semiconductor and capital equipment industry, Brady will report to Lavi Lev, president and chief executive officer of Credence. Previously, Brady was vice president and general manager of the Array Test Division at Photon Dynamics. Prior to that Brady was at KLA-Tencor for over six years.
Lark Engineering Co., a manufacturer of RF/microwave filters, announced the appointment of Javier Merino to vice president of sales. In his new position, he will manage all domestic and international sales activities. Merino holds BSEE and MBA degrees and has over 20 years experience in the electronics industry with such companies as Xerox and Samsung.
Sasken Communication Technologies Ltd. has strengthened its senior management team with the appointment of Rajesh Tyagi as chief technology officer (products and services). He has more than 20 years of experience in 2.5G/3G/4G wireless, VoIP/VoBB, data and optical networking technologies. Most recently, Tyagi was executive advisor, Technology and Portfolio Strategy at Motorola Inc., where he provided next generation network architecture and technology direction to its Core Networks and Services business units.
Nitronex has named Doru Roll as director of RF product development. Specializing in the design and development of high power amplifiers for cellular, wireless and digital radio applications, Roll brings more than twenty years of RF experience to Nitronex. Roll joined Nitronex from BAE Systems in Wayne, NJ, where he led the RF Power Amplifier Development Group, which develops advanced PAs for military applications.
Crane Aerospace & Electronics, a segment of Crane Co., announced the appointment of Todd Newell as director of operational excellence for the Electronics Group. In this position, Newell will be responsible for driving operational excellence across the Electronics Group. He will be located in Fort Walton Beach, FL. Newell joins Crane Aerospace & Electronics from another Crane business group, Crane Valves North America (CVNA), where he served as its operational excellence director since June 2005.
iTerra Communications announced the appointment of Marc Correa as director of operations. He will be responsible for leading the introduction of new products to manufacturing, for supply/demand planning, assembly and test, global outsourcing of wafer fabrication, package assembly and test, and for order fulfillment. Correa has more than 25 years of experience in developing global manufacturing capabilities, and in marketing RF devices, analog circuits and mixed-signal ASICs, with a specialty in rapidly transitioning from low volume to high volume production.
Cobham Defense Electronic Systems announced the addition of David Moorehouse as general manager of Nurad Technologies Inc. Moorehouse brings more than 20 years of aerospace design and manufacturing experience to Nurad. Most recently, Moorehouse was general manager of MFG Ratech in Sparks, NV, a composite structure manufacturer. He has also held various engineering and management positions with Hexcel Corp., Pratt Whitney and other aerospace contractors.
Rep Appointments
Richardson Electronics announced a worldwide partnership to distribute Radiotronix’s popular FCC-approved Wi.USB-DTS-R™ base station, which allows quick USB PC-connectivity to a Wi.232DTS-R™ network. The base station units combine a high performance wireless DTS transceiver module with a controller to create a wireless solution for wire replacement applications. It is perfect for Wi.232DTS-R™ sensor networks requiring PC/laptop interface or point-to-point, long-range PC/laptop communications.
TriQuint Semiconductor, an RF product manufacturer and foundry services provider, announced that it is restructuring its sales coverage and product distribution across Europe. This reorganization is designed to streamline European support to meet growing customer needs for cost-efficient, highly-integrated RF solutions that reduce manufacturing time. Redtree Solutions has been named TriQuint’s official sales representative for much of Europe, the UK, Ireland and the Nordic countries. TriQuint’s existing European distributor, Avnet Memec, will now also serve France, Italy, the UK and Ireland after having covered much of Western and Eastern Europe before this most recent expansion announcement.
TRAK Microwave Corp. announced it has appointed Sands Technical Sales LLC to represent the company’s products and services in the state of Texas. Contact information: Sands Technical Sales LLC, 16129 East Via De Pa, Gilbert, AZ 85397 (480) 733-4146, fax: (480) 733-4147, ktownsend@sandstechnical.com or visit: www.sandstechnical.com.
BroadWave Technologies announced the appointment of two new exclusive sales representative firms in the United States and two new exclusive sales representative firms in the Pacific Rim. The new members of the BroadWave Technologies sales representative network are: CMI Technical Sales Inc. in the District of Columbia, Maryland, North/South Carolina and Virginia can be contacted at (301) 346-7139 or e-mail: jim@cmitechsales.com; Thorson West in northern California and northern Nevada can be contacted at (408) 294-9005 or e-mail: chuck.salsberry@thorsonwest.com; EM Electronics Corp. in Taiwan can be contacted at 886-3-318 2878 or visit: www.emec.com.tw and MRC Tech Co. Ltd. in South Korea can be contacted at 82-2-417-1750 or visit: www.mrctech.co.kr.
Microsorb Technologies Inc. announced the appointment of Midwin & Olifson Inc. as the company’s exclusive sales representative in southern California. Midwin & Olifson will represent and support Microsorb’s full line of microwave RF absorbers and dielectric materials to commercial and defense customers. Midwin & Olifson can be reached at 2001 S. Barrington Avenue, Suite 120, Los Angeles, CA 90025-5337 (310) 478-4345, e-mail: reps@mo-rep.com or visit www.mo-rep.com. In related news, Microsorb announced the appointment of JLF Engineering Inc. as the company’s exclusive sales representative in New England. JLF Engineering will represent and support Microsorb’s full line of microwave RF absorbers and dielectric materials to commercial and defense customers. JLF Engineering Inc. can be reached at 66 Bacon Hill Road, Spencer, MA 01562 (508) 769-5035 or e-mail: jlfengineering@charter.net.