Industry News

RF Industries Ltd. announced that it acquired, for cash and equity consideration valued at approximately $700,000, the assets of RadioMobile Inc., a privately held San Diego, California-based supplier and system integrator of custom wireless data and transceiver products. Radio Mobile revenue exceeds $700,000 since January 2007.

ANADIGICS Inc., a provider of semiconductor solutions in the rapidly growing broadband wireless and wireline communications markets, has announced that it has acquired from Fairchild Semiconductor, for $2.3 M, the RF team, fixed assets, certain leases, software and licenses to intellectual property in connection with Fairchild’s exiting of its RF Group business in Tyngsboro, MA. The acquisition, which included the hiring of 23 highly experienced RF design and engineering professionals, will further accelerate the company’s design and development of RF active semiconductor devices for the 3G cellular, WiFi and WiMAX markets.

MediaTek Inc., a fabless semiconductor company for wireless communications and digital media solutions, announced that it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire the assets related to the Analog Devices Inc. (ADI) Othello® radio and SoftFone® baseband chipset product lines, as well as certain cellular handset baseband support operations, for approximately US$350 M in cash. These product lines represented approximately US$230 M in revenue for ADI, based on fiscal year 2006 financial results.


Integrated Barcode Technology (IBT) has announced that it has been acquired by Astron Wireless Technologies Inc., a northern Virginia-based global manufacturer of antenna, cable and connectivity products for a multitude of wireless communications applications for over 28 years. The acquisition of IBT by Astron Wireless provides an opportunity to diversify Astron’s commercial, military and government customer offerings leading to multiple recurring revenue streams from barcode applications.

Keithley Instruments Inc., a leader in solutions for emerging measurement needs, announced a new partnership with the California NanoSystems Institute (CNSI) at UCLA. The partnership is designed to support research collaboration in the pursuit of nanotechnology and nanoscience solutions for the semiconductor industry’s next generation instrumentation and measurement requirements. Keithley and the CNSI will share research information to further the understanding of nanotechnology and nanoelectronic technologies.

The Institute for System Level Integration (iSLI) has announced an agreement with Cadence Design Systems Ltd. to help advance new businesses by giving them easy access to chip design software and methodology services. Providing access to software design tools and methodology services will enable new companies who may not have the finance or resources available to accelerate their product development processes allowing them to become successful in the shortest possible time.

Tyco Electronics and OATSystems announced an alliance to offer a RFID solution targeted for industrial manufacturers to quickly realize the business benefits of RFID by automating asset management processes. Combining Tyco Electronics tag solutions with OATSystems Asset Tracking software will enable businesses to realize an ROI much more quickly. By providing integrated software and hardware solutions, proven at real customers, Tyco Electronics and OATSystems can quickly give industrial manufacturers tangible business benefits such as better control and less loss of reusable assets (shipping containers, for example) and improved supply chain visibility, which allows for better planning and improved customer service. Customers can be up and running in weeks, instead of months, enabling them to respond immediately to mis-shipments and delivery errors, increasing both operational efficiency and customer satisfaction.

To better support China’s rapidly growing avionics market, Aeroflex is partnering with Ameco Beijing (Aircraft Maintenance and Engineering Corp.) to provide a local service center for Chinese customers. Located at the Beijing Capital International Airport, Ameco Beijing will provide a convenient site for calibrating and servicing Aeroflex avionics test equipment sold in China for civil end uses. Access to local service and support means customers can reduce their equipment down time, shipping costs, and expensive and time-consuming import/ export fees.

Eyelit Inc., a manufacturing software provider for visibility, control and coordination of manufacturing operations for the aerospace & defense, electronics, life sciences, semiconductor and solar panel industries, announced that it has purchased and moved into its new corporate office. The new office provides nearly three times more office space than the previously leased building and will provide Eyelit with the necessary office space to meet growing demand for its manufacturing software solutions and services. Eyelit’s new address and phone numbers are: Eyelit Inc., 5685 Whittle Road, Mississauga, ON L4Z 3P8 ph: (905) 502-6184 and fax: (905) 502-9117.

Chomerics Asia Pacific division of Parker Hannifin Corp. announced the opening of a new facility in Sriperumbudur near Chennai, India. Located adjacent to the 260 acre Special Economic Zone, the facility will enable Chomerics to better serve the rapidly growing Indian market for IT, telecom and consumer electronic products. With nearly 1700 square meters of manufacturing and office space, the plant will produce electromagnetic interference (EMI) shielded products to support local customers.

LS Research, a leader in the design, development and FCC certification of new products for the wireless market, has announced the opening of a branch facility in Fitchburg, WI. The new office will focus on hardware and software development for ZigBee, Bluetooth, WiFi and low power wireless applications. The new facility’s address is: 5520 Nobel Drive, Suite 175, Fitchburg, WI 53711.

Murata Electronics North America, an innovator in electronics and a global supplier of ceramic passive components, announced that it has selected Avnet Electronics to receive the company’s Corporate Award for 2006. Avnet was selected out of all Murata’s North American distributors based on its continued sales expansion and outstanding contribution to Murata.

State of the Art Inc. (SOTA), a manufacturer of military and high reliability chip resistors, announced it has been awarded the Honeywell Kansas City, MO Supplier Excellence Award for the 2006 fiscal year. Consideration for the award is based on the areas of quality performance, order administration, cost control, technical support, responsiveness and delivery performance along with other factors.

Contracts

Andrew Corp. has been awarded the third phase of a strategic multiyear contract from a Tier 1 operator in the Middle East for a major geolocation system deployment. The phase three contract award is valued at approximately $9 M, bringing the total contract value to date to more than $30 M. It represents continued expansion of the project in which Andrew is installing its Geometrix® uplink time difference of arrival (U-TDOA) system that, when completed, will cover a network of thousands of cell sites. Work on phase three will begin as the second phase nears completion.

TRAK Microwave announced the award of a contract valued at over $4 M for a high performance Integrated Microwave Assembly (IMA) from a customer located outside the United States. “This recurring contract award from a most valued US-Allied customer demonstrates that TRAK’s investments in factory automation and process controls continues to offer our partners high performance and competitively priced integrated microwave solutions,” said Michael Kujawa, VP sales and marketing for TRAK Microwave.

Agilent Technologies Inc. announced that the US Navy has selected the company’s test equipment for the General Purpose Electronic Test Equipment program. The five-year contract, awarded by the Naval Inventory Control Point, is valued at approximately $3.3 M.

Jacket Micro Devices Inc. (JMD), a worldwide supplier of integrated RF modules for high performance wireless products, has selected Singapore-based MicroCircuit Technology (S) Pte. Ltd. (MCT) for large-scale fabrication of substrates and other products using JMD’s proprietary Multi-layer Organic (MLO) technology. MLO technologies use thin low loss organic materials in a system-on-package (SoP) approach to RF modules. This enables the production of substrates for RF front-end modules with higher component aerial density compared to traditional solutions using ceramics.

Tower Semiconductor Ltd., a pure-play independent specialty foundry, announced that it has won a multi-million dollar per month manufacturing deal for its Fab2 at the 0.13-micron technology generation from a first-tier, US integrated device manufacturer (IDM). Under this deal, technology will be transferred during the coming several quarters after which Tower expects to manufacture between five and eight thousand wafers-per-month, utilizing the new tools it is purchasing from companies such as AMD and Intel, as was previously announced.

Financial News

Park Electrochemical Corp. reports sales of $60.5 M for its 2008 fiscal year second quarter ended August 26, 2007, compared to $66.5 M for the same period in 2007. Net earnings for the quarter were $9.2 M ($0.45/per share), compared to net earnings before special items of $8.5 M ($0.82/per share) for the second quarter of last year.

Ceragon Networks Ltd. reports sales of $37.3 M for the second quarter ended June 30, 2007, compared to $23.6 M for the same period in 2006. Net income for the quarter was $2.9 M ($0.09/per diluted share), compared to $835,000 ($0.03/per diluted share) for the second quarter of last year.

Merrimac Industries Inc. reports sales of $6.2 M for the second quarter ended June 30, 2007, compared to $8.3 M for the same period in 2006. Net loss for the quarter was $3.5 M ($1.19/per share), compared to a net income of $529,000 ($0.17/per share) for the second quarter of last year.

Superconductor Technologies Inc. reports sales of $4.7 M for the second quarter ended June 30, 2007, compared to $5 M for the same period in 2006. Net loss for the second quarter was $2 M ($0.16/per share), compared to a net loss of $22.7 M ($1.82/per share) for the second quarter of last year.

New Market Entries

Leusin Microwave LLC, a new supplier of waveguide and coaxial cavity filters and other passive components in the 1 to 40 GHz range, was recently formed. Leusin’s team is an experienced combination of talents including engineering, manufacturing and quality assurance. Leusin’s headquarters and manufacturing facility is located in Hampstead, NH. For more information, call (603) 329-7270, sales (603) 767-8589, e-mail: sales@leusin.com or visit www.leusin.com.

ClearComm Technologies LLC has announced its expansion into new facilities in Fruitland, MD. A larger, 35,000 square foot building is being utilized to produce ClearComm’s commercial, military and wireless products. ClearComm is a manufacturer of filters, duplexers, diplexers and RF assemblies covering the frequency range of 10 MHz to 18 GHz. The new address is 28410 Crown Road, Fruitland, MD 21875. The phone number is (410) 860-0500, fax: (410) 860-9005, e-mail: sales@clearcommtech.com or visit: www.clearcommtech.com. In related news, ClearComm announced the appointment of the Cain-Forlaw Co. headquartered in Palatine, IL. Cain-Forlaw group will cover the central portion of the US from Illinois to Texas. This group brings a broad experience and complimentary products to ClearComm. To contact Cain-Forlaw’s main office, call (847) 202-9898 or visit: www.cain-forlaw.com.

Personnel

Inphi® Corp. announced that recognized business and corporate governance expert Sam Srinivasan has joined its board of directors. Srinivasan will provide expertise and counsel as Inphi continues to expand by delivering the industry’s highest performing integrated circuits with the best signal integrity for processing high speed data. Srinivasan currently serves as a director and chairman of the Audit Committee for Sirf Technology Holdings Inc. and Centillium Communications Inc. In addition, he is a charter member of the Weatherhead School Advisory Council at Case Western Reserve University’s school of management in Cleveland, OH.

SiGe Semiconductor announced the appointment of Peter L. Gammel as chief technology officer (CTO). In his new role, Gammel will be responsible for generating technology and product roadmaps and identifying new application opportunities. He will also work closely with external partners, internal engineering and marketing groups to exploit the company’s capabilities in the wireless consumer electronics market segments. Gammel assumes the position of CTO after 20 years experience in new product and funding development, intellectual property investment, and team building and management.

Crane Aerospace & Electronics, a segment of Crane Co., announced the appointment of Don Pearson as director of operations for microwave systems solutions. In this capacity, Pearson is responsible for manufacturing operations of the Microwave Systems Solutions sites located in Chandler, AZ and Beverly, MA. Prior to joining Crane, Pearson was with UK-based Invensys, a global industrial automation, transportation and controls group. He held a number of increasingly responsible roles at Invensys including vice president of materials and logistics, vice president of operations, corporate vice president of operations services and group vice president of operations.

StratEdge announced the appointment of Brad King to the position of senior account manager. Responsibilities include sales and application support for StratEdge’s high performance semiconductor packages, filters, and assembly and test services. King has 25 years of experience providing electronic products and services to the industrial, automotive and government marketplace. He has held senior level positions in sales and marketing and business development at companies such as California Amplifier (CalAmp)/Vytek, Indyme Electronics and Dynatech Wireless Technologies.

TT electronics BI Technologies Electronic Components Division has hired Chuck Nelson as product marketing manager of the company’s hybrid microcircuit business unit. Joining BI Technologies’ experienced applications engineering staff, Nelson will be responsible for supporting the existing customer base as well as promoting new business growth. Nelson previously worked in ceramic electronic packaging with NTK and Kyocera. He was also employed with BI Technologies earlier in his career in the engineering and production departments.

Rep Appointments

Nitronex, an innovative developer and manufacturer of high performance GaN on Si RF power transistors for the commercial and broadband wireless infrastructure markets, has expanded its partnership with Richardson Electronics to include distribution in the Americas and all of Asia. The agreement will increase Nitronex’s sales and customer support services for its customers throughout these regions.

Aeroflex/Inmet and RFMW Ltd. announced a worldwide distribution agreement. Aeroflex/Inmet is a leading manufacturer of high performance coaxial components for communications and test applications. RFMW Ltd. is a specialized distributor that provides customers and suppliers with focused distribution of RF and microwave components as well as customer specific component-engineering support.

RF Monolithics Inc. announced it has expanded its distribution capability and increased product availability across all of Asia with the appointment of Nu Horizons Electronics Corp. as an authorized Asian distributor for its component products and its Cirronet ZigBeeT and proprietary wireless sensor networking modules and devices. Nu Horizons currently distributes the company’s full line of products throughout North/South America, Germany and the United Kingdom.

Digi-Key Corp. announced that it has entered into a distribution agreement with RF Micro Devices Inc. (RFMD). Among the RFMD products stocked by Digi-Key are RF ICs and modules, including RF amplifiers and evaluation kits. These products are featured in Digi-Key’s print and online catalogs and are available for purchase directly from Digi-Key.

Coaxial Dynamics has appointed Measuretest cc as its representative in South Africa. Measuretest cc was formed and started trading in October 1984. The company’s prime objective is to continue its business as an importer and distributor of professional electronic equipment, servicing the telecommunications, ATE, RF, microwave, manufacturing and broadcasting industries. Contact information: Measuretest cc, 47 Elephant Road, Monument Park, Pretoria 0105 Republic of South Africa, ph: 27-12 452 0400, fax: 27 12 452 0415, e-mail: sales@measuretest.co.za or visit: http://measuretest.co.za.

International Manufacturing Services Inc. (IMS), a manufacturer and supplier of high quality thick film resistors, terminations, attenuators, planar dividers and planar filters to the electronics industry, announced the appointment of Jay Stone Associates of San Jose as its northern California representative. Since 1959, Jay Stone Associates has been one of the area’s pioneers in the RF and microwave business.

San-tron Inc., a manufacturer of RF coaxial connectors and cable assemblies, has announced the hiring of new field sales representatives to handle customer relationships in southern California. First Technical Sales, Temecula, CA, will be servicing accounts from Los Angeles south to San Diego and east to Reno, NV. The company is located at 31938 Hwy 79 South, Suite #A-312, Temecula, CA 92592, ph: (951) 302-3972 or visit: www.first-technical.com. Leading the office in Temecula is Cipriano Mercado, technical sales manager. He can be reached via e-mail at cipriano@first-technical.com.

Allied Electronics, a subsidiary of Electrocomponents plc, has signed a distribution agreement with Crystek Corp. to distribute its portfolio of frequency control technology. Allied will carry a broad range of products from Crystek, including quartz crystals, clock oscillators, TCXOs, OCXOs, VCXOs and VCOs.

Trompeter, a wholly owned subsidiary of Emerson Network Power Connectivity Solutions, announced the appointment of a new sales rep organization, Eastern Instrumentation of Philadelphia. The organization has represented Trompeter’s sister company Semflex since 1985. Eastern Instrumentation of Philadelphia’s five sales engineers will cover the tri-state region of Pennsylvania, Delaware and New Jersey for Trompeter’s entire line of RF interconnect products. The company can be reached by phone: (856) 231-0668 or e-mail: jerryl@eiphila.com.