Radiall sees MTT-S IMS as the most focussed show for RF/microwave products and technologies, but I must admit that we have adjusted our exhibition and communication budget to reflect the decreasing attendance at the exhibition. This is a trend that we see across the board for trade shows; however, MTT-S IMS still attracts a decent attendance and a strong number of exhibitors thanks to the rich content of the conference.
And, of course, for European companies, MTT-S IMS is a great opportunity to catch up with the latest developments, meet with transatlantic friends and acquaintances, and learn about the hottest news or gossip in the industry. Knowing that many smaller companies offer great products, but are not always well represented in Europe, it is always exciting to walk through the aisles and search for the most innovative products, even if the newest product is found at a competitor’s booth.
As I have mentioned, recent years have seen many trade shows slowing down or merging with other events. MTT-S IMS has remained strong thanks to its technical offering through the conference. Yet, it has become challenging for exhibitors and organizers to compete against what the Internet has to offer in terms of product information and attract engineers to the show floor. I have no doubt that the conference will continue to attract a large audience due to the quality of the sessions and the diversity of subjects; however, I would look at options to facilitate access to the exhibition for show goers only, from proximity of public transportation and travel time, to merging with other existing shows with high RF/microwave content.
With regards to addressing the changing global marketplace, flexibility is the answer. In other words, being able to adapt to the constantly evolving economical/political environment and its impact on supply and demand. A good example of Radiall’s agility was to successfully transfer critical manufacturing technologies from Europe to Mexico in less than a year in an effort to maintain our competitiveness despite a weak US Dollar.
Innovation and time to market remain some of the key challenges we are facing and will continue to do so. This can take different guises, from developing, qualifying and supplying a new RF connector for a critical Active Electronically Scanned Array (AESA) radar project in less than 15 months, to launching and promoting a new composite 7/16 connector in one year, which allows us to compensate for brass material increase while at the same time offering improved inter-modulation performances. Our simulation tools and expertise for stress calculation, thermal behavior and RF performance are key contributors to these achievements.
To demonstrate such achievements our strategy in Atlanta is to highlight a set of products that are dedicated to a specific market segment. On Booth 2131 we will be showing three new products intended for the instrumentation market: a SMT RF switch guaranteed for two million cycles, a QMA calibration kit and TestPro test cables with exceptional 5,000 mating durability.
And we are looking even further ahead — being a global RF and fiber optic interconnect manufacturer, a key challenge faced by Radiall in the year before the MTT-S in Boston is to understand better how and in which applications fiber optic can take off as a alternative to RF. Next year we would like to introduce an ‘RF over Fiber’ product package featuring future and existing products like our ODC connector launched earlier this year for wireless base station applications or our LuxCis APC contact suitable for phased-array radars.