Industry News
Pamtech founder, George F. Grund III, passed away on April 23rd. Grund was the founder of Pamtech (Passive Microwave Technology) in March 1976. The company, located in Camarillo, CA, designs and manufactures high performance ferrite products such as circulators and isolators. Pamtech is privately owned with an annual revenue of $10 to 20 M, employing a staff of approximately 10 to 19. Grund started Pamtech as a spin off of E&M Labs of Westlake, CA after TRAK of Tampa, FL bought that company in 1975.
Tektronix Inc., a supplier of test, measurement and monitoring products and solutions, completed the acquisition of SyntheSys Research Inc. The details of the transaction were not disclosed.
Symmetricom® Inc. announced the company will collaborate with Alcatel-Lucent on solutions that use Symmetricom's IEEE 1588 Precision Time Protocol (PTP) synchronization technology. This technology is used by service providers migrating to Ethernet transport for mobile backhaul and opting for IEEE 1588-2008 as the Node-B timing solution. Synchronization of base stations is a critical component in ensuring quality of service in Ethernet-based networks.
Electronic Design Automation (EDA) industry organizations, Accellera and The SPIRIT Consortium, announced that the organizations have completed their merger (revealed in June of last year). The new organization takes on the Accellera name and will continue to develop electronic design language-based and Intellectual Property (IP) standards of benefit to the electronics industry. The new organization is aligned on the path to create formal standards through the IEEE, and currently has eight standardization subcommittees operating. These standards include: SystemRDL (Register Description Language), IPtagging, Interface Technical Committee (ITC), Open Verification Library (OVL), Unified Coverage Interoperability (UCI), Verilog Analog/Mixed Signal (AMS), Verification IP (VIP) and IP-XACT.
Nitronex and Modelithics have released the first state-of-the-art nonlinear model for Nitronex's high power gallium nitride (GaN) NPT1012 device. The model combines heating effects, static and dynamic bias characteristics with large-signal performance to deliver accuracy unlike other GaN HEMT device models. The collaborative model predicts performance of the NPT1012 in broadband application circuits specifically targeting the military communications, electronic warfare and radar markets.
Anritsu Corp. announced it is the first test equipment vendor in the world to achieve GCF-approved test case validations for both LTE (Long Term Evolution) RF and protocol conformance testing. LTE is the next-generation wireless communications service supporting 100 Mbps downlink and 50 Mbps uplink data communications, which is 5 to 10 times faster than current 3G services.
Mini-Circuits, Brooklyn, NY, was recognized by Rockwell Collins as its top supplier for 2010 when it was presented with the President's Award by Jeff Moore, Senior Vice President of Operations, during the company's Annual Supplier Conference. For 27 years, the Rockwell Collins President's Award has served as an acknowledgment of significant contributions made over the past year based upon quality, delivery, total cost of ownership, lead time and customer service. Mini-Circuits also was named the Crystal Products Commodity Supplier of the Year.
AVX Corp. received the Capacitor Supplier of the Year 2010 award from Rockwell Collins for the third consecutive year. The award was presented to AVX by Jeff Moore, Senior Vice President of Operations at Rockwell Collins, at its Annual Supplier Conference. The Capacitor Supplier of the Year 2010 award acknowledges significant contributions made during the year by suppliers, and is based upon quality, delivery, total cost of ownership, lead-time and customer service.
ZTE Corp. recently honored Andrew Solutions, the CommScope Inc. division that is a leader in wireless communication systems and products, with its 2009 Best Partner award, a distinction Andrew has now won for the fourth consecutive year. ZTE, a Chinese telecom equipment provider, granted Andrew the award based on the company's superior performance in designing, supplying and delivering innovative products and solutions for wireless networks, especially base station antenna systems.
Aeroflex/Metelics announced that the company has received JANS certification for the company's diode line by the Defense Supply Center Columbus (DSCC). The product families covered by the JANS certification include: switching diodes and rectifiers; Zener and temperature compensating diodes; current regulators; and Schottky rectifiers.
Contracts
The US Army Communications-Electronics Life Cycle Management Command recently awarded SRCTec a contract valued at $94,386,209 for urgently required Counter Remote Control Improvised Explosive Device Electronic Warfare, or CREW Duke V2 systems.
Comtech Telecommunications Corp. announced that its Santa Clara, California-based subsidiary, Comtech Xicom Technology Inc., and its Tempe, Arizona-based subsidiary, Comtech EF Data Corp., received satellite communications equipment orders totaling $12.1 M from a major government prime contractor. The orders are for follow-on procurements of high-power tri-band amplifiers, high-power Ka-band amplifiers and satellite earth station modems for transportable USAF satellite terminals, and will be utilized to expand an existing military network.
TiaLinx Inc. announced it has received a Phase II award from the Defense Advanced Research Project Agency's (DARPA) Microsystems Technology Office. The SBIR Phase II award includes delivery of an advanced V-band high-bandwidth communication link and a high-precision radar system. The integrated system-on-chip is considered a key element within the entire dual function system to both implement precision object detection, and serve as a wireless link to transfer large data files.
Cobham's Mission Equipment strategic business unit has been awarded further production contracts by The Boeing Co. to supply more than 500 BRU-61/A carriage systems for the Small Diameter Bomb (SDB) program. The BRU-61/A is a pneumatic multi-store system designed for carriage and release of Boeing's SDB weapon system, which has been in service since 2006 on the Boeing F-15E Strike Eagle. To date, Cobham has supplied more than 900 carriages in support of worldwide operations. The BRU-61/A is manufactured at Cobham's facility in Orchard Park, NY.
LeCroy Corp. announced that it has received a contract award from the US Navy to supply digital oscilloscopes to the US Navy's Supply Systems Command. The contract has a Best Estimated Quantity (BEQ) of up to 200 WaveRunner oscilloscopes per year for five years. LeCroy's WaveRunner 64Xi-A-N oscilloscopes passed stringent technical requirements as part of a competitive bid to qualify for US Navy acceptance.
Camstar Systems Inc. announced that REMEC Broadband Wireless, a manufacturer and EMS provider of broadband wireless devices, components and subsystems, including transceivers and microwave radio ODUs, has selected Camstar's ElectronicsSuite™, configured for the electronics industry on the Camstar Enterprise Platform, to support its manufacturing, quality and customer satisfaction goals.
Aeroflex announced that Silicon Laboratories has selected Arendar® 2009 Suite from VI Technology, an Aeroflex company. Arendar 2009 Suite is an enterprise software solution that utilizes a modular architecture, integrated security, comprehensive API and web accessibility to shorten test cycles and speed time-to-market.
Personnel
AWR Corp. announced that Chief Executive Officer Dane Collins has been elected to the Electronic Design Automation Consortium (EDAC) board of directors. The EDA Consortium is an international association of more than 100 companies that develop EDA tools and services for the design of communications, computer, and aerospace systems, medical and industrial equipment, and consumer electronics. Collins possesses a broad perspective, spanning job functions from integrated circuit designer and EDA tool developer to corporate executive, as well as company environments from small start-ups like EEsof, High Level Design Systems and AWR, to large commercial and military corporations such as Cadence Design Systems and General Dynamics.
Auriga Microwave announced the creation of a Department of Defense (DoD) Industry Advisory Board and the appointment of four advisors. Appointed to Auriga's Advisory Board are: General (ret) Tom Hobbins, USAF retired as Commander of US Air Force in Europe (USAFE); Brigadier General (ret) John Meincke, USAF retired from the US Air Force as director of command, control, communications and computer systems (J6) at the US Central Command; Rear Admiral (ret) George Wagner retired from the Navy as Commander of Space and Naval Warfare Systems Command (SPAWAR); and Anthony M. Valletta has spent 40 years in the C3/C4ISR and IT business area. He is presently an independent consultant, assisting companies in the DoD space.
RF Monolithics Inc. announced that with the continued strengthening and maturing of the M2M market, additional emphasis and resources will be directed towards it. Additionally, the company has appointed Farlin A. Halsey as Senior Vice President of Marketing and M2M Business.
Millennium Microwave Corp. is pleased to announce that John Devlin has joined the company as General Manager. Devlin brings over 30 years experience in the microwave industry, in engineering, management and sales. Millennium designs and manufactures integrated subassemblies, switched filter banks, solid state switches and switch matrices covering frequency ranges from DC to 26.5 GHz.
NDK (Nihon Dempa Kogyo Co. Ltd.) announced the addition of Jason Glavy as Sales Executive responsible for the Southern California region. He will be supporting NDK's sales representatives, CK Associates, and their offices in Los Angeles, Orange County, San Diego, CA and Arizona. Among his key tasks will be the launch of NDK's new QPL oscillators and their COTS products for Hi-Rel/Demanding Applications into the defense and aerospace industries. He will also support NDK's traditional OEMs and work with the chip set designers in the area of reference designs.
Rep Appointments
Molex has become a licensed second source for Radiall SMP-MAX board-to-board coaxial connectors and as such will manufacture and market the connectors. The SMP-MAX connector line offers cost-effective large misalignment tolerance, making it simpler and more reliable to make connections even in blind-mate applications. The connectors address the demanding wireless telecom applications required for the new generation of infrastructure compact equipment such as base stations or handheld devices.
Eclipse Microwave Inc. announced the appointment of Steward Technology as its Arizona and Northern California sales representative. Based in Tempe, AZ and San Jose, CA, Steward Technology is also a supplier of precision microwave connectors, microwave diodes, filters, microwave chip resistors, chip capacitors and terminations, and discrete semiconductor products. Contact Steward at (408) 568-9159 or visit the company's website at www.stechrep.com.
SemiProbe has appointed Inseto as its representative for the UK, Ireland and Scandinavia. Inseto provides advanced manufacturing equipment, assembly materials and related consumable products for electronic production, including semiconductor, micro and nanoelectronic assembly, as well as products for general industrial manufacturing.
Endwave Corp. has announced the hiring of a collection of new sales representatives as part of a global marketing effort to promote the MMIC product line introduced last September. Trionic will cover the territories of New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania, and can be reached either by phone or e-mail (516-466-2300, info@trionic.com). Youngewirth & Olenick will represent Endwave in Southern California, Arizona and New Mexico (contactus@yando.com, www.yando.com). Mid-Atlantic Microwave is a representative of the RF and microwave components in the Maryland, Washington, DC, and Virginia territories, and can be reached by phone or e-mail, or by visiting their website (301-421-0266, mamsinc@verizon.net, www.mamsinc.net). Costar, a Silicon Valley-based technology sales company, will represent Endwave in Northern California (401-946-9339, dlikens@costar-rep.com), Innovative Marketing & Sales will cover Arkansas, Texas, Louisiana and Oklahoma (972-462-1281, imstexas@earthlink.net), and Matrix Sales Inc. will cover sales in the New England states (978-459-4000, matrix@matrixsalesinc.com).
Richardson Electronics Ltd., whose new website features the latest products from top manufacturers for the most important RF/wireless and power conversion applications, announced it has signed a global distribution agreement with longtime engineering partner LS Research to distribute its line of innovative embedded solutions products.