Around the Circuit

Industry News

SciTech Publishing Inc., Raleigh, NC, and Noble Publishing, Thomasville, GA, have reached an agreement whereby SciTech will acquire all assets of Noble. Closing is subject to standard terms and conditions. SciTech assumed operation of Noble as of January 2, 2006.

EMS Technologies Inc. announced the signing of a definitive agreement for the sale of its Satellite Networks (SatNet) division to Advantech Advanced Microwave Technologies Inc., a manufacturer of satellite and terrestrial wireless communication equipment, with corporate headquarters in Montreal, Canada. The parties are seeking to close the transaction as soon as possible, subject to certain customer and supplier consents.

Andrew Corp. has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Skyware Radio Systems GmbH, Krefeld, Germany, a producer of state-of-the-art electronic products for broadband satellite communications networks. Under terms of the agreement, which is subject to review by German antitrust authorities, Andrew will pay approximately $9 M in cash, with additional cash consideration possible if certain financial performance goals are reached over a two-year period. Privately-held Skyware generated approximately $12 M in sales during its fiscal 2004. Its products are in use primarily within the Europe, Middle East and Africa markets. In related news, Governor Mike Easley announced that Andrew Corp. will move into a new facility in Wayne County, NC, in 2006 adding 204 new jobs and retaining and relocating 232 existing jobs from the company’s Smithfield, NC facility. The project represents an investment by Andrew of $11.5 M over six years.

TECOM Industries Inc., a Smiths Interconnect company, and Rockwell Collins have entered into a long-term purchase agreement for the HGA-2100 high gain antenna to meet the Boeing 787 SATCOM high gain antenna requirement. The HGA-2100 is the latest addition to TECOM’s line of SATCOM antenna products.

TriQuint Semiconductor Inc. has announced the opening of a new design and support center in Chelmsford, MA. The facility, known as the New England Design Center (NEDC), is part of the company’s ongoing efforts to work more closely with strategic partners and customers on development of next generation wireless modules and components. The 15,000 square foot NEDC, located in the Boston suburbs, consolidates design and engineering support activities previously handled at locations in Lowell, MA and Nashua, NH.

Trilithic Inc., a designer and manufacturer of RF and microwave passive components and filters, announced the opening of a new sales office in Europe. With this expansion, Trilithic will provide local sales support for all customers and sales agents in Europe as well as initiating new business development projects. Located outside of London, Trilithic Europe’s office is managed by David O’Connell (doconnell@trilithic.com) and sales support is provided by Amanda O’Connell (aoconnell@trilithic.com).

Taconic, Petersburgh, NY, recently held a ribbon cutting ceremony at the site of its new manufacturing facility in Cheonan, Korea. Awards for outstanding performance were handed out to key contributors who made the opening possible including a local construction company as well as several Korea Taconic employees.

RF Micro Devices Inc. (RFMD) announced that the company’s board of directors has approved the expansion of RFMD’s assembly operations in China. The expansion, which is projected to be on-line during the June quarter of 2006, is expected to increase RFMD’s internal assembly capacity by approximately 50 percent, representing approximately 25 percent of the company’s assembly requirements.

In line with its multidomestic strategy, Thales has established commercial representation in Bratislava, under the management of Marc Duflot. The intention is for this office to become a Central Office for the region and capitalize on opportunities arising throughout Central Europe. The company’s increased presence follows the strong development of the Slovak Republic, which is a member of both the European Union and NATO. The new office demonstrates Thales’ strategy to cooperate with local industry partners in order to create a solid basis for a mutually beneficial relationship through a progressive transfer of advanced technical know-how.

Rohde & Schwarz has taken an important step forward towards further growth and innovation with the opening of a 16,000 m2 Technology Center in Munich, Germany. In doing so it claims to have created an optimum work environment that supports the creativity of its employees. The center will also be a major recipient of the company’s recruitment drive as it aims to attract 200 new employees — mainly engineers — in Germany alone, the majority of them for research and development.

M2 Global Technology Ltd. has announced that it will be moving to a new 25,000 square foot facility by March. The new facility will allow the local company to bring all of its operations, including electronics manufacturing, welding, mechanical assembly and sheet-metal services under one roof. The company will be moving into an existing building, located at 5714 Epsilon Drive, San Antonio, TX 78249.

Polytec Inc., a provider of advanced, light-based vibration, speed and length, and topography measurement systems to North America, has opened a dedicated east coast regional office in Hopkinton, MA. The new office will service customers from the southeastern United States north to the New England states and eastern Canada. In addition, an engineering lab facility will soon be completed, permitting characterization of customer-supplied structures and MEMS devices.

Aeroflex and Centro de Tecnología de las Comunicaciones (Cetecom Spain) have entered into a long-term, global distribution partnership under which Aeroflex will become the sole worldwide sales and support channel for Cetecom’s mobile communications integrated tester (MINT) RF conformance test platform for 2G/2.5G/3G mobile handsets.

TestMart announced an agreement with XL Microwave (now Pendulum Instruments Inc.). The deal provides the US government and federal contractor a marketplace with special pricing on select frequency counters and standards, wireless test instrumentation and other products.

AMI Semiconductor, a designer and manufacturer of state-of-the-art integrated mixed-signal and structured digital products, and Mentor Graphics® Corp. have partnered to offer a state-of-the-art analog/mixed-signal technology design kit containing comprehensive and proven building blocks at the device level. This kit enables semiconductor companies and electronic systems manufacturers to jump-start their design cycles on AMI Semiconductor’s foundry process using Mentor’s analog/mixed-signal IC flow, thereby cutting time-to-market and ensuring manufacturing success of analog, low data rate wireless, mixed-signal and system-on-chip ICs.

Summitek Instruments has announced a licensing agreement with Willtek Communications, a provider of test and measurement solutions to the wireless industry. Summitek Instruments, a manufacturer of software products designed to automate spectrum management as well as S-parameter measurements, has signed an agreement to license the OASIS Spectrum Monitoring software to Willtek as an option for its line of 9101 and 9102 handheld spectrum analyzers.

Technical Research and Manufacturing (TRM), Bedford, NH, has announced a new low cost, quick turn coupler and divider/combiner program. On selected products, TRM is guaranteeing less than two-weeks delivery for quantities of one to five, with low, monolithic pricing for these same quantities.

UltraSource Inc., a manufacturer of custom thin film circuits and ceramic interconnect devices, has achieved ISO 9001:2000 registration. The successful completion of the certification culminated months of intense activity that resulted in the rewriting of the company’s Quality Manual, redefining the company Quality Policy and documenting the Quality Management Systems.

Merrimac Industries Inc., a designer and manufacturer of RF microwave components, has been granted a patent for its Multi-Mix® Microtechnology from the United States Patent and Trademark Office entitled “Method of Manufacturing Multilayer Microwave Couplers Using Vertically-connected Transmission Line Structures.” This patented technology reduces the size of surface-mount RF couplers and enables low loss implementation of RF interconnects between layers in multilayer stripline structures leading to further miniaturization of integrated module designs.

QUALCOMM Inc. announced that the company has shipped two billion chips since 1996 when it delivered its first commercial CDMA solutions to wireless handset and infrastructure customers. QUALCOMM marked the shipment of its first billion chips in 2003.

Avago Technologies announced that it has shipped its 200 millionth film bulk acoustic resonator (FBAR) filter. Strong demand by handset manufacturers has driven Avago to increase its shipments to more than 15 million per month. FBAR filters are used in mobile phones, data cards and other wireless products.

Tyco Electronics has named TTI Inc. its North American Distributor of the Year for 2005. The award was presented in Fort Worth, TX, where executives from both companies were meeting.

Contracts

Agilent Technologies Inc. announced it has been awarded a $19.73 M contract by the US Air Force to provide Agilent microwave measuring receivers to the Air Force Metrology and Calibration Lab (AFMETCAL). Agilent also has received a $2.3 M contract to deliver low noise signal generators to the lab. The microwave measuring receiver, which provides frequency coverage up to 50 GHz, will be used by AFMETCAL for calibrating signal generators and step attenuators to meet stringent government and commercial accuracy requirements.

L-3 Communications Cincinnati Electronics (CE) has been selected by General Dynamics Land Systems (GDLS) Division to provide the advanced infrared thermal imager for the Stryker Mobile Gun System (MGS). CE has begun delivery of 72 thermal imagers to be installed in the Commander’s Panoramic Viewer that provides situational awareness and target assessment for the Stryker MGS.

TiaLinx Inc., a developer of wafer scale antenna arrays, announced that it has received a Small Business Innovative Research (SBIR) Phase 1 award from the Defense Advanced Research Project Agency (DARPA). The objective of this program with DARPA is to address feasibility of using TiaLinx’s proprietary integrated RF beamforming technology, focusing on ultra-wideband modulation operating at extreme frequencies for Giga-band signaling applications. The device will require low power to operate and offers a substantial reduction in mass and volume.

Personnel

Hittite Microwave Corp. announced that Stephen G. Daly, president and chief executive officer and a director of the company, has been elected to the additional office of chairman of the board. He succeeds the company’s founder, Yalcin Ayasli, who will remain on the board and serve as chairman emeritus. Daly joined the company in 1996, has served as president since January 2004 and chief executive officer since December 2004.

Alec Reader and Philip Nelson have been appointed to the board of directors of Innos, the UK research and development company for innovations in nanoscale technology. The appointment of Reader coincides with his promotion to the role of sales and marketing director. Nelson was previously director of the Institute of Sound and Vibration Research and was appointed deputy vice-chancellor of the University of Southampton in 2005. He brings a proven pedigree in acoustics — currently serving as president of the International Commission for Acoustics — and an in-depth knowledge of creating industry sponsored research grants.

Interconnect Devices Inc. (IDI) announced the appointment of Rick Thompson to the position of chairman of the board and CEO. Thompson will lead both IDI and its sister company Synergetix.® Thompson, one of the original founders of the company, served as IDI’s first president from 1979 to 1985. He has served as a member of the IDI board of directors since its beginning. Thompson returned to the CEO position with the recent departure of Edward J. Schifman, who served as IDI’s president and CEO since 1985.

Lars Marcher took up the position as chief financial officer of Terma A/S with the title of executive vice president and CFO. Since 2004, he has held the position of president and CEO of Dataram Corp., which manufactures memory modules for large computer systems and complex simulation projects. He has a broad international management experience, attained over 19 years of key management positions in a number of companies, which include Purup Electronics, The East Asiatic Co. and Apple Computers.

Guy Petignat has joined Huber + Suhner as COO Fiberoptic + Cable Technology, and member of the Executive Group Management. He is a Swiss and Australian citizen with a master’s degree in mechanical engineering from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH), and an MBA from Harvard Business School. He was previously COO for Kaba Key + Ident Systems Europe and Asia Pacific. Petignat has a genuine industrial background and a proven track record with several years of experience with the Kaba group, as well as among others, more than 10 years with Ascom.

Silicon Laboratories Inc. announced the appointment of Necip Sayiner as president and chief executive officer. Sayiner replaces interim chief executive officer Nav Sooch, who will continue to play an active role in the company as chairman of the board of directors. Prior to joining Silicon Laboratories, Sayiner held various leadership roles at Agere Systems.

WJ Communications Inc. announced that it has appointed Morteza Saidi as vice president of engineering. Saidi brings over 25 years of successful experience in managing and developing RF products. He served most recently as founder and CEO at S-Communications, a fabless semiconductor company. Prior to that, he was the co-founder, CTO/VP of RF and Analog for Resonext Communications (acquired by RF Micro Devices in 2002).

TRAK Microwave Corp. has appointed Michael J. Kujawa as vice president of sales and marketing in Tampa, FL. Kujawa will be responsible for marketing communications, new business development and all worldwide sales efforts. Kujawa joins TRAK from MI Technologies where his last position was vice president sales. His career spans 20-plus years of experience in the RF/microwave industry, including entrepreneurial ventures and leadership experiences focused on business development and operations management.

MI Technologies announced the appointment of Kirk Anderson to the position of strategic account manager. Prior to his appointment at MI Technologies, Anderson held key positions at Hewlett Packard and Agilent Technologies, first as an RF/microwave applications engineer from 1984 to 1988 and later as a principal project manager for systems and services from 1994 to 2005.

AR Worldwide Modular RF, a division of AR Worldwide, welcomes senior RF engineer, Charles Ohiri. Ohiri’s expertise will enable the company to expand its engineering capabilities above 1 GHz. He brings 19 years of hands-on experience in radio and RF design and system application. His most recent focus has been on highly linear wireless communication base station amplifier design.

Renaissance Electronics Corp. announced the appointment of Sheenu Chacko-Thomas as sales and marketing specialist for the Ferrite Product Group. Chacko-Thomas will focus primarily on the New England and eastern North American territories. Chacko-Thomas, who graduated from Loyola University Chicago with a degree in marketing, will also be marketing products for Renaissance. She comes to the company with extensive experience in both marketing and sales. She can be reached at (978) 772-7774 x13 or via e-mail: schacko-thomas@rec-usa.com.

Rep Appointments

Renaissance Electronics Corp. announced the appointment of Wavelength RF Supply, Colleyville, TX. Wavelength RF Supply will service the Texas territory and will represent all product lines of Renaissance. Ryan Krier of Wavelength RF Supply can be contacted at (817) 428-3506 or e-mail: sales@wavelengthsupply.com.

MITEQ Inc., a supplier of RF and microwave components, has appointed Associated Technical Sales LLC, Tustin, CA, as its exclusive sales representative for southern California. Associated Technical Sales can be contacted at (877) 287-1737.

G.T. Microwave Inc., Randolph, NJ, has appointed BT Gu of Weisher Technologies Co. Ltd. to represent the company in China. Weisher Technologies is a privately owned vendor for RF and microwave products and services. The company has offices in Beijing, ShenZhen, Nanjing and Chengdu. Weisher Technologies’ main office is located at Room 1602-1604, Huaying Building Nanshang Road, Nanshan District, ShenZhen, P.R. China 518054 and the e-mail address is botao.gu@weisher.com.

Sullins Electronics, a designer and manufacturer of connectors and interconnect systems, announced the signing of a distribution agreement with Bisco Industries Inc., an international distributor of specialty fasteners and electronic components. The agreement, effective immediately, allows Bisco to promote, supply and support both the Sullins and Micro Plastics lines of connectors and interconnect systems throughout North America.

Web site

ANADIGICS Inc., a supplier of wireless and broadband solutions, announced that the company’s web site now includes an on-line store to provide a convenient channel for ordering product samples. Users can easily order samples of the company’s GSM/GPRS and WCDMA power amplifiers, base station amplifiers and RF switches at www.anadigics.com.