Industry News
PCTEL Inc. announced that it has completed the acquisition of MAXRAD Inc., a manufacturer of wireless communications antennas for broadband wireless, in-building wireless and land mobile radio applications. PCTEL acquired all of the shares of MAXRAD, a privately held company, for $20 M. MAXRAD generated approximately $18 M in 2003 revenues.
Chipcon AS has established a new strategic automotive center in Germany to support its growing automotive business and to enhance its position as a provider of low cost, low power RFICs and narrowband RF systems for RKE/TPMS and sensor systems markets. Based close to Munich, the office will operate under the guidance of Chipcon’s strategic sales director automotive, Graham Martin. He is a veteran in the semiconductor industry with 20 years of international experience in engineering, sales and marketing at Motorola, Ferranti/Plessey (now Zarlink) and austriamicrosystems (AMS).
Adhesives Research Inc., a global developer and manufacturer of custom pressure-sensitive adhesive tapes, coatings, specialty films and laminates, announced the grand opening of its technical center in Singapore. The technical center builds upon sales operations that were established in 2000 to create an Asian presence for the company and reinforces the company’s commitment to responsiveness and service for its Asian customers. The technical facility is housed in the same complex as the newly relocated and expanded sales offices for Adhesives Research Pte. Ltd. at Singapore Science Park 2.
Underwriters Laboratories Inc. (UL) and the Canadian Standards Association International (CSA) signed an agreement to develop a mutual component acceptance program that provides acceptance of components used in end-products submitted to UL or CSA for certification/listing. Therefore, each organization will accept the other’s certification or listing of end-product components, such as low voltage distribution and industrial control equipment. The mutual component acceptance initiative allows manufacturers of electrical end-products to obtain both UL and CSA certification without having to work with two individual organizations, which also helps decrease overall testing costs and time to market.
Anritsu Co. announced that its MT8850A/MT8852A Bluetooth test sets are the first integrated solutions to receive Test System Validation status from the Bluetooth Qualification Review Board for radio layer measurements. The validation of the MT8850A/MT8852A means that chip set developers, module manufacturers and consumer product developers can test products with absolute confidence during product qualification or for product assessment prior to submission to a Bluetooth Qualification Test Facility.
Labtech, a Welsh company that produces microwave printed circuit boards for the global telecommunications, defense and space markets, announced that its European Space Agency qualification has been extended to 2009. The company, which has a workforce of 90 at its headquarters in Presteigne, has ESA approval to manufacture space qualified printed circuit boards using Duroid RT6002 and Duroid RT6002 with aluminum back planes. Labtech is playing a key role in a satellite project to monitor the Mediterranean area to prevent natural disasters. Microwave printed circuit boards manufactured by the company are being used in the radar component of the COSMO-SkyMed Satellite project, a French-Italian Earth Observation system being built by Alenia Spazio in Italy.
Radio Waves announced that its quality management system has been registered in compliance with ISO 9001:2000 standards. Radio Waves global operations center in Billerica, MA received certification following an audit conducted by NQA.
Contracts
EMS Technologies Inc. announced that it has signed a contract with EADS Astrium Ltd. for work on the Skynet 5 series of spacecraft to be completed by EMS’s Space and Technology/Montreal Division. The Skynet 5 satellites, which will provide secure communications for the UK armed forces, are being built by Europe’s EADS Astrium, under contract to Paradigm Secure Communications, and are scheduled for launch in 2006 and 2007. Under the $15 M contract, EMS will provide advanced UHF antennas. The antennas provide global coverage using a large deployable design with separate receive and transmit elements. Two sets are to be provided with an option for a third.
Precise Time and Frequency Inc. has been awarded a General Services Administration (GSA) contract for supply of time and frequency equipment to the US government. GSA is one of the main vehicles by which the federal government obtains goods and services from industry. Most GSA contracts are for standard services and “commercial off-the-shelf” products and equipment, offering businesses the opportunity to sell billions of dollars worth of products and services to federal agencies.
Wavesat Inc. announced that it has chosen Atmel’s SiliconCITY™ capability to design and manufacture the company’s WiMAX compliant IEEE-802.16d chips. Wavesat has been working on this OFDM modem technology since 1997 and this chip represents its sixth generation of OFDM modem.
Applied Wave Research Inc. (AWR) announced that NTT Advanced Technology Corp. (NTT-AT), Tokyo, Japan, has been appointed to provide electronic systems and integrated circuit designers throughout Japan with AWR products and support. NTT-AT offers advanced technology solutions in information and communications to enterprises around the world.
Financial News
RF Micro Devices Inc. reports sales of $193 M for the third quarter of fiscal 2004 ended December 31, 2003, compared to $145.8 M for the same period of fiscal 2003. Net income was $28.2 M ($0.13/per diluted share), compared to a net loss of $5.2 M ($0.03/diluted per share) for the third quarter of last year. In related news, the company announced it has begun shipments of a power amplifier module and driver IQ modulator for use in the Sony Ericsson GC82 Enhanced Data for Global Evolution PC card.
Unity Wireless Corp. announced a backlog of more than US $1 M in purchase orders for delivery during the first quarter of 2004.
New Market Entry
VIDA Products Inc., a new microwave component and subsystem company, has been formed in Santa Rosa, CA. The company will concentrate on military and commercial applications for high Q, broadly tunable, filters, oscillators and frequency synthesizers. The company’s products will utilize the unique performance advantages of YIG technology that are further enhanced by new developments recently introduced by VIDA, such as extended temperature range performance, insensitivity to vibration, low drive power requirements and the use of thin film YIG resonators. The company is located at 3581 Westwind Blvd., Santa Rosa, CA 95403 (707) 541-7000, fax: (707) 541-7030, www.vidaproducts.com.
Personnel
|  | Johann Heitzmann has taken over the position as CEO and president of the newly formed EADS defense electronics (DE) business unit, which has 3500 employees in various locations in Germany, France, Belgium and the US. Hitherto vice president EADS Airborne Systems, Heitzmann, now heads up DE, which is part of the defense and security systems division. The company is a major supplier of radar, avionics and EW systems for security and the armed forces. The unit develops and manufactures avionics for combat aircraft, mission and transport aircraft, helicopters and unmanned aerial vehicles as well as core electronics for ground-based defense systems, armored vehicles and ships. | |||||||||||
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Wireless Valley Communications Inc. announced Jim Welch as president and chief executive officer (CEO). Welch will be based at the company’s headquarters in Austin, TX, and will also serve on the board of directors. Welch replaces Ted Rappaport, a wireless engineering professor at the University of Texas, who founded the company with his wife Brenda in 1995. Rappaport will continue in his role as chairman of the board and chief technical officer. Welch had formerly served as president and CEO of Metrowerks.
Hittite Microwave Corp. announced the appointment of three employees to top-level management positions. The promotions include Steve Daly to president, formerly director of sales, Mike Koechlin to executive vice president, formerly business development manager, and Norm Hildreth to vice president of sales and marketing, formerly director of product development. Yalcin Ayasli will continue as CEO. In related news, the company announced the appointment of a sales representative firm to serve customers in Japan. Saint Technology Corp., headquartered in Tokyo, Japan, was established in 1998 to act as a specialist Japanese representative for electronic component manufacturers and provide the best technical solution for targeted application market areas. Saint will support Hittite’s direct sales channel in Japan by focusing promotion on a select group of key customers and supplementing Hittite’s current representative, SEKI Technotron. Saint Technology can be contacted via telephone at +81-3-5330-6411, via fax at +81-3-5330-6414 or e-mail at info@saint-tec.co.jp.
| | California Eastern Laboratories (CEL) has announced the promotion of Paul Minton to the post of executive vice president. Minton has had a long relationship with CEL, first as a strategic planning consultant, and more recently as CEL’s vice president for corporate development. He has held a seat on the company’s board of directors for the last three years. | |||||||||||
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| | Andrew Corp. has named Roger J. Manka as group president of worldwide sales. In this position, Manka will lead the Andrew worldwide sales and service organization responsible for business growth and customer relationships with telecommunications equipment manufacturers, service providers and distributors in all regions of the world. Manka joins Andrew from Commworks, a 3Com company, where he was vice president of worldwide sales. He has nearly 20 years experience in selling systems, products and services in the wireless, wireline, voice applications and packet infrastructure markets. | |||||||||||
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| | Skyworks Solutions Inc. announced it has appointed Allan M. Kline vice president and chief financial officer. Most recently Kline was chief financial officer for Fibermark, a producer of specialty fiber based materials, and from 1996 to 2002, he was chief financial officer for Acterna Corp., a global communications test and management company. In related news, the company announced that it has received the International Organization for Standardization ISO 9001:2000 certification across all of the company’s major design, development and manufacturing sites from Det Norske Veritas, an independent foundation that offers ISO certification worldwide. | |||||||||||
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Fujitsu Compound Semiconductor Inc. announced that Jane Li is the vice president for lightwave products at the North American subsidiary of Fujitsu Quantum Devices. Li has extensive experience in the telecommunications and optical component markets and has held executive level positions at NeoPhotonics, Novalux Inc. and Corning.
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| | Eagleware Corp. announced the appointment of two regional sales directors to respond to the growing demand for its GENESYS and Enterprise-level RF and microwave design solutions. Mark Shuffield was appointed regional sales director and will spearhead sales from offices in San Diego, CA. A re-cipient of a BSEE degree from San Diego State University, Shuffield brings 17 years of RF-EDA sales experience to the position. Before joining Eagleware, he held sales positions at both AWR and Agilent’s EEsof group. Scott Maynard has been appointed regional sales director. Maynard brings more than 15 years of design, management and sales experience to the position, most recently with AWR. A recipient of a BSEE degree from Purdue University, he also attended the Indiana University Business Management School. Maynard will be located at Eagleware headquarters in Norcross, GA. | ||||||||||||||||||||||
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| | Brush Ceramic Products Inc. announced that Lee Vandermark has joined the company as sales and marketing manager. He will be responsible for implementing systems and initiatives that dramatically drive sales growth. Vandermark brings a solid background of sales and marketing experience, specifically with business development, account management and technical support from companies focused on delivering products and services through diverse channels. | |||||||||||
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MegaPhase® announced the appointment of Bob Fisher to its team as chief engineer. Fisher brings a career spanning 23 years in RF/microwave design engineering and technical management to the company. His expertise is in RF/microwave coax development, with a primary focus in millimeter-wave high performance connectors and cable products. Most recently, Fisher worked with ITT Cannon. His prior experience includes two years with FCI and 18 years with AMP.
| | Strand Marketing, an integrated marketing communications firm based in Newburyport, MA, has added key staff to meet its growing client needs. In a strategic move designed to meet this expected growth and to more fully serve its existing clients, the company has hired Marcia Samuelson to join its team as account project coordinator. Prior to joining Strand Marketing, Samuelson worked at Gerbig, Snell/Weisheimer. She brings diverse agency experience having developed, managed and implemented strategic marketing communications for the pharmaceutical, higher education, healthcare and chemical industries. | |||||||||||
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| | Michael DeLuca has joined Technical Marketing Associates, a sales representative organization that primarily covers the New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania territories. He will be responsible for sales activity to commercial and military customers in New York and Fairfield County, CT. DeLuca brings 20 years of industry experience in engineering and sales management positions. He has a BSEE degree from the New York Institute of Technology. Previously, he was a sales manager at Comtech/PST and an account manager at Richardson Electronics. | |||||||||||
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Web Site
Aeroflex Inc. announced the redesign of www.P25.com. The P25.com Web site is designed to provide the latest information regarding Project 25, the public safety communications standard dedicated to ensuring interoperability in communications. It is designed to ensure fast and secure communications between local, state and federal agencies when protecting the public’s welfare. The redesigned site provides users with the opportunity to quickly and easily navigate a variety of Project 25 resources.