Industry News
RF Micro Devices Inc. (RFMD), a leader in the design and manufacture of high performance radio systems and solutions for applications that drive mobile communications, and Sirenza Microdevices, a supplier of radio frequency (RF) components, announced they have signed a definitive merger agreement. Under the terms of the merger agreement unanimously approved by the respective boards of directors of the two companies, each outstanding share of Sirenza’s common stock will be exchanged for a combination of 1.7848 shares of RFMD common stock and $5.56 in cash. Outstanding options to purchase Sirenza stock will be assumed by RFMD and converted into options to purchase RFMD stock.
DC Capital Partners LLC, a private equity firm headquartered in Washington, DC, focused primarily in the defense and government services sector, announced that it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire a controlling interest in ClearComm Technologies LLC and RelComm Technologies Inc. The transaction is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2007.
Agilent Technologies Inc. and NetworkFab Corp. announced that they have signed a definitive agreement for NetworkFab to join Agilent. Privately held NetworkFab designs and builds advanced signal intelligence, communications and jammer systems for the US military, intelligence agencies and law enforcement groups. The transaction is subject to various standard closing conditions and is expected to close in 30 to 60 days. Financial details were not disclosed.
TriQuint Semiconductor, a manufacturer of wireless products, announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Peak Devices Inc., Boulder, CO, in a cash transaction. Peak Devices is a privately held, fabless semiconductor company with a highly experienced RF team that focuses on RF discrete transistor technology. Its market segments include two-way communications, FM and television broadcast, telecommunications, avionics, radar and military.
Texas Instruments Inc. (TI) announced that it has acquired Integrated Circuit Designs Inc. (ICD), a privately held company that specializes in the design of RF integrated circuits (IC). Combining ICD’s design expertise with TI’s extensive high performance analog and low power microcontroller product portfolio will enhance TI’s ability to provide low power RF solutions for industrial, commercial and consumer applications.
Microsemi Corp., a manufacturer of high performance analog mixed signal integrated circuits and high reliability semiconductors, and SemiSouth Laboratories Inc., Starkville, MS, announced that they have entered into an agreement that provides for cooperation between the two companies in the area of silicon carbide (SiC) epitaxy wafer supply as well as certain technical exchanges. SemiSouth is a privately held company specializing in SiC material and device fabrication (www.semisouth.com).
California Eastern Laboratories and LS Research have signed an exclusive global agreement to design, manufacture and market miniature transceiver modules for ZigBee and other low cost, low power IEEE 802.15.4 data transmission applications. Based on Freescale’s™ MC13192 transceiver IC and MC9S08GT60 microprocessor, the CEL/LSR Freestar module is a fully-integrated, drop-in RF transceiver solution that is ideal for office and building automation, applications including HVAC and lighting control, and security systems.
Aeroflex has opened a new regional service center in Singapore that enables the Aeroflex Test Solutions (ATS) division to provide instrument service support to its customers within the major growth markets in Asia. Located next to Singapore Science and Technology Park in the Technopreneur Centre in Ayer Rajah, the new service center will be the operational hub for ATS products in the Asia-Pacific region. The center will provide regional support to customers, sales teams, direct service operations and third-party service channels.
Cascade Microtech announced that it has opened a wholly owned subsidiary in Munich, Germany, to support its rapidly growing European business. Cascade Microtech GmbH will provide sales, applications and service support to European customers for both the Engineering Products Division (EPD) and the Production Products Division (PPD). Both divisions have numerous strategic customers in Germany and throughout Europe, and the new subsidiary will help ensure the highest level of support for these customers. The company continues to operate an office in the UK and works with distribution partners throughout Europe for sales and applications support.
Park Electrochemical Corp. announced that it has selected the Newton City-County Airport in Newton, KS as the site for its new Advanced Composite Materials development and manufacturing facility for aircraft structures. The facility, which Park plans to complete by the end of the company’s next fiscal year, will be approximately 50,000 square feet, and will contain manufacturing, laboratory and office space. The company plans to spend approximately $15 M on the facility and equipment.
Inphi® Corp. established the first of its Global Centers for Design Innovation in the heart of the Silicon Valley. The Silicon Valley Design Center, which will be managed by Ali Wehbi, expands the depth of technical resources Inphi applies in designing integrated circuits that deliver the world’s best performance and highest signal integrity for processing data in the most demanding communication and computing systems.
Fairchild Semiconductor (FCS) has expanded its Global Power ResourceSM Center with the addition of a facility in Ann Arbor, MI. This new center—near the heart of the North American automotive market—responds to the burgeoning need for functional power solutions, including multi-die modules, for automotive power applications.
Shimadzu Scientific Instruments (SSI) announced the opening of a new regional office in Carlsbad, CA. This office allows Shimadzu to provide more direct sales, technical and service support for southern California, southern Nevada and Hawaii, and will be fully supported through the corporate office in Columbia, MD.
Quantum Leap Packaging Inc. (QLP), a provider of high performance air cavity packages for semiconductor assembly, announced that it has added a second manufacturing site in Poway, CA. QLP plans to manufacture in its new Poway site by early 2008. The new 18,000 square foot facility will provide QLP with much needed capacity to support growing demand and provide product service and support to its Wilmington, MA facility.
Anritsu Co. announced that its ME7873F W-CDMA TRX/Performance Test System, which supports 3G mobile terminal conformance test, has earned the world’s first HSUPA RF/RRM test case approvals from the Global Certification Forum (GCF). The approvals provide HSUPA RF/RRM device and system manufacturers with an authorized set of verification tests to ensure global inter-compatibility between HSUPA mobile terminals. It also confirms Anritsu’s commitment to provide test solutions for next-generation technologies.
The Evans Capacitor Co. announced that it has earned Silver Level Preferred Supplier certification from the Missiles and Fire Control business unit of Lockheed Martin. Evans Capacitor joins just 35 other companies that achieved this status out of thousands of Lockheed Martin suppliers. The Silver Level designation reflects excellence in quality, consistent and on-time delivery, responsiveness and process control. Evans Capacitor Co. provides Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control with energy-dense tantalum capacitors and capacitor banks that are smaller, lighter and more powerful than traditional capacitors.
Richardson Electronics Ltd. announced it recently received its highest ranking ever in a reader’s survey of preferred distributors conducted by Electronics Supply and Manufacturing–China. Richardson Electronics was ranked second overall among International Distributors in the annual survey of purchasing professionals. Richardson also placed in the Top 10 in all four Franchised Distributor categories: Best Supply Capacity, Best Technical Support, Best Logistics Service and Best e-Commerce.
Contracts
TRAK Microwave Corp. announced that it has been selected by L-3 Communications Narda-East to supply 9100AN-44 time and frequency processors for the GMT program. The transportable quadband SATCOM terminals developed for the GMT program by L-3 will utilize TRAK’s time code processors enabling communication nodes to be synchronized over the entire network. TRAK will deliver several hundred units over a period of performance of five years.
Andrew Corp., a leader in communications systems and products, has won a major upgrade contract for the Mass Transit Railway Corp.’s (MTRC) territory-wide radio network in Hong Kong. As part of this project, Andrew will modify MTRC’s communications infrastructure in stations, tunnels and other buildings to enable migration of the railway’s radio system from a conventional 80 MHz trunk radio system to an 800 MHz TETRA system.
Astron Wireless Technologies was awarded a Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II award from the Department of Defense (DoD) for development of an ‘Adaptive Bandwidth High Power RF Antenna.’ The objective is to develop a universal approach to the design of high power broadband antennas for the non-lethal utilization of RF energy. This development and production of a prototype system is based on the Phase I development of a 10:1 bandwidth basic Log-conical antenna. Astron had previously developed a similar antenna operating above 1 GHz. During Phase II, the program will focus on creating a truly miniature high gain, high power antenna operating within the general operating band of up to 1000 MHz.
Financial News
Ansoft Corp. reports sales of $19.9 M for the first quarter of fiscal 2008 ended July 31, 2007, compared to $17.3 M for the same period in 2007. Net income for the quarter was $3.9 M ($0.15/per diluted share), compared to $2.3 M ($0.09/per diluted share) for the first quarter of last year.
Superconductor Technologies Inc. (STI), a provider of high performance infrastructure products for wireless voice and data applications, has entered into an agreement with Hunchun BaoLi Communication Co. Ltd. (BAOLI) under which BAOLI has agreed to invest $15 M in exchange for 9,216,590 shares of STI’s common stock. The purchase price is $1.6275 per share, based on a five percent premium over the average closing price of STI’s common stock on the NASDAQ stock exchange for the 30 days ended August 17, 2007.
New Market Entries
Following the sale of ITT’s switch division, the company announced the creation of C&K Components. The new privately held C&K Components is leading the switch industry with innovative products delivered with the legendary service that made C&K the world’s preferred supplier. The new C&K combines the history and experience of three of the industries leading suppliers: C&K Components, Newton MA, US; the Rudolf Schadow Co., Berlin, Germany; and the Jeanrenaud Switch Co., Dole, France.
A new start-up company, GraSen Technology LLC, has been established to provide technology solutions in the growing requirements for Heterojunction Bipolar Transistor (HBT) and Heterostructure Field-Effect Transistor (HFET) devices in the US and international commercial communications and defense electronics markets. GraSen Technology’s HBT and HFET products are designed in the company’s San Jose, CA engineering offices and are manufactured, tested and packaged in three qualified semiconductor foundries in order to meet any small-to-large volume production requirements.
Personnel
SiGe Semiconductor, a global supplier of RF front-end solutions for wireless systems, announced the appointment of Fred Shlapak as chairman of the Board of Directors. Shlapak’s addition expands the Board to seven members. Shlapak was president and chief executive officer of the Semiconductor Products Sector at Motorola Corp. when he retired in February 2004. Shlapak’s 33-year career at Motorola included leading the company’s Canadian semiconductor operations.
Skyworks Solutions Inc. announced that Donald W. Palette has joined Skyworks as vice president and chief financial officer. Palette, 50, most recently served as senior vice president of finance and controller of Axcelis Technologies Inc., a publicly-traded company that supplies capital equipment to global semiconductor manufacturers. Prior to joining Axcelis, Palette held various financial executive management positions throughout his career at Simplex Corp., Bell and Howell, and Publication Systems Co.
AR RF/Microwave Instrumentation has announced the appointment of Nic du Toit to the post of engineering manager. du Toit will assume responsibility for all aspects of product development, configuration management and technical support. A cum laude graduate of South Africa’s University of Stellenbosch, with a master’s of science degree in engineering, du Toit has lectured in RF and mi-crowave engineering at the university; he also worked in South Africa’s defense industry, creating EW receivers; and managed sales and technical support for a South African company before coming to the US.
David Distler has recently joined Coaxial Dynamics near Cleveland, OH as the company’s new sales and marketing manager. Over the past 30 years, Distler has held senior sales, marketing and product management positions at Bird Technologies Group in Cleveland, Trilithic and Wavetek in Indianapolis, IN. His duties will include managing worldwide sales and promotional efforts for CDI’s extensive line of RF test equipment and passive components. Contact information: David Distler, Coaxial Dynamics, 6800 Lake Abrams Drive, Middleburg Hts., OH 44130 (440) 243-1100, e-mail: ddistler@coaxial.com.
OML Inc., a manufacturer of vector network analyzer frequency extension modules for waveguide bands from 50 to 500 GHz, has received a “Certificate of Recognition” honoring Chuck Oleson, the company president, “for the creative development of a technical innovation which has been approved for publication as a NASA Tech Brief entitled On-Wafer Vector Network Analyzer Measurements for 220 to 325 GHz. This recognition included a cash award and was shared with two other NASA and industry individuals.
Rep Appointments
Microphase Corp., a manufacturer of microwave and RF components, announced the appointment of RUPPtronik as the company’s exclusive manufacturer representative serving Austria, Germany and Switzerland. Contact information for RUPPtronik is Bernd Rupp, +49 80 62 – 80 00 99 or e-mail: Brupp@RUPPtronik.de.
MU-DEL Electronics Inc., Manassas, VA, has just signed on two new representatives to market its products. MU-DEL manufactures high technology RF equipment that includes: RF multicouplers from 1 kHz to 40 GHz; RF frequency converters (up and down converters) that work from baseband to 26.5 GHz; RF switching distribution systems that work from DC to 26.5 GHz and specialized RF products. Integral Marketing will be covering the mid-atlantic states that include VA, MD, NJ and PA. Integral’s contact number is (301) 731-4370. Don DuPont Sales will be covering FL and can be reached at (321) 432-0516.
Coaxial Dynamics has appointed Evergo Instruments Inc. as its representative in Taiwan. The offices are strategically located in Taipei and Taichung. Contact information: Evergo Instruments Inc., 5 Fl. No. 495, Chung-Cheng Road, Hsin-Tien, Taipei, Taiwan, ROC 231, ph: 886-2-2752-0767, fax: 886-2-8773-0678 or e-mail: sales@evergo.com.tw.
Auriga Measurement Systems LLC announced the addition of two new sales organizations to its sales channel. Compomill Nordic Components AB will exclusively represent Auriga in the Nordic region while Base Eight Inc. will cover the Midwest United States.
RLC Electronics, an RF and microwave component manufacturer, announced the appointment of Omecon Electronic GmbH as a new representative in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. Omecon delivers products from manufacturers for wireless communication and microwave applications.
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 Votron Electronics as its representative for the territory of Canada. Votron is headquartered in Concord, Ontario (outside Toronto) and has regional offices in Montreal and Vancouver. For more information, visit www.votronelectronics.com.
Electronic components distributor Digi-Key Corp. and Advanced Thermal Solutions Inc. (ATS) announced the signing of a global distribution agreement. The terms of this agreement will enable Digi-Key to fulfill both the design and production quantity thermal management needs of its diverse customer base.