Industry News
EMS Technologies Inc. announced that it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Satamatics Global Ltd., a global provider of Inmarsat IsatM2M (machine-to-machine or “M2M”) services, headquartered in Tewkesbury, UK. The acquisition complements the company’s existing Iridium- and Inmarsat-based tracking solutions. EMS expects the acquisition to be accretive and to add EBITDA of $3 to $5 M in the first year post-acquisition.
Herley Industries Inc. announced that it has sold its Innovative Concepts (ICI) subsidiary located in McLean, VA to Elbit Systems of America LLC, which is a wholly owned subsidiary of Elbit Systems Ltd., of Haifa, Israel, in a $15 M all cash transaction.
inTEST Corp., an independent designer, manufacturer and marketer of semiconductor automatic test equipment (ATE) interface solutions and temperature management products, announced its acquisition of privately-held Sigma Systems Corp. Sigma Systems, founded in 1956, is located in El Cajon, CA, and is a manufacturer of thermal platforms, custom configured environmental chambers and other environmental test solutions for a variety of industries, including automotive, medical/pharmaceutical, electronic, aerospace/defense and semiconductor.
Milmega’s distributor, Schmidt Equipment Asia Ltd., has successfully installed China’s very first 6 GHz IEC 61000-4-3 capability at Beijing CQC Technical Services Ltd. Key to achieving this capability is the company’s amplifiers that provide the necessary microwave power. This latest phase of work was an upgrade to the existing system utilizing a Milmega 2 to 6 GHz, 50 W amplifier, designed to bring the intrinsic benefits of Gallium Nitride transistor technology to the lab environment.
AWR®, a leader in high-frequency design software, and Rohde & Schwarz Japan K.K., the Japanese subsidiary of Rohde & Schwarz, a leading test and measurement manufacturer, announced a partnership in Japan to deliver customized hardware/software solutions. AWR software and Rohde & Schwarz test equipment will be combined to produce solutions ranging from component characterization through sub-system and system verification. Under the terms of this partnership, the companies will provide customized platforms that combine Rohde & Schwarz test and measurement equipment with AWR’s high-frequency design software to produce unique simulation and measurement solutions.
Arrowhead Global Solutions, the government services division of CapRock Communications, announced that it is launching the industry’s first managed network services based on commercial X-band satellites. The announcement is part of a strategic initiative to provide the next generation of advanced satellite communications services for the military and intelligence community. Arrowhead is making significant investments in X-band teleport infrastructure and satellite capacity, including signing a multi-year, multi-transponder agreement with XTAR LLC, headquartered in Rockville, MD.
ETS-Lindgren announced the establishment of ETS-Lindgren Engineering India Private Ltd., a new company to better serve its customers in India. With the January 2009 opening of an office in Bangalore, ETS-Lindgren Engineering India will have a full staff offering its customers local technical, project management, installation and system integration expertise, as well as access to the full resources of ETS-Lindgren’s support centers worldwide.
ROHM Co. Ltd. recently announced its new corporate name and logo, effective immediately. ROHM Semiconductor (www.rohmsemiconductor.com), in business for over fifty years and with sales of nearly $4 B, has grown from its roots as a compact resistor manufacturer to become one of the world’s largest, full-range suppliers of semiconductor products.
Aeroflex recently announced it has secured a series of sales for the recently launched TD-LTE version of its market-leading TM500 test mobile from various leading suppliers of cellular mobile infrastructure equipment in China. These orders for the new TM500 TD-LTE further strengthen Aeroflex’s position as the leading provider of test mobiles for LTE, HSPA and WCDMA.
Agilent Technologies Inc. announced that the Telecommunications Technology Association (TTA)—Asia’s leading test and certification institution and USB independent test lab—selected Agilent’s USB testing solution for USB compliance testing. TTA will use Agilent’s USB compliance testing solution, including the DSA91304A high-performance oscilloscope, N5416A USB compliance test software and 81134A pulse pattern generator, to provide compliance testing and certification services to the international community.
Raytheon Space and Airborne Systems recently honored suppliers who demonstrated exceptional performance in supporting SAS programs in the areas of quality, delivery and customer satisfaction in 2007. SV Microwave received a 3-star award by showing excellence for 12 consecutive months, which indicates the strong commitment to the Raytheon SAS team and to helping achieve results that contribute to a mutual growth.
LPKF Laser & Electronics AG has received the Cathay Pacific China Trader Award for Innovation & Technology. The award recognizes German corporations that demonstrate innovative technology and design as well as intercultural corporation of its German and Chinese employees. LPKF has been doing business in China, the world’s fourth largest economy, for over 20 years and operates five successful offices with almost 60 employees. By selling laser systems for stencil production, LPKF has reduced market share of chemical etching from 100 percent to less than 30 percent. The installation of several hundred PCB prototyping systems has also made a considerable contribution for the reduction of environmental pollution by providing an alternative to the use of chemicals.
The Phoenix Company of Chicago announced the company’s quality management system is certified compliant with the requirements of the AS9100:B quality standard for designers and manufacturers of aerospace products and services. The Phoenix Company of Chicago was also re-certified for the ISO 9001:2000 quality management standard. With this re-certification, Phoenix ensures quality management throughout all avenues of its business operations is met or exceeded. Both certifications signify the company’s commitment to providing products and services with attention to quality, safety and customer satisfaction.
Endicott Interconnect Technologies Inc. (EI) has been awarded certification to the AS9100 Quality Management Standard for aerospace suppliers. This certification signifies that its Endicott, NY facility complies with all requirements of the AS9100 quality management system covering quality assurance in design, development, production, installation and servicing, as well as purchasing, validation and shipping. The standard includes all ISO 9001:2000 requirements and has been expanded to address needs specific to the international aerospace industry.
Emerson Network Power, a business of Emerson, has been issued US Patent No. 7,455,542 for a miniature BNC connector. Marketed by Emerson as the Trompeter 250 series, this innovation offers designers of high reliability network equipment and the end-users of this equipment the advantage of a 40 percent gain in connector density. The new carrier-class UPL250 series (M-BNC) was originally designed to address specific challenges evolving in telco central office space, where the telco-grade BNC is the well-established workhorse connector.
Murata Electronics North America, a world-leading innovator in electronics and the largest global supplier of ceramic passive components, announced that it has selected Digi-Key to receive the company’s Corporate Award for 2007. Digi-Key was selected out of Murata’s distributors worldwide for extraordinary sales expansion and its overall contribution to the company.
Contracts
Applied Radar Inc. has been selected to receive an additional $6.4 M in new contracts from the Department of Defense (DoD), according to company CEO William H. Weedon. The new funding consists of $4 M in SBIR/STTR funding, through four separate contracts, from the US Missile Defense Agency (MDA) for Next-generation Radar and a $2.4 M congressional appropriation to develop a Wideband Digital Airborne Electronic Sensing Array for the US Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL).
OEwaves Inc. has been selected as a subcontractor to support Lockheed Martin Maritime Systems & Sensors in support of a Science and Technology contract from the US Army Research Development and Development Command’s (RDECOM) Aviation and Missile Research Development and Engineering Center (AMRDEC). The total value of the initial award to OEwaves is $1.5 M, with a potential total value of approximately $5 M. This activity is part of an RDECOM AMRDEC effort to develop and demonstrate critical technologies that bridge the gap between existing capabilities and the Army vision for future protection capabilities.
MCL Inc., a MITEQ company, Bolingbrook, IL, a global supplier of satellite communications (SATCOM) and instrumentation equipment, has received a $1.4 M+ contract to design and develop an airborne Ka-band high power traveling wave tube amplifier (TWTA) for the United States Air Force. This contract has been sponsored by the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) located in Rome, NY. The resultant product is expected to compliment and enhance present military airborne communication technology.
RF Micro Devices Inc. (RFMD), a leader in the design and manufacture of high performance semiconductor components, announced it has signed a 12-month contract with the United States Department of Defense (DoD) valued at $1.4 M for the development of Gallium Nitride (GaN) technology and high-power RF solutions. The contract award (#FA8650-05-C-5411) represents an extension to previous contracts with the DoD and is in support of RFMD’s ongoing GaN RF power technology project.
Jersey Microwave has been awarded a $1.1 M dollar contract to supply high performance Ka-band block converters into a major military SATCOM program. The award is the third release of this magnitude awarded to Jersey Microwave in 2008. Jersey Microwave became the preferred source by providing superior performance over other suppliers and passing stringent military tests.
Equipment Management Technology (EMT), a leader in electronic test equipment asset management, has placed a $1 M purchase order with Giga-tronics for RF and microwave test solutions including Fast-switching Microwave Signal Generators, High-accuracy Power Meters and the newly introduced 2 to 20 GHz High Power Amplifier. The order allows the two companies to develop integrated promotion, advertising and sales. EMT will have enhanced access to the US market through the Giga-tronics sales channel, and Giga-tronics will be able to supply its products for rental, lease and distribution through EMT.
Anaren Inc. announced, in unison with CSR, it has achieved a design win on CSR’s UniFi UF1050 b&g Wi-Fi chipset. Optimized for the CSR application, the matched-balun approach results in a solution boasting 65 percent fewer discrete components even as it saves additional board space. Anaren’s “0404” balun was selected for its small form factor, easy implementation and significant performance improvement relative to ceramic-based solutions. With the new design, Anaren and CSR expect to seize opportunities in the global handset community where size is of paramount concern.
HRL Laboratories LLC announced it has demonstrated the world’s first graphene radio frequency (RF) field effect transistors (FET) as part of the Carbon Electronics for RF Applications, or CERA program. The milestone is the first in the proposed 51-month, three-phase program to develop a new generation of carbon-based RF integrated circuits for ultra-high-speed, ultra-low-power applications.
Keithley Instruments Inc., a leader in solutions for emerging measurement needs, announced that it is developing a WiMAX device production test solution for two 802.16e WiMAX devices from Fujitsu Microelectronics Ltd. This WiMAX RF SISO/MIMO manufacturing test configuration features Keithley’s award-winning RF test solutions, the model 2820 RF Vector Signal Analyzer and Model 2920 RF Vector Signal Generator. The configuration will enable Fujitsu Microelectronics to perform a set of Tx and Rx test sequences quickly and efficiently. The system’s easy expandability also will offer Fujitsu the unique ability to test its WiMAX devices in both SISO and MIMO mode.
Financial News
Provigent, a provider of System-on-a-Chip (SoC) solutions for the Broadband Wireless Transmission market, announced that it has closed a fifth-round of financing in the amount of $10 M. Lightspeed Venture Partners led this round of funding with a $10 M investment, joining Provigent’s existing technology investors: Sequoia Capital, Pitango Venture Capital, Globespan Capital Partners, Magma Venture Partners, Ascend Technology Ventures, Delta Ventures, Stata Venture Partners and Dr. Andrew Viterbi.
Personnel
TriQuint Semiconductor Inc., a leading RF front-end product manufacturer and foundry services provider, is pleased to announce Ralph Quinsey, its chief executive officer, has received the Portland Business Journal’s “CEO of the Year” award for technology companies in Oregon. The award was presented at the Business Journal’s Annual Most Admired Companies Award Luncheon attended by more than 800 executives of Oregon’s top companies. Quinsey will be profiled in the “Most Admired Companies” special publication of the Portland Business Journal.
TECOM Industries Inc., a Smiths Interconnect business, announced the appointment of Arsen Melconian as president. Melconian succeeds Ralph L. Philips who was recently appointed president of Smiths Interconnect. Melconian has served as TECOM’s vice president of engineering and chief technology officer since March 2004. He joined the company in January 2002 as director of engineering with responsibility for design, modeling, simulation, testing and new product development. Under his guidance, TECOM’s engineering department has more than doubled in size and several key commercial, military and satellite communications R&D programs have advanced from concepts to production.
James Rowland has been named director of MI Technologies’ Customer Support business unit, the company announced. In this new assignment, Rowland is responsible for managing MI Technologies’ entire global Field Service network, Software Maintenance, Training and Certification programs, Warranty and Post Warranty services, Calibration and Repair services, Equipment Refurbishment and Customer Range Verification services. He also oversees MI Technologies’ in-house test and measurement services conducted in two anechoic chambers at its Suwanee, GA facility. Rowland joined the MI Technologies management team in June 2007. Prior to joining MI Technologies, he served as president of Ultra Electronics, EMS Development Corp., Yaphank, NY where he had overall responsibility for the company’s strategy, operations and business growth.
Crane Aerospace & Electronics, a segment of Crane Co., has announced the appointment of Greg Masciana as director of quality for the Electronics Group. Masciana will be located at the Electronics Group headquarters in Redmond, WA. In this role, Masciana will have over-all responsibility for the Quality Management System at each of the Electronics Group sites. Before joining Crane Aerospace & Electronics, Masciana held Worldwide Lean Sigma Deployment, quality director and sr. quality engineer manager roles at Tektronix (a Danaher company), Tyco Electronics and Teledyne.
Park Electrochemical Corp. announced the appointment of David R. Dahlquist as director of business development for the company. Dahlquist previously held the positions of product director and more recently director of marketing at Park Electrochemical Corp. He has previous experience with Photocircuits Corp. in the positions of director of technology – Corporate and director of Quality and Engineering – PC-Asia.
Renaissance Electronics Corp. recently announced the appointment of Lynn Kibblehouse as the newest edition to the company’s sales team. She comes to Renaissance with over nine years experience in the sales and marketing industry. Kibblehouse will manage the company’s North American sales development network and provide sales support across all product lines.
Strand Marketing Inc., a Newburyport, Massachusetts-based marketing and advertising agency specializing in the high tech industry, has announced the hire of two new full time employees, Arianne Bedard as project coordinator and David Byers as web developer. As project coordinator and media specialist, Bedard brings experience in high tech MARCOM administration from Hittite Microwave of Chelmsford, MA, a leading supplier of RF/microwave components to the wireless, telecom, military and homeland security markets. She also was previously a PR and copy writer at the Emily Post Institute, in Burlington, VT. Byers joins Strand Marketing’s web group as lead developer, and brings his 15 years of experience working in the fast paced world of Las Vegas travel and entertainment to the position. He is experienced in dynamic web design, e-commerce, and search engine optimization, and is also well versed in FLASH programming, AJAX, CSS and JAVA scripting.
Rep Appointments
Richardson Electronics Ltd. announced that it has entered into an agreement with RADIALL, a global manufacturer of interconnect components, to promote and distribute “Service +”, an innovative and automated program for ordering, manufacturing and delivering RF cable assemblies.
Sprague-Goodman Electronics Inc., Westbury, NY, has expanded its agreement with the Cain-Sweet Co. to include all Canadian provinces. The Cain-Sweet Co., whose corporate office is in Bellevue, WA, has represented Sprague-Goodman’s line of trimmer capacitors, transformers, fixed and variable inductors and tuning tools throughout the Pacific Northwest and British Columbia since 2007. The provinces of Ontario, Quebec, Alberta, Manitoba, New Brunswick, Newfoundland, Nova Scotia, Saskatchewan and Prince Edward Island have been added to the territory. Contact information for the Cain-Sweet Co. corporate office: 1409 140th Place, Suite 105, Bellevue, WA 98007 ph: (425) 562-6028; fax: (425) 562-2680.
MI Technologies has signed a distribution agreement with Bluetest AB of Gothenburg, Sweden, to distribute and support Bluetest’s products in North America, Italy, the United Kingdom and India. This agreement broadens MI Technologies’ test and measurement capabilities for the wireless marketplace and strengthens Bluetest’s sales and support channels for its innovative line of reverberation technology-based products for characterizing communication devices with small antennas.
W.L. Gore & Associates has announced that its high-tech line of surface mountable EMI shielding materials will now be available through Richardson Electronics Ltd. Richardson, LaFox, IL, will now sell Gore’s GORE-SHIELD® Supersoft SMT EMI Gaskets and Grounding Pads, and the GORE™ snapSHOT® Board-Level EMI Shield.
Times Microwave Systems is pleased to announce the appointment of Connekt Electronics as the company’s distributor for the entire range of Times commercial products in India. Connekt will maintain inventories of Times LMR® cables and connectors and provide technical support to customers in the wireless communications industry. LMR cable is a flexible low loss cable ideal for use in a broad range of antenna feeder and jumper applications in cellular, WiFi, Wimax and other wireless systems.
KOR Electronics, a systems leader in exploiting the digital RF domain, announced it has signed a marketing partnership agreement with LS Engineering to enhance its coverage to valued customers in North California and Nevada. Headquartered in Fremont, CA, LS Engineering is the exclusive worldwide applications/representative for a wide range of manufacturers in the North California and Nevada regions, specializing in value added high-end RF/microwave components, subsystems and various supporting services. For further information, contact: LS Engineering, 4080 Carol Avenue, Fremont, CA 94538, ph: (510) 687-9415 or visit: www.lsengineer.com.
Digi-Key Corp. announced that it has recently expanded its current franchise agreement with Tyco Electronics to a global authorization.
Florida RF Labs/EMC Technology recently announced two new rep appointments. D&L Technical Sales Inc. is located in Tempe, AZ, and will cover the territory of Arizona and New Mexico. For more information, visit: www.dltechsales.com. D&L has been working in the industry for 30 years with over 50 years of combined experience in the electronics industry. Elcotech Ltd., located in Moscow, Russia, will be responsible for the Russia territory. Elcotech Ltd. has 11 years experience in the industry with a total staff of 18 persons.
Technical Communities, a leading service provider for technical organizations that sell to US government agencies, military organizations and prime federal contractors, announced a new exclusive government services partnership agreement with LadyBug Technologies, a manufacturer of the PowerSensor+TM line of “no-cal, no-zero” USB power-measurement instruments. The agreement authorizes Technical Communities to provide government organizations with LadyBug Technologies’ PowerSensor+ line of miniaturized USB power meter-sensors.
Peregrine Semiconductor Corp. has appointed Clavis Co., a division company of Macnica Inc., to market and sell Peregrine’s line of UltraCMOS™ RFICs throughout Japan. Clavis specializes in the supply of high-value-added electronic parts and equipment, particularly semiconductors, to the electronics, information and communications industries. Peregrine’s UltraCMOS RFICs have gained popularity with Japan OEMs as complex designs for multi-mode, multi-band cellular and Digital Television (DTV) applications demand exceptional RF performance and higher levels of integration.