Microwave Journal
www.microwavejournal.com/articles/3468-around-the-circuit

Around the Circuit

July 1, 2002

INDUSTRY NEWS

Advanced Power Technology (APT) has signed an asset purchase agreement to acquire the product lines and certain assets of Microsemi RF Products Inc. , a wholly-owned subsidiary of Microsemi Corp. , for $12.2 M in cash. The acquisition is part of APT's ongoing strategy to expand its product and technology portfolio in the RF power market though both internal development and acquisitions.


Andrew Corp. has acquired Quasar Microwave Technology Ltd. The addition of Quasar's microwave and millimeter-wave components completes the Andrew RF path offering in terrestrial antenna subsystems for the fixed-line telecommunications market.

The Schaffner Group has reached an agreement to acquire WEE Electrotest , headquartered in Wertheim, Germany. With the acquisition, The Schaffner Group will continue to provide a complete range of EMC components, instrumentation and test systems for radiated and conducted interference, and advanced power-supply test systems.

Electrocube Inc. has acquired the product lines of Seacor Inc. This acquisition has broadened Electrocube's presence in the industry with the addition of high voltage polyester, high pulse polypropylene, X2 suppression motor start and electrolytic standard/high ripple current capacitors to the company's product capabilities.

Richardson Electronics has formed a Fiber Optic Communications business unit. The newly created fiber optic unit will manage product globally, including passive and active components, connectors and cables, subsystems, carrier equipment, and ancillary equipment. These products are used in datacom, telecom, instrumentation, laboratories and consumer industries.

Tyco Electronics has formed an RF connector team dedicated to serving military and industrial customers. The Mil-Aero team of the company's Global Industrial Commercial Business Unit has capabilities to service industrial OEMs seeking RF connectors. The team is poised to provide product and engineering support for SMA, TNC, BNC, SSMA, N series, OSP, OSMP and Min/Twin Threaded connectors.

Avnet Kent has created a new product business unit that will focus exclusively on Defense/Mil-Aero and Hi-reliability products. This new business unit will include both field sales and product support resources that will be exclusively focused on Defense/Mil-Aero and Hi-reliability interconnect, passive and electromechanical products and customers.

Keithley Instruments Inc. announced a new program that will help its global OEM customers develop products faster, decrease development and warranty costs, increase production uptime and reduce inventory. The Keithley OEM Advantage Program includes a number of benefits including free 30-day loans of evaluation units, notification of component or software changes, extended warranties, a personal applications engineer, just-in-time delivery and volume discounts.

Raltron Electronic Corp. started production of miniature crystal and oscillator units in its new ultra-modern manufacturing facility in Shanghai, China. The new facility is located in Shanghai's Pudong industrial area. The two-story facility is 80,000 square feet and houses state-of-the-art production equipment and systems for the manufacture of crystal and oscillator products.

UltraRF Inc. , a wholly-owned subsidiary of Cree Inc. , has signed an agreement with Hitachi Kokusai Electric for the development of high power amplifier modules based on UltraRF's LDMOS-8 technology.

Agilent Technologies Inc. has signed an agreement to license load pull (LP) and noise parameter (NP) system technology to channel partner Maury Microwave Corp. The agreement will also transfer support of existing LP and NP customers to Maury Microwave.

Cadence Design Systems Inc. and Credence Systems Corp. have created a comprehensive technology alliance. The purpose of this alliance is to create unique design-to-production test solutions based on an open architecture that will enable customers to manage their test-methods portfolio across the supply chain, dramatically accelerating overall time-to-market and reducing total cost-of-test.

MicroJoin Inc. and MacGregor Welding Systems (MWS) have announced a new co-distribution and marketing agreement. MicroJoin will represent MWS in North and South America as well as most of the Asia- Pacific region. MWS will represent MicroJoin in the UK and Ireland. This is the third, three-year agreement between the companies.

RF Micro Devices Inc. has begun production shipments of the RF2173 and RF2174 power amplifiers for use in two additional handsets manufactured by a top multinational handset OEM.

Conexant Systems Inc. has begun production shipments of the company's 4 x 4 mm CDMA power amplifier modules for use in two new handsets manufactured by Samsung Electronics . One of these new handsets is targeted at the advanced Korean CDMA market and will feature a color display and CDMA2000 capabilities.

Peregrine Semiconductor Corp. has received ISO 9001-1994 certification for the design and manufacture of semiconductors in the company's three San Diego, CA, facilities. The company's fabrication plant in Sydney, Australia is also ISO 9001 certified.

FINANCIAL NEWS

Andrew Corp. reports sales of $199.7 M for the second quarter ended March 31, 2002, compared to $239.1 M for the same period in 2001. Net income was $3.3 M (4¢/diluted share), compared to $8.2 M (10¢/diluted share) for the second quarter of last year.

Linear Technology Corp. reports sales of $130.16 M for the third quarter ended March 31, 2002, compared to $282.02 M for the same period in 2001. Net income was $51.48 M (16¢/share), compared to $125.70 (38¢/share) for the third quarter last year.

Xicor Inc. reports sales of $10 M for the first quarter ended March 31, 2002, compared to $24 M for the same period in 2001. Net loss was $1.5 M (7¢/share), compared to $1.1 (5¢hare) for the first quarter of last year.

Unity Wireless Corp. reports sales of $1.482 M for the first quarter ended March 31, 2002, compared to $1.392 M for the first quarter of 2001. Net loss was $202,987 ($0.007/share), compared to a net income of $110,640 ($0.004/share) for the same period last year.

PERSONNEL

Palomar Technologies Inc. has promoted Jeffrey M. King to VP of sales and product support. King joined Palomar in 1988 when it was part of Hughes Aircraft and has held several engineering, sales and marketing management positions.

REMEC Inc. has named David Newman VP and general manager of the radio products business unit of REMEC Broadband Wireless. Newman has extensive experience in the radio business and was most recently the VP of business operations for DMC Stratex Networks.

AMI Semiconductor has named Nanjunda Shastry VP of corporate strategy and business development and Paul Cook senior VP of human resources. Shastry comes to the company from 3Com Corp., where he served as director of business development. Cook joins the company from Sonicwall Inc.

Applied Wave Research Inc. (AWR) has named Mark Shuffield western regional sales director. Before joining AWR, Shuffield was most recently a global account manager for Agilent Technologies where he worked in sales from 1996 to 2002.

MCE/DML Microwave Ltd. has named Tahsin Pekcan sales and marketing director for its worldwide sales organization. Previously, Pekcan was the European sales and marketing director at Filtronics Compound Semiconductor Ltd. and has held other senior sales management and engineering posts.

TECOM Industries Inc., a TRAK Communications company, hired Elissa Seidenglanz as director of government business development. Previously, Seidenglanz was the director of business development, military aircraft electronic systems for Northrup Grumman's Navigation Systems division. She has more than 16 years of experience in defense acquisition for both US and foreign markets.

TMD Technologies Ltd. has named Mike Clark engineering manager, tubes division. Clark has over 20 years experience in the microwave components field, both in technical and managerial positions, and will be responsible for all new tube products.

Zoltan Cendes , chairman and chief technology officer of Ansoft Corp., has been appointed a distinguished lecturer by the IEEE Antennas and Propagation Society for the 2001-2002 term. This honor is extended to only three people per year.

Link Microtek has appointed Kevin Wrightson as calibration and service engineer. As well as calibrating RF radiation safety equipment using the company's in-house REM cell and associated instrumentation, Wrightson will be responsible for maintenance and repair of RF survey meters, probes and personal monitors.

NEW MARKET ENTRY

Athena Semiconductors Inc. has announced its company launch, bringing a strong blend of international technical expertise to the wireless networking market. The company is structured to take advantage of a wealth of seasoned resources, with corporate headquarters in Fremont, CA, and design centers in Greece and India. For more information, contact: Athena Semiconductors Inc., 47358 Fremont Blvd., Fremont, CA 94538 (510) 651-6000, fax (510) 651-6003.

REP APPOINTMENTS

SUSS MicroTec Test Systems has signed a representative agreement with Simac Masic for sales and service of the SUSS Probe Systems in the Benelux area. Simac's Netherlands office has over 15 years experience selling test equipment within the Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg and will be the sole sales and service channel for SUSS Probe Systems in these areas.

ATEK Technology has been appointed exclusive UK distributors for the Thunderline-Z range of feedthroughs, aerospace, medical, wireless communication, semiconductor and microwave products.

Broadwave Technologies Inc. , Franklin, IN, has appointed two representatives to market its line of coaxial passive products. STG International Ltd. , Tel-Aviv, Israel, is responsible for sales in Israel and F.L. Ohmer & Associates , Dayton, OH, is the exclusive representative for Ohio, Indiana, Kentucky and Michigan.

Wireless Technologies Corp. , Springdale, AR, has signed contracts with a number of sales representative firms. Cain-Forlaw CO Inc. and Tekmar Sales cover a total of 24 states. Additions to international sales include Hanova Resources Ltd. in Taiwan and AmTechs Corp. in Japan.

COM DEV International Ltd. , Ontario, Canada, has made a series of representative appointments. Pamcor Inc. will handle southern California, E. Reid Miller Corp. will be responsible for northern California, Faser Technical Sales Inc. will cover Arizona, New Mexico and southern Nevada. N&W Sales Inc. will handle Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas and Louisiana while Brennan Associates Inc. will cover Florida, Georgia, Alabama and Tennessee. KJS Marketing Inc. will handle Illinois, Iowa, Missouri, Kansas, Nebraska, Minnesota, Wisconsin, North Dakota and South Dakota. Eastern Instrumentation of Philadelphia Inc. will cover Delaware and Pennsylvania and parts of New Jersey while RF Associates Inc. will be responsible for the New England region. Scientech Enterprises will cover Ontario, Canada, Sematron Italia will handle Italy and STG International Ltd. will be responsible for Israel.

Orbit CT & T has signed an agreement with RB Technology Marketing Inc. to be its exclusive sales representative for the company's communication tracking and telemetry systems in southern California and southern Nevada.

Vector Fields Inc. has made a series of representative appointments. HIMARC Simulations , West Hollywood, CA, will handle California, Washington and Oregon, Thin Film Consulting , Boulder, CO, will cover Colorado and Utah, while Eurosoft Inc. will be responsible for Delaware, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Washington DC, Florida, Maryland and Virgina.

WEB SITES

Amcom Communications has redesigned its Web site, www.amcomusa.com, to include its new corporate profile, new products and user friendly options including easier access to data sheets, and a complete listing of all global sales representatives.

Agilent Technologies Inc. launched the Agilent Developer Network (ADN), a Web-based one-stop source that will help engineers install, manage and use test and measurement software and connectivity tools. ADN, which is available at www.agilent.com/Find/ADN, enables engineers to increase productivity, reduce test costs and decrease time to market.

Hittite Microwave Corp. has introduces a new Web-based search engine that allows visitors to cross-reference thousands of RFIC/MMIC products from over 15 companies to hundreds of the company's standard products. The standard product line covers DC to 40 GHz and serves a wide range of wireless/wired communications and sensor markets, including: cellular/PCS/3G, broadband, microwave/millimeter-wave, fiber-optic, space and military. The search engine can be accessed via www.hittite.com by selecting the "Product Cross Reference" button.