Microwave Journal
www.microwavejournal.com/articles/3683-around-the-circuit

Around the Circuit

July 1, 2003

INDUSTRY NEWS

Dr. Bruno O. Weinschel , founder of Weinschel Engineering, died on May 6, 2003. He was 83 years old.


He was a native of Stuttgart, Germany and received his Doctorate from the Engineering/Technical University in Munich. He moved to the United States in 1938 and after positions at Bell Laboratories, Industrial Instruments and NBS (now NIST) started his company in 1952. The company became an established leader in precision measurement hardware and techniques. He sold it to Lucas Aerospace in 1986 but continued his research in this field thereafter.

Dr. Weinschel was a Fellow and a past President of IEEE as well as a member of the President's Committee on the National Medal of Honor. He held 20 patents and was author or co-author of more than 50 papers. He was a member of the Microwave Journal Editorial Review Board. His name was synonymous with technical excellence and product integrity. His many contributions have had a positive impact on the electrical engineering profession in general and microwave engineering in particular.

A large family survives him, including 13 grandchildren and two great-grandchildren. They can all be proud of him.

RF Micro Devices Inc. and Silicon Wave announced they have agreed to enter into a strategic relationship for Bluetooth® solutions manufacturing and distribution. Within the strategic relationship, Silicon Wave will grant manufacturing licenses to RF Micro Devices for its single-chip UltimateBlue™ 3000 radio processor and stand-alone CMOS Bluetooth radio modem solutions. RF Micro Devices will be responsible for the supply chain of Silicon Wave's CMOS Bluetooth solutions and will be the exclusive distribution channel for these products. RF Micro Devices has also acquired a minority interest in Silicon Wave by participating with other investors in Silicon Wave's current preferred stock equity financing, which had its initial closing on May 19, 2003.

Advanced Power Technology (APT) announced that it has reached an agreement with Infineon Technologies AG, a long term strategic partner, for purchase of COOLMOS" Power MOSFET die for packaging and selling of finish products under the APT brand name. APT intends to sell into market segments not covered by Infineon Technologies AG mainly using alternative packaging and innovative engineering to serve those market segments.

Cascade Microtech Inc. announced that it has licensed essential RF measurement technology to Tokyo Seimitsu Co. Ltd. , a supplier of manufacturing equipment and measurement instruments for the semiconductor industry. The technology transfer will lead to faster and more accurate RF testing of advanced semiconductor devices during production, including high speed telecommunications and wireless devices.

Computer Simulation Technology (CST) and APLAC Solutions Corp. have signed an agreement enabling the further expansion and interoperability of links between CST's design environment and other EDA simulation solutions. APLAC's Circuit Simulation and Design Tool will be tightly linked to CST DESIGN STUDIO™s (CST DS) framework allowing efficient co-simulation and optimization at all simulation levels.

Astra Microwave Products Ltd. , based in Hyderabad, India, has established a new 30,000 sq. ft. state-of-the-art MMIC facility used for thick film fabrication and contract manufacturing services for the North American market. This facility is designed to support the manufacture of high frequency printed circuit boards, MMIC packaging solutions and MIC assemblies for global microwave markets. Additionally, a new US office, Astra Microwave America, has been opened to perform sales, marketing and business development for the North American and European markets. The office is located at 3885 Colonial Trail, Lilburn, GA 30047. Offerings include antennas, filters, amplifiers, oscillators, MMIC fabrication and contract manufacturing services. For more information, please contact Shahid Rahman by phone at 770-279-7842, or by e-mail at sales_usa@astramwp.com.

Tanner EDA announced the formation of its wholly-owned Japanese subsidiary, Tanner Research Japan K.K. (Tanner Japan). In conjunction with this expansion, the company has announced the availability of multi-language support for its flagship product, L-Edit Pro, including native Japanese-language menus. Headquartered in Tokyo, Tanner Japan will spearhead sales and technical support of Tanner EDA products throughout the region. Tanner Japan will also manage local corporate marketing and business development efforts.

Agilent Technologies Inc. announced the expansion of its technology alliance with Cadence Design Systems Inc. to provide integrated design solutions for fast, efficient wireless product development. Phase two of the alliance builds on the Agilent RF Design Environment by expanding current RF/mixed-signal IC circuit-level design capabilities to add wireless system-level verification and layout analysis. This is expected to help companies in the communications industry increase productivity and speed development of wireless products, as well as further reduce computer aided design infrastructure and total ownership costs. The jointly developed products are expected to become available as early as the second half of 2003.

Laird Technologies announced a dramatic restructuring and expansion of its operations in Japan. In the past, the Laird Technologies operations in Japan carried no inventory, maintained a small office and staff with three employees, and used a third party for "back office" support. The new organization will be located in a new and larger facility. The facility will house full back office capability, local inventory, expanded engineering support and manufacturing operations. The size of the staff will increase to support the planned growth of Laird Technologies business in Japan. Leading this restructuring effort is Ryosuke Takahashi, who recently joined Laird as general manager. Takahashi was previously general manager of FCI Co.

Ansoft Corp. and Virginia Tech 's Future Energy Electronics Center have teamed to develop new, highly efficient power-electronics technology and an innovative graduate curriculum based on Ansoft's electronic-design software for physics-based system simulation.

The Micromanipulator Co. announced that it has been issued patent number 6,424,141 B1 for its triaxial chuck designs (both ambient and thermal). This patent recognizes uniqueness in, among other things, "line of sight" guarding on the chuck surface. The patented design has been incorporated into Micromanipulator's complete line of 200 and 300 mm chucks.

Spectrum FSY Microwave , a division of Spectrum Control Inc., announced it has established a management system worthy of ISO9001 certification. The company's employees have successfully passed this intensive examination of managerial and operational processes.

CONTRACTS

Xanoptix and Tyco Electronics announced a multi-year, multi-million dollar manufacturing services agreement for Xanoptix's XTM series of optical transceiver products. The non-exclusive agreement allows Tyco Electronics to manufacture parallel optics transceiver modules based on the design of Xanoptix's XTM product line and utilizing hybrid integrated circuits provided by Xanoptix.

Nurad Technologies Inc. has been awarded a contract from Northrop Grumman Defense Systems Division for Electronic Warfare (EW) antenna systems for use aboard F-15 aircraft. Under the $2.25 M contract, Nurad will apply its broadband antenna technology to develop antennas and radomes for F-15s produced by Boeing for the Republic of South Korea.

EMS Technologies Inc. announced a $1.25 M contract with NASA Dryden Flight Research Center to deliver a SATCOM antenna for Flight Demo 2 of NASA's Next Generation Launch Technology (NGLT) Space-based Telemetry and Range Safety project. As part of the NGLT, researchers are looking at technology that reduces the overall operational costs of supporting launches into space. EMS Space and Technology/Atlanta will modify one of its advanced phase array antenna designs to allow operation with NASA's Tracking and Data Relay Satellites. NASA plans to test the antenna on an F-15B Research Testbed aircraft in mid-2004. The antenna, when installed, will enable NASA to maintain a telemetry link to vehicles from GEO satellites instead of ground stations.

IKE Micro has been awarded orders from three defense electronics companies for build-to-print manufacturing services. IKE has received a 6300 unit order for high power amplifiers from M/A-COM 's Aerospace and Defense Business Unit, a 600 unit order for logarithmic amplifiers from Signal Technology and production orders for two amplifier subassemblies from BAE Systems IEWS group.

European EMC Products has pulled in export orders worth £100,000 after visiting the Far East on a trade mission organized by Trade Partners UK, the government body dedicated to providing UK companies with global expertise on international trade and investment. The contract with a Singapore government organization was the culmination of months of negotiations.

FINANCIAL NEWS

Ansoft Corp. reports sales of $15.1 M for the fourth quarter ended April 30, 2003, compared to $15.6 M for the same period in 2002. Net income was 2.5 M (0.20¢/diluted share), compared to a net income of 1.2 M (0.09¢/diluted share) for the fourth quarter of last year.

Merrimac Industries Inc. reports sales of $6.5 M for the first quarter ended March 29, 2003, compared to $6.9 M for the same period in 2002. Net loss was $455,000 (0.15¢/per share), compared to a net income of $143,000 (0.05¢/per share) for the first quarter of last year.

PERSONNEL

BAE Systems Information and Electronic Warfare Systems has made several new appointments to its team. John Lydiard has been named vice president of the mission electronics line of business. Lydiard has overall responsibility for the company's mission electronics and infrared imaging systems business areas. Don Donovan has been named vice president of the electronic warfare/electronic protection line of business. Donovan has overall general management responsibility for all of IEWS' electronic protection business that formerly was contained in the company's countermeasures, F/A-22 and joint strike fighter, and threat warning and defensive systems business areas. Mike Heffron has been appointed vice president of the electronic warfare/information warfare line of business. Heffron has overall responsibility for the company's information dominance systems, space systems and electronics, and advanced systems business areas. Tom Arseneault has been named vice president of engineering. He has overall responsibility for some 2000 engineers and the company's performance by managing the systems and design engineering functions, facilitating engineering excellence throughout IEWS and broadening the use of engineering processes.

Frank Mackel has been the new managing director of Rohde & Schwarz UK Ltd. since the beginning of the year. He is responsible for the company's sales and service activities in the UK and Ireland. His predecessor, Campbell Morrow , will remain active as chairman of the board. Mackel previously headed the Rohde & Schwarz sales office for northern Germany.

Elgar Electronics Corp. announced the appointment of Philip Joosten to the newly created executive position of director of international sales and business development. Joosten has 18 years of experience in international sales and business development.

Lorch Microwave announced the addition of two new members to its staff. Ralph Newberry is manager of integrated assemblies and advanced products. Previously with K&L Microwave, Newberry has 20 years experience in the RF and microwave industry. Pat Donaway joins Lorch as a member of the sales team. Formerly with K&L Microwave, Donaway has more than 30 years experience in manufacturing, engineering and sales.

StratEdge announced that Daniel L. Sullivan has been selected as eastern regional sales manager. Sullivan has a comprehensive background that includes operations engineering, product management, engineering management, product and process development, sales and marketing, and new technology research. Before joining StratEdge, Sullivan spent six years at Alpha Industries, a wireless semiconductor company focused on RF and semiconductor system solutions for mobile communications applications. His positions included space products manager, western regional sales manager and device engineering manager.

W.L. Gore & Associates Inc. appointed Russell Shaller as division manager for its electronic products division. Shaller has ten years of experience with the company. He was formerly the general manager for Gore Photonics, which was sold to OCP in January. Shaller has also held the position of business manager for Gore's specialty electronic products group, which includes its microwave, industrial and medical electronic products. Gore also appointed Joe Gallo to global sales manager for its electronic products division. Gallo has over 15 years of experience with the company. He was formerly the business manager for its wire and cable operation in the US.

Rogers Corp. announced that Gary Clinton has been named product manager for the RO4000" high frequency materials product line. He will be working at the company's advanced circuit materials division in Chandler, AZ. In his new assignment, Clinton will be responsible for managing global capacity and pricing, providing leadership for new product development efforts, and maintaining RO4000 materi- als' strong market position.

REP APPOINTMENTS

Circuit Assembly announced the addition of three independent firms to further expand the CA sales team. Elec Tech Inc. will handle the US southern/central territory, RV Componentes will provide support for accounts throughout Mexico and Northgrove Technologies will handle accounts in Canada. These three firms join with existing firms currently representing CA around the globe.

To better serve the northeast region of the US, Thunderline-Z has announced the hiring of the rep firm MMS of Westford, MA to handle the New England area.

Microlab/FXR has appointed five new rep firms to cover four strategic territories within the US. Spectrant LLC will cover southern California; Data Marketing Associates will handle Texas, Oklahoma and Louisiana; Spectron Inc. will market products in Maryland, Virginia and Delaware; and High-Tech-Sales and Virtual RF will cover New England.

Palomar Technologies announced that it has entered into agreements with several companies to sell Palomar's assembly automation products and process development services in Asia. Autron will offer Palomar's equipment and process solutions to its expanding optoelectronics customer base in Malaysia, Thailand, Taiwan and China. Palomar's representatives in China also include Dymek Asia and ETSC Tech. Globaltech Corp. will represent Palomar in the Philippines, with Qualmax Inc. in South Korea and Marubun Corp. in Japan.

Link Microtek , a specialist supplier of RF and microwave components and subsystems, has been appointed as exclusive representative for TriQuint Semiconductor Inc. in the UK and Ireland.

WEB SITES

Hittite Microwave announced that a variety of MMIC die, hermetic and non-hermetic ceramic packaged MMIC products are now available for purchase through the company Web site at www.hittite.com using either MasterCard or VISA. Minimum order quantity for die and ceramic packaged product purchase is ten pieces and orders can be placed in multiples of ten up through 990 units. This expansion of the e-commerce product offering complements the plastic packaged products and evaluation PC boards that have been available for purchase since last year in either bulk or tape and reel shipment packaging.

The IEEE Microwave Measurement Technical Committee (MTT-11) has a new Web site designed to address measurement issues facing microwave engineers. A unique feature of the site is a set of interactive on-line measurement forums in nine areas: on-wafer, multiport, materials, signal integrity, noise, nonlinear, coaxial VNA, microwave photonics and a general measurement forum. It is easy to join a forum, pose measurement questions and engage in measurement discussions on the site. Many of the forums also have informative FAQs and bibliographies. The Web site also features a mission statement, suggestions on how to get involved with MTT and IMS, a full list of committee members with contact information, a list of upcoming measurement conferences and a list of measurement links. Visit the new site at www.mtt.org/measurements.