Around the Circuit

Satellite communications systems developer Newtec made IP software developer Tellitec a fully integrated subsidiary. Newtec is a Belgian group of companies of which Newtec Cy N.V. is the parent company. Tellitec is made up of Tellitec Communications bvba, based in Sint-Niklaas, Belgium, and Tellitec Engineering GmbH, based in Berlin, Germany. The move cements the existing relationship between the two companies, which has seen a number of Tellitec products integrated into Newtec’s offerings. Tellitec’s TCP/IP acceleration, traffic shaping and security software are all utilised in Newtec’s Sat3Play. Tellitec’s software is also used in conjunction with Newtec’s professional equipment in many satellite systems for applications such as IP trunking and digital signage.

In December 2007, the WiMAX Forum announced plans to create the first ever WiMAX Forum Designated Certification Laboratory in India by the end of 2008. This laboratory will enable WiMAX equipment vendors in the country to accelerate the certification process targeting the Indian market. Ron Resnick, president and chairman of the WiMAX Forum, said that WiMAX is the key to addressing India’s huge market demand for broadband Internet, and preparing to meet the future needs of the country’s communication needs. Citing the recent inclusion of WiMAX technologies in the International Telecommunication Union’s IMT-2000 set of standards, Mohammad Shakouri, the Forum’s vice-president of marketing, added that the WiMAX spectrum will become more readily available to operators worldwide and help India develop a cost-effective wireless telecommunication infrastructure.

UK-based telecommunications infrastructure organization, the Alan Campbell Group (ACG), has invested a six-figure sum in new test and training facilities at its headquarters in Warwick, RI. The move comes as the company continues to grow its broadcast, microwave and telecommunications solutions and services. The purpose-built training center, which covers an area of almost 2500 sq. ft., also includes an 8.5 m training tower and microwave link, so that employees, clients and other organizations can undertake installation and commissioning training. The initiative has seen extensive co-operation with equipment manufacturers in a bid to provide one of the UK’s foremost training facilities for the broadcast and telecommunications industries.

TÜVRheinland of North America, a provider of independent testing and certification services, received accreditation under the National Voluntary Laboratory Accreditation Program (NVLAP) for its electromagnetic compatibility (EMC) and telecommunications testing laboratory in Rochester, NY. Administered by the US National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), NVLAP confirms that a testing lab and its personnel have the technical qualifications and competency to perform specific EMC and telecommunications tests and/or calibrations. The accreditation conforms to all requirements of the ISO/IEC 17025:2005 standard.

Infineon Technologies and the automotive system manufacturer, Delphi Corp., are to collaborate closely on developing a new generation of body control units based on the standard AUTomotive Open System Architecture (AUTOSAR). Delphi is to contribute comprehensive systems and software know-how and long-standing experience in the area of body electronics, while Infineon will provide expertise in automotive microcontrollers to the co-development project.

According to a recent report by Strategy Analytics, a Boston-based market research firm, the success of free-to-air digital terrestrial television markets in the UK, France, Spain, Italy and Germany has resulted in a marked improvement in the prospects for Integrated Digital TVs over the past year or so. The report projects that digital terrestrial tuners will become the norm across the bulk of the European TV market over the coming years. “Integrated Digital Television Global Market Forecast” says that global demand for integrated digital TVs in 2007 reached 61.7 million units, worth $61.8 B in retail revenues.

The Reynosa, Mexico, antenna manufacturing operations of Andrew Corp. has received the prestigious Industry of the Year Award for 2007, an annual regional award jointly given by the Mexican government’s Secretaria de Economia and the local chapter of the Cámara Nacional de la Industria de Transformación (Canacintra), a 66-year-old organization dedicated to promoting Mexican industry worldwide. Andrew was selected for the strong employment opportunities that it offers the community and the company’s ongoing employee training and development initiatives. Andrew opened its Reynosa operations in 2003 and supplies markets in North, Central and South America.

Trompeter Electronics, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Emerson Network Power Connectivity Solutions, announced that it has increased its overall customer performance rating by three positions in the 2007 Bishop & Associates Connector Industry Survey. Trompeter’s ranking rose to seventh overall, and gained in four of five of the most important measures (technical expertise, quality of inside sales assistance, hitting acknowledged ship dates and product quality). Trompeter’s highest overall performance ratings in the survey were for technical expertise and field sales support.

Eyelit Inc., a manufacturing software provider for visibility, control and coordination of manufacturing operations, announced that HelioVolt, a producer of highly efficient thin-film solar products, has selected Eyelit’s Enterprise Manufacturing Execution Suite (MES) to provide a cost-effective manufacturing software infrastructure for its global manufacturing network. The Eyelit solution includes complete tracking of serialized PV glass panels, completed solar panels, associated consumables, raw material, and inventory management and tool tracking.

Contracts

Panasonic Mobile Communications Co. Ltd. and Nokia Siemens Networks will cooperate to build the Super 3G (LTE) Base Station project for NTT DoCoMo Inc., Japan’s largest mobile operator. Panasonic has been involved with the standardization and development of elements of LTE technology, which is the next generation system for mobile networks like GSM, W-CDMA/HSPA and CDMA. Similarly, Nokia Siemens has demonstrated LTE technology with data speeds in the 160 Mb/s range and a handover between LTE and HSPA in 2007.

WiMAX chipmaker Sequans Communications is leading a new WiMAX development project that was recently established and funded by the European Commission. The purpose of the project is to develop a new air interface for the next generation of WiMAX, and to make key contributions to the IEEE 802.16m task group, which has been established to develop technical specifications for next generation WiMAX systems. The project, dubbed WiMAGIC (Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Broadband Access System for Next Generation Wireless Communications), has been accepted by the European Commission within the 7^th Framework Programme for Research. WiMAX2 will be backwards compatible with current Mobile WiMAX™ systems based on the IEEE 802.16e-2005 standard, but is intended to deliver much higher performance. Working with Sequans are 12 partners, six technology companies and six universities, from France, the United Kingdom, Germany, Italy, Belgium, Greece and Turkey. The WiMAGIC project commenced in January and will continue for three years.

European Antennas Ltd. has supplied antennas to BAE Systems for the Continuous Wave Doppler Radar project that the company has developed for the UK Aberporth Test and Evaluation Range and operated by QinetiQ on behalf of the UK Ministry of Defence. To satisfy the $2 M contract, BAE Systems developed the CW Doppler system, which incorporates state-of-the-art technology and a system architecture that uses commercial components to provide improvements in operation, simplifying logistics support and minimizing life cycle costs.

Tampa Microwave, a designer and manufacturer of RF and microwave communications and test equipment for commercial and government applications, announced that the company has obtained a United States General Services Administration (GSA) Schedule. The contract number GS-07F-0590T applies to Tampa Microwave’s converter, carrier monitoring and satellite simulator products. This contract places Tampa Microwave on an approved GSA schedule, enabling various government agencies to purchase products directly from the company.

NEC Corp. has signed a framework contract to supply microwave communication systems to Polish 3G mobile operator P4 Sp.z.o.o. (P4), the mobile operating arm of Polish telecom carrier Netia SA. The company will supply the advanced PASOLINK NEO point-to-point wireless access systems to enable P4 to accelerate its network infrastructure and facilitate provision of stable and high quality 3G services. The microwave system will be employed to carry out transmission among mobile base stations, with P4 planning to install around 10,000 hops in the next five years, and NEC expecting to provide around 1000 hops to mainly northern and middle areas of Poland, as well as to Warsaw, to fulfill the initial demands of the framework contract.

Brightcomms Inc., a network planning and optimization services provider, has selected ZK Celltest, a developer of wireless network drive test solutions, to work on a multi-vendor network planning and optimization services project in Central and South America focusing on the GSM/EDGE/UMTS/HSDPA, CDMA EV-DO REV.A, and WiMAX arenas.

Personnel

On January 1, 2008, Huber + Suhner appointed two new group management members, Patrick Riederer and Urs Ryffel, marking the completion of the Group’s reorganization into three divisions. The move is part of the company’s strategy to intensify its focus on its core business of providing ‘Electrical and Optical Connectivity’ solutions and to concentrate its activities on three technologies: Radio Frequency, Fiber Optics and Low Frequency. This also provides the framework for the group’s forward strategy and the future organization structure. The new appointments see Riederer taking charge of the new Low Frequency Division and Ryffel the Fiber Optics Division. The third division, Radio Frequency, will continue to be headed by Hanspeter Bär.

David Gilmour has been appointed to the position of microwave design engineer in the Engineering Division of Link Microtek. He brings particular knowledge and expertise that will extend the division’s capabilities into the area of active design—for example, where subsystems require built-in amplifiers, oscillators or mixers. He spent his early years with GEC Marconi, initially as a graduate engineer in the Radar Systems Department and subsequently as a development engineer. He then joined Channel Master (formerly Cambridge Industries), where he was responsible for all aspects of the design and testing of a new dual low-noise block for use in home satellite TV systems.

Harmon Banning, a retired Gore associate, received the Automated RF Techniques Group (ARFTG) Career Award in November 2007. Banning had a long and distinguished career in the RF/microwave industry that spanned over 45 years. Companies that Banning worked with included: General Electric Co., Andrew Alford Consulting Engineers, Weinschel Engineering Inc. and W.L. Gore & Associates. During his acceptance speech, Banning thanked Gore’s Chuck Carroll for hiring him as the first microwave engineer at the company.

Inphi Corp. announced it has appointed Ron Torten to the new position of vice president of worldwide sales. Reporting directly to Young Sohn, Inphi’s president and chief executive officer, Torten assumes responsibility for the company’s entire sales organization, which includes an extensive network of direct and independent sales organizations, manufacturer’s representatives and distributors in North America, Europe and Asia. Torten, with more than 10 years experience in executive and general management positions, joins Inphi from NemeriX, where he was chief executive officer. Before his work at NemeriX, Torten was vice president, worldwide materials at Agilent Technologies, where he was responsible for $1.3 B in spending for Agilent’s Semiconductor Products Group. Prior to that, he worked as vice president and general manager for the Networking and Entertainment Division of Agere Systems, and with Quantum Corp., where he served in a variety of product marketing and supply chain positions.

On March 1, 2008, Markus Hellenthal will take up the positions of chief executive officer and senior vice president of Thales Germany. He has also been appointed director of the Thales Security Solutions & Services Division of Thales Germany. Hellenthal is a member of the European Security Research and Innovation Forum (ESRIF), is a co-founder and chairman of the European Organisation for Security (EOS), and vice president of the Security Commission of the European Association for Aeronautic, Space, and Defence Industry (ASD).

ANADIGICS Inc., a provider of semiconductor solutions in the broadband wireless and wireline communications markets, has announced the appointment of Gilles Delfassy, retired senior vice president of the Worldwide Wireless Terminals Business Unit of Texas Instruments, to its board of directors. An industry veteran with over 28 years of experience in global business development and wireless technology, Delfassy had been at the helm of Texas Instrument’s successful wireless terminals business unit since its inception in 1995, growing it into a multibillion-dollar operation.

The Phoenix Company of Chicago, a manufacturer of interconnect products, has announced the promotion of Gregory E. Pollack to the position of corporate director of sales and marketing, RF products. He had previously been director of sales and marketing for Palco Connector, an affiliate company located in Naugatuck, CT. Pollack is now responsible for all RF product sales in North America, which will also include related D-subminiature connectors and filter products.

RF Micro Devices, a maker of RF systems, has named John Ocampo and Casimir Skrzypczak, to its board of directors. Both were former members of the board of directors of Sirenza Microdevices, which RF Micro recently acquired.

Rep Appointments

Digi-Key Corp. and Roving Networks Inc. announced today that the companies have entered into a global agreement wherein Digi-Key will distribute Roving Networks’ wireless solutions utilizing Bluetooth and 802.11 Wi-Fi technologies. The company designs, manufactures and markets embedded modules, serial adapters, network access devices and sensors, allowing access from Bluetooth enabled PCs, PDAs, cell phones, networks and machine-to-machine communications.

AtlanTec has appointed key sales representatives in the US. In the New York/New Jersey Metropolitan market and Upstate New York region, the representative is RF Electronic Sales Co. Inc., Tel: (516) 624-3800, Fax: (516) 624-2920, e-mail: info@rfsales.com, www.rfsales.com. In Northern California, the contact is StarTech Sales Inc., Tel: (408) 309-9067, Fax: (650) 969-6668, e-mail: linda@startechsales.com. In Southern California, it is Amawave, Tel: (760) 414-9660, Fax: (760) 414-9675, e-mail: sales@amawave.com, www.amawave.com. Marketing in the Western Region is coordinated through the new sales office at AtlanTec, Western Regional Sales, 30520 Rancho California Rd., Suite #107-140, Temecula, CA 92591. The contact is Walt Carpenter, Tel: (310) 880-7885, Fax: (951) 699-2175, e-mail: walt.carpenter@AtlanTecRF.com.

Reactel Inc., a designer and manufacturer of RF and microwave filters, diplexers and sub-assemblies, announced that NW Technical Sales Inc. will be its sales representative for Washington, Oregon and Idaho. Contact: Barbara Boersema, (360) 387-4204, bboersema@nwtechsales.com; or Herm Boersema (360) 387-4044, hboersema@nwtechsales.com.

Vaunix Technology Corp. announced the appointment of two new representatives to sell its line of Lab Brick™ test equipment. High Tech Sales (www.htssales.com) serves the six New England states and upstate New York. Jay Stone Associates (www.jsarep.com) covers Northern California and Northern Nevada.

Davidson Optronics Inc., a manufacturer of high quality optics and optical instruments, announced a new exclusive government services partnership agreement withTechnical Communities Inc. The agreement authorizes Technical Communities to present the catalog of Davidson Optronics products, including autocollimators, alignment telescopes, interferometers, mirrors, optical flats, prisms, instrument stands, surface quality samples and the TV Optoliner Camera Calibration System to US government agencies, military organizations and prime federal contractors. Technical Communities is the owner and operator of GSAMart, TestMart, NAVICPMart and EurekaSpot.

Hirose Electric (USA) Inc., a subsidiary of one of the largest electronic connector manufacturers, and Future Electronics have signed an agreement covering North and South America. Hirose designs and manufactures thousands of connector types for myriad applications, including mobile computer, communication, automotive and medical.