Southern Africa
Altech has announced that it is to acquire control of South Africa's leading secure technology products and solutions company, NamITech, from Nampak, in a R559 m deal. Altech CEO, Craig Venter, said the acquisition was in line with Altech's IT vision and convergence strategy and would give the group's IT Division, which includes Altech Card Solutions (ACS) and Isis, critical mass with a total turnover in excess of R1 billion. NamITech serves customers mainly in the telecommunications, financial services and the gaming and leisure sectors, with a specific focus on secure technology solutions.
Prism has announced that it has concluded a R30 m deal with the Shoprite Group of Companies to help the food retail group prepare for the introduction of payment smartcards. The three-year project entails replacing the existing base of card readers in all its stores. Shoprite will migrate to a standardised payment platform. Prism will develop and implement an EMV-compliant end-to-end payment solution.
The Harmonic Group, a leading supplier of bar code, automatic identification systems and mobile devices, has secured the South African distribution rights for Socket Communications a leading US supplier of plug-in products for Windows-powered pocket PCs, handheld PCs, and Windows notebooks.
Parsec has been appointed as the distributor in South Africa for ALDEC, a design verification company that offers mixed HDL verification products and services to FPGA and ASIC designers. ALDEC's solutions include: Active-HDL, a VHDL design solution; Riviera, a high-performance ASIC and large FPGA verification solution; Riviera-IPT, a complete mixed HDL design entry, simulation and hardware acceleration platform.
Webb Industries has been appointed to market the Micro-Coax range of cables manufactured in the USA. Webb Industries' Fanie Viljoen, says the acquisition of the Micro-Coax range is a major boost to the company's product line-up and will provide South African customers with the latest US technology that will complement Webb Industries' own manufacturing skills.
Tripp Lite, a manufacturer of power protection equipment, has announced it is introducing a new and improved Golden Reseller Program in the Middle East, Africa and CIS. This new program for 2003 supplies Golden Resellers with all the tools and training necessary to become a power protection expert and help expand their businesses, says Tripp Lite. www.tripplite.com/international/promo/goldenreseller.
A new product claimed to bring the power of advanced interactive calculations to the Web has been launched. 'WebMathematica' is a new way for users of Mathematica, Wolfram Research's numeric and symbolic programming language, to extend its benefits to a broad range of users both inside and outside an organisation. Says Clemens Dempers, of local reseller Blue Stallion Technologies, "webMathematica is based on common Internet standards making it highly portable and accessible to anyone using an ordinary browser. Because there are no complex and specialised tools required, it is on the client machine, and no technical configuration is required, webMathematica is easily distributable to all users. End users do not even need to know how to use Mathematica, or even that they are using Mathematica to benefit from the power of the maths language."
Overseas
Business
International Rectifier reported net income of $12,1m, which excludes previously announced charges related to restructuring activities, on revenues of $214,4m. This compares to net income of $12,2m on revenues of $178,6m in the prior-year quarter. Including charges of $6,4m, IR reported a net income of $7,5m. Revenues were at the high end of guidance, it said, increasing 20% year-over-year, led by 38% growth in proprietary products (analog ICs, power systems, and advanced-circuit devices). Shipments grew in the IT, automotive, and industrial sectors and declined in the consumer market. IR also said it saw a significant upturn in defence bookings, which jumped 36% sequentially, as a result of new programs including advanced aircraft, global positioning satellites, and smart weaponry.
Zarlink Semiconductor posted sales of $52,8m for the fourth quarter, up 13% from $46,8m for the previous quarter and slightly higher than the $52,1m reported for the same period last year. The Canadian chip supplier recorded a fourth quarter net loss of $23,6m, compared to a net loss of $22,3m for the same period a year ago.
California Micro Devices reported a net loss of $3,54m, on sales of $10,8m in its fourth 2003 fiscal quarter. The supplier lost $6,3m, on sales of $8,2m in the same quarter a year ago. For 2003, California Micro lost $6,5m, on sales of $42,2m, an improvement over fiscal 2002 when the company lost $28,6m, on sales of $30m. "The quarter's financial performance was impacted by weaker than expected demand for mobile products, higher than expected manufacturing spending, and production issues that caused a shortfall in shipments of medical-related products," stated president and chief executive, Robert Dickinson.
ON Semiconductor reported a net loss of $31m, on revenue of $267 in 2003's first quarter, compared to a net loss of $50m, on sales of $269,1m in the year-ago first quarter. Revenue rose slightly from $265,7m in the fourth quarter of 2002, when ON lost $39,6m. First quarter 2003 results included a $3,5m loss on a debt prepayment. ON said it expects Q2 revenue to be in line with Q1, with gross margins and operating margins increasing slightly as cost reduction measures are realised.
Companies
Signal Technology has signed a definitive agreement to be acquired by Crane. The aggregate value of the transaction is approximately $153m.
Zoran, a developer of digital consumer chips, is to acquire Oak Technology for about $358m.
Cadence Design Systems has announced it is acquiring mask data preparation company, K2 Technologies, emphasising the importance of tools for design for manufacture (DFM).
PLX Technology has agreed to acquire HiNT, a fabless semiconductor supplier of Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI) and PCI-X bridge chips in a deal valued at between $12,7m and $15m.
Harris Corporation has announced that it has been awarded a one-year, $2,3m follow-on contract by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) Special Projects Office, and the US Air Force Research Lab's (AFRL) Sensors Directorate, to continue the development of an advanced spaceborne antenna system for the Innovative Space-Based Radar Antenna Technology (ISAT) study. Harris recently completed the first phase of the contract, in which it successfully developed an innovative concept for a lightweight, space-based, extremely large deployable radar antenna designed to address tactical tracking of moving targets on the ground.
Power Integrations and distributor Memec Group Holdings, have opened three field application labs in Europe. The new service offered by Unique-Impact Memec in France, and Impact Memec in Sweden and the United Kingdom, will provide customers with switch mode power supply design support through a full staff of Memec Power field application engineers.
Japan's Elpida Memory and Taiwan's ProMOS Technologies have signed a memorandum of understanding regarding the technology transfer and joint development of next-generation DRAM processes. While full details were not announced, Elpida said the agreement is intended for designs starting at 0,10 micron and lower, including all new DRAM products. The deal also calls for product purchase and supply arrangements, and collaboration on new product development.
Intel has teamed with Lego Company, PC games writer Argonaut Games and PC games publisher Electronics Arts to promote its Pentium 4 processor and hyperthreading capability. A PC game based on Lego's Bionicle line of toys will be marketed specifically built for the P4 processor with hyperthreading (HT) technology.
UK defence electronics company Radstone Technology and US realtime DSP company, DSPCon, are partnering to develop high performance systems for applications including airborne radar, sonar, electronic warfare, signal intelligence, smart weapons, and avionics.
Zarlink Semiconductor has announced it is reorganising its communications-IC business into three segments to better reflect its strategic direction. The new segments are network communications, consumer communications, and ultra low-power communications.
Dutch satellite communications provider, Maqsat Satellite Communications (Maqsat) has announced that it has joined Europe*Star's Gateway programme, thus expanding its Internet and voice connectivity services in the Middle and Far East.
Intel has announced that it has joined Symbian's Platinum Partner Program. Intel said it will also start providing a new software development kit (SDK) that includes Symbian OS Version 7.0 to help developers accelerate the design process of data-enabled cellular phones and applications running on processors based on the Intel XScale microarchitecture. Symbian develops and licenses Symbian OS, a global industry standard operating system for advanced mobile phones.
Wavecom and Atmel have released a jointly-developed GSM/GPRS baseband processor. The processor is the first concrete result from a long-term technology partnership, that capitalises on Atmel's expertise in highly-complex systems-on-chip and Wavecom's leadership in development and design of integrated wireless communications solutions. According to the companies, the single-chip GSM/GPRS processor is the first of a planned range of silicon components that include Wavecom intellectual property, with the aim of improving the cost and performance of Wavecom's WISMO hardware platforms for wireless applications.
Industry
Worldwide semiconductor sales climbed to $12,1 bn in March 2003, a 2,6% sequential increase from the $11,8 bn in revenue for the previous month, the Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA) has reported. For Q1 of 2003, industry sales were $36,4 bn, a 3,2% sequential decline and a 13% increase from the $32,19 bn reported in 2002's first quarter. Among product gains in March, MPUs sold into computers rose by 5,9%, DSPs and Flash memory used in cellphones were up 2%, and Optoelectronics was up 7,7%. Sales in the Asia-Pacific market, were up 17,2% year over year in March, sales in Japan rose 33,5%, sales in Europe rose by 11,3%, while sales in the Americas, fell by 8%, reflecting the migration of the electronic equipment market - including component sourcing, design services, and electronic equipment production, to Asia.
Three years ago, the euphoria surrounding 3G resulted in operators spending billions of dollars in licensing fees, solely based on exponential calculations of growth in subscribers and average revenues per user (ARPUs). But to their disappointment, some operators now find it difficult to recover their investments, and most have delayed their plans to deploy 3G, according to a study by research firm Allied Business Intelligence (ABI). Since the launch of its pioneer 3G-based WCDMA services in October 2001, NTTDoCoMo had been able to garner only about 330 000 subscribers up until March 2003. Though efforts to stabilise the technical hurdles have paid off, recent launches in Western Europe may face similar teething problems, says ABI.
The worldwide IC-packaging market is expected to reach nearly $20 bn within the next five years and grow at a compound annual rate of 7,9% from 2002 to 2007, according to a report from Electronic Trend Publications. Total packaging revenues are expected to grow from $13,37 bn in 2002, to $14,9 bn in 2003, and to $16,75 bn in 2004. However, the market is expected to fall to $16,3 bn in 2005, it says, but will rebound and grow to $18,01 bn in 2006, and $19,56 bn in 2007.
According to a new Gartner report, the worldwide PDA market spiralled downward during the first quarter of 2003, experiencing an 11,1% decline from the same period last year. Shipments during the period totalled 2,8 million units in the first quarter of 2003, as compared to 3,2 million during the same period last year. In worldwide rankings, Palm continued to hold top spot, Hewlett-Packard remained in number two, while Sony pegged third place.
Director of market intelligence services at iSuppli, Dale Ford, has predicted that the mobile industry will record unspectacular but sustained growth-as much as 11% compound annual growth rate in production units through 2006. However, the days of more than 50% annual growth rates are over, he noted at a recent analyst briefing in Paris. The combination of strong handset production during the first quarter of 2003, which the company estimates is around 108 million units, and a healthy second quarter for key suppliers, has iSuppli projecting the industry's 2003 overall production volume to be 475 million units.
The Semiconductor Equipment and Materials International (SEMI) group has cancelled the 2003 edition of the Semicon Singapore trade show due to the ongoing concerns related to severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS). Semicon Singapore has been re-scheduled for 4-6 May 2004.
According to a report from America Technology Research, although the outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) is creating a climate of fear in Asia-Pacific, the epidemic will have little or no impact on the semiconductor business in the region.
The UK Department of Trade and Industry has launched an organisation to promote the development of fuel cell technology. Fuel Cells UK will set out to raise the profile of the fuel cell industry in the UK, acting as a central point of contact for national and international companies and the research community. It will be managed by renewable energy specialist Synnogy.
The latest version of industry shaping specification language Abstract Syntax Notation 1 (ASN.1) has now been released by ITU. One of the first areas to benefit is biometrics, the practice of verifying identity based on physiological or behavioural characteristics, such as fingerprints, handwriting or retinal scans. ASN.1 is also increasingly being used outside the telecommunication industry in areas such as security, transportation, banking or genetic research. Ratified as a standard in 1984, it is used within the signalling system (SS7) for most telephone calls, package tracking, credit card verification and digital certificates and in many of the most used software programs. It is also widely deployed by electrical utilities to remotely control substations.
Technology trade association PCMCIA has introduced its latest PC Card specification codenamed 'Newcard'. The spec offers integrated desktop and mobile external expansion into a single standard. According to the PCMCIA, Newcard combines a smaller form factor and faster performance with the PC card's reliability and ease of use.
Fujitsu Components America has announced that it will switch to lead-free relays and begin shipments in June 2003. The company's other product lines, which include connectors, resistive touch panels, thermal printers, KVM switches, and keyboards, will also be converted to lead-free materials by March 2004. The new lead-free relay line will be manufactured with a tin, gold, and copper solder able to withstand maximum process temperatures of 260°C.
Bourns has issued a warning to customers to beware of counterfeit Bourns trimmers in certain countries. Not manufactured by Bourns, these trimmers illegally bear the Bourns trademark. They have internal components that differ substantially from genuine products and degrade in performance after a short period of time, it said.
Some 6238 exhibitors (2979 from abroad) showcased their products and services on the 210 000 m2 of display space at Hannover Fair 2003. At the close of the Fair, the overwhelming majority of exhibitors indicated being pleased or very pleased with the results, reported Prof. Klaus E. Goermann, Chairman of the Managing Board of Deutsche Messe, organisers of the event. Given the extremely difficult circumstances surrounding the event - the economic downturn, war in Iraq and fears surrounding SARS - the final tally of 200 000 visitors of whom more than 55 000 came from abroad, far exceeded expectations, it said.
Technology
Zarlink Semiconductor has announced two award wins. The company's DTV processor device, the ZL 10310, was announced the winner in the 'Best Silicon Innovation' category of the Cable & Satellite/Mediacast awards. The ZL10310 also placed fourth in the 'Best Terrestrial TV Technology' category. In addition, the company's MT352 demodulator for digital TV products won its category in the 2002 EDN Innovation Awards.
Texas Instruments has announced it has demonstrated a DSP that achieves a 1 GHz clock cycle performance. The announcement comes about a month after the company had announced its previously fastest DSP, a 720 MHz device. The 1 GHz DSP demonstration was completed using a 0,13 micron process, but will be manufactured on a 90 nm process. TI said it is scheduled for availability in the first half of 2004.
Analog Devices has introduced a new low-G accelerometer that it says has added temperature stability. The accelerometer, offered in single-axis (ADXL103) and dual-axis (ADXL-203) versions, achieves a temperature sensitivity stability of ±0,3% over a -40 to 125°C range.
Philips Semiconductors has launched its 'Connected Home' website ( www.semiconductors.philips.com/connected_home) designed as a forum to share ideas about this future.
© Technews Publishing (Pty) Ltd | All Rights Reserved
printer friendly version