Southern Africa
Honeywell has announced that it has been awarded a three-year Eskom contract worth R281m to provide the distributed control system (DCS) in the reactivation unit and upgrade the company's Grootvlei electric utility power plant, located near Heidelberg.
Arrow Altech Distribution has been appointed as a distributor for Integrated Device Technology (IDT) in South Africa. IDT's range of products includes network search engines, flow-control management ICs, timing solutions and products for standards-based serial switching. IDT also offers several foundational products optimised for communications applications.
The Sandton Convention Centre has been awarded the prestigious 'Favourite Technical Venue 2006' award at the annual Technical Production Services Association (TPSA) Event Awards ceremony held in August. The convention centre was constructed to accommodate equipment up to 500 kg/m² in the conference spaces and up to 1500 kg/m² across the centre's various exhibition areas. There are 3000 analog points positioned throughout the centre offering both voice and data lines, and the building also offers wireless technology. Interconnecting floor boxes with 3-phase power, plug points, data lines and drainage are available in all the exhibition and banqueting halls. There is also an overhead power supply ranging from 16 to 120 A. The hanging points and draping bars within the centre range from 70 kg per hanging bar metre up to 250 kg per hanging point. Ease of load-in and load-out is facilitated through the use of two 3500 kg freight lifts.
Overseas
Business
Hewlett-Packard has reported GAAP net earnings of $1,4 bn on sales of $21,9 bn in its third fiscal 2006 quarter. This compares to $0,1 bn on sales of $20,8 bn in same quarter a year-ago. For the fourth fiscal 2006 quarter, HP expects sales of $24,1 bn.
Agilent Technologies has posted sales of $1,45 bn and GAAP net earnings from continuing operations of $233 m in its third fiscal quarter. This compares to sales of $1,24 bn and net earnings of $54m in the year-ago quarter. GAAP results included $86m of charges related principally to the spinoff of Verigy and the reduction of Agilent's infrastructure costs.
Companies
IBM has agreed to buy Internet Security Systems for about $1,3 bn. Internet Security will become a unit of IBM's services business and its software will be integrated into IBM's Tivoli product. In August, IBM announced its $1,6 bn acquisition of FileNet, a company that makes programs that let workers share documents across networks, as well as software that helps companies manage and retrieve documents.
Qualcomm, the mobile chipset specialist, is acquiring Qualphone for $18m. Qualphone specialises in IP-based multimedia subsystems (IMS) embedded client software for mobile devices and interoperability testing services.
7 layers AG and TTPCom Communications have announced the sale of their joint venture - 7 layers UK - to SGS UK. The two companies each owned 50% of the JV company since the laboratory was set up in 2001 in Cambridge. TTP Communications, which has recently been acquired by Motorola, is now known as Motorola TTPCom Product Group. 7 layers UK offers expert third party test services for designers and manufacturers of wireless communication products.
Taiwan's Asustek Computer and Gigabyte Computer will form a $244m joint venture to manufacture motherboards and VGA cards.
Dow Corning has acquired the assets from the holographic data storage business of Aprilis, a developer of holographic data storage systems.
Eicon Networks has agreed to buy the assets of Intel's media and signalling business for an undisclosed amount. Eicon is a media processing hardware/software vendor based in Montreal. The media and signalling business includes all of the product lines from Intel's Dialogic unit.
Bain Capital and Apax Partners have announced that they had signed commitments to join the private equity consortium (comprising of KohlbergKravis Roberts & Co., Silver Lake Partners, and AlpInvest Partners) that has agreed to acquire an 80,1% stake in the semiconductor division of Royal Philips Electronics. The transaction is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2006, and is subject to closing conditions and approvals.
Alcatel has been awarded a contract worth 30m Euros by Iraqi Telecommunications & Post to deliver a turnkey high capacity nation-wide microwave backbone. The network will enable the sole fixed operator in Iraq to handle the ever-growing national traffic arising from increasing demand in the capital and in the country.
Cray has won a $52m contract to install a next-generation supercomputer at the US Department of Energy's National Energy Research Scientific Computing Center (NERSC).
STMicroelectronics and ASIC vendor Kawasaki Microelectronics, a subsidiary of JFE Holdings, have joined the Home Phone Networking Alliance (HomePNA), a non-profit association of companies working on the adoption of networking industry standards using existing home wiring.
Johnson Controls-Saft Advanced Power Solutions (JCS) has been awarded a 24 month contract to develop advanced, lithium-ion batteries for hybrid-electric vehicles (HEVs) by the United States Advanced Battery Consortium (USABC). JCS will focus on improving battery power in low temperatures and creating solutions that reduce battery system costs.
MIPS Technologies and Dolby Laboratories have announced that the companies will deliver next-generation audio technology across all segments of home entertainment, including the set-top box, HD DVD, and Blu-ray Disc markets. The new Dolby Digital Plus technology requires less bandwidth and maintains compatibility with millions of existing Dolby Digital receivers.
Industry
ABI Research has lowered its 2007 revenue projection for RFID software and services by 15% to $3,1 bn, citing consolidation among vendors, lower prices and smarter users spending less. ABI said there were four interrelated factors, particularly within the asset-management and supply-chain-management markets. The factors were market consolidation, collaborative solutions, the growing availability of off-the-shelf commercial RFID software packages, and the improving level of skills in RFID project planning.
The market for automotive grade semiconductors in 2006 will reach $18 bn, a year-on-year growth of 10%, according to a new forecast from Strategy Analytics. The analysis shows that planned enhancements to vehicle performance, features and safety will drive automotive semiconductor revenues to almost $29 bn by 2013. Growth in electronic system penetration and increasingly sophisticated control functions will accelerate semiconductor growth well above vehicle production expansion levels.
ETSI has announced the creation of a new Technical Committee (TC) GRID to produce interoperability standards, contributing to the global progress of GRID - a grid for the connection, sharing and utilisation of information technology resources. TC GRID will be responsible for ETSI's contribution to IT and telecommunications convergence standards in the GRID domain and the work will start with the writing of test specifications and progress towards a broader range of GRID standards to integrate the use of telecommunications infrastructures in networked computing.
Infineon Technologies has announced that it is to supply security chips for the electronic passports being issued by the US government. Up to 15 million of the new passports would be issued in the first full year of the programme, according to the US government. Each e-passport contains a chip, protected by shielding material, which contains an encrypted copy of the printed information on the passport including a digital photo of the individual that will allow the use of facial recognition technology.
The ZigBee Alliance, a global ecosystem of companies creating wireless solutions for use in home, commercial and industrial applications, has announced it has reached three key milestones with its members shipping more than 10 000 developer kits, certified its 13th ZigBee Compliant Platform (ZCP), while processing over 29 000 free downloads of the specification in one year. The ZigBee Specification ranks as the third most downloaded IEEE 802 standard, after 802.11 and Ethernet, according to the Alliance.
Two lawsuits have been filed against SanDisk with regard to its proposed acquisition of M-Systems. SanDisk, the NAND flash-based storage card supplier, said that the suits purport to assert a class action claim on behalf of shareholders of M-Systems. SanDisk recently announced its intention to buy M-Systems for about $1,35 bn.
The NFC Forum has published its first four NFC specifications for manufacturers to develop devices that interoperate with service providers' systems. Near-field communications (NFC) is a short-range, wireless connectivity technology operating in the 13,56 MHz frequency range over a typical distance of a few centimetres. The specs help ensure successful communication between devices and device readers. They include a data exchange format, a record type definition and accompanying technical spec and a technical spec for elements that refer to an Internet resource. It allows consumers to perform contactless transactions, access digital content and connect electronic devices.
Apple Computer said it will pay Singapore's Creative Technology some $100m as part of a broad, out-of-court settlement over MP3 technology.
Dell has announced a recall of more than 4 million laptop batteries that could overheat and pose a fire hazard.
Apple Computer has announced the recall of 1,8 million Sony-based, rechargeable lithium-ion battery packs. It said the recall involves 1,1 million battery packs sold in the US, and 700 000 sold elsewhere.
Yorkshire Forward has invested £6,50m to build a 'Factory of the Future', as part of the second phase of development of the Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre (AMRC) with Boeing, located in Waverley, Rotherham, UK. On completion, the facility will be owned by the University of Sheffield and will contribute to the pioneering work of the region's advanced engineering and materials sector by creating a unique centre to exploit highly innovative technologies. ICT and 'virtual' manufacturing will be key components of the new facility, as will alternative manufacturing methods.
Technologies
Advanced Diamond Technologies (ADT) has partnered with MEMS pioneer Innovative Micro Technology and the University of Wisconsin to develop the world's first MEMS (microelectromechanical systems) devices directly integrated with CMOS chips. The group aims to supply the DARPA with RF MEMS oscillators and resonators by next year. The integration with CMOS will be done using the ultrananocrystalline diamond (UNCD) thin films patented by Argonne National Laboratory. UNCD exhibits the highest known acoustic velocity of any material, which directly translates to higher resonator frequencies and thus device performance, according to ADT.
SanDisk has unveiled what the company claims is the world's largest capacity, flash-based MP3 player. The Sansa e280 solid-state 8 GB device features a microSD expansion slot, allowing expansion to 10 GB, which it says is around 2500 songs.
Scientists at NIST have used a beam of electrons to move a single atom in a small molecule back and forth between two positions on a crystal surface, a significant step toward learning how to build an 'atomic switch' that turns electrical signals on and off in nanoscale devices. The NIST scientists used a scanning tunnelling microscope to line up copper atoms. The line ended with a single cobalt atom. When they placed the microscope's tip beside the cobalt atom and injected current, the atom started switching between two positions - either directly in line with the copper atoms or off to one side at about a 45° angle. Arrays of atomic-scale devices could, in future, provide the enhanced density needed for large memory devices.
Samsung Electronics has unveiled a mobile phone equipped with an 8 GB hard disk, representing what it claims is the world's largest storage capacity for a handset. The SCH-B570 mobile phone is also the first with high-end audio features like 5.1-channel virtual stereo and 3D sound. Also included is a 2 megapixel camera, a GPS function and satellite Digital Multimedia Broadcast with PIP.
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