Southern Africa
With the establishment of a new Dubai-based Customer Care Centre, APC-MGE is improving services efficiencies and locating operations closer to the customer for the African region. The company says that the centre is manned by staff that has local market knowledge and will follow a query through and make sure customers receive the proper feedback, and that customers will not have to face a complex telephone system, but instead speak directly to one of these highly trained staff members.
Comtest, distributor of industrial, electrical and precision test and measurement tools in southern Africa, has announced a corporate restructure. The Comtest Group of Companies is now the holding company for their diversified portfolio of businesses. Currently, there are two subsidiary companies: Comtest Distribution which handles all dealer business for test and measurement equipment, and Comtest Technology, a BEE company (previously Kikiza Communications), which handles telecommunications equipment and solutions.
Overseas
Business
Cree has reported revenue of $111,2 million for its fiscal fourth quarter ended 24 June, 2007. This represents a 23% increase compared to the previous quarter and a 4% increase compared to revenue of $106,7 million for the year-ago period. The company's LED sales were up 37% over the previous quarter, reaching almost $92,0 million, compared to $85,1 million in the same period a year ago.
Companies
Nokia has warned of the potential of the batteries in some of its handsets to overheat and dislodge. The batteries in question are the type BL-5C manufactured by Matsushita between December 2005 and November 2006, of which 46 million have been shipped to customers. The Nokia branded batteries can experience overheating, caused by a short circuit during charging. In this 'very rare case' the battery can dislodge, the company informed. Presently, about 100 incidents have been reported globally, with no serious injury known.
After entering into exclusive negotiations on 21 June, Schneider Electric announced it has signed an agreement with Eaton to divest MGE UPS systems operations in small systems, as per its prior commitment to the European Commission following the acquisition of American Power Conversion. The transaction values the UPS business, which generated revenues of Euro 156m in 2006 and an EBIT margin of 20,5%, at approximately Euro 425m (on a debt free cash free basis).
Cadence Design Systems and Mentor Graphics have joined forces to promote a common approach to the verification of design files based on the SystemVerilog language. Available under an Apache version 2.0 open-source licence, the Open Verification Methodology is a superset of the previous Cadence approach to SystemVerilog verification, called URM, and Mentor's previous approach, called AVM, with some additional features, executives from Cadence and Mentor said.
According to market research firm IMS Research, the European Union's competition authorities could turn its attention to the rumoured merger of Europe's two largest chip companies, STMicroelectronics and Infineon Technologies. IMS Research has calculated that such a merger would create a power semiconductor giant that would hold one-third of the European power discretes market, which could be enough to attract an enquiry from the EU's competition directorate.
In the latest move to expand its low-power RF product portfolio, Texas Instruments has acquired Integrated Circuit Designs, a developer of radio-frequency chips. This follows the acquisition of Chipcon, a provider of short-range, low-power RF transceivers for ZigBee-based, wireless systems.
Kemet has agreed to acquire Arcotronics Italia, a manufacturer of plastic film and metallised plastic film capacitors and wet tantalum capacitors, from Blue Skye. Kemet has agreed to pay Euro 17,5 million for 100% of the outstanding share capital of Arcotronics and will assume or refinance approximately Euro 98 million of net financial debt and assume certain other liabilities of the company. The transaction is subject to customary closing conditions and is expected to close in early October 2007.
In the latest in a series of legal battles among Asian technology companies, Sharp has filed a US lawsuit accusing Samsung Electronics of infringing Sharp's LCD patents. Samsung, the world's leading LCD TV maker, said in response that it may counter-sue third-ranked Sharp. This comes at a time when major flat TV suppliers such as Sharp, Samsung and Sony battle fierce price competition and shrinking margins.
Industry
A new report by Global Industry Analysts predicts that the worldwide market for lighting fixtures will top $94 billion by 2010. The report says that solid-state lighting using LEDs and other technologies is expected to play a major role in lighting the future. Technologically advanced and energy saving products such as high intensity discharge (HID) lighting, electronic ballasts and non-incandescent portable fixtures are expected to drive demand, despite their associated high prices.
IMS Research forecasts a growth potential of 50% over the next six years for semiconductors used in backlighting applications. Increasing use of LEDs in these applications will intensify the pressure on the competing cold cathode fluorescent lamp (CCFL) technology. New applications such as LCD TVs and notebook computers are expected to drive the market for LEDs in backlighting applications from $3 billion in 2006 to around $4,5 billion in 2012.
Following a downturn in the first half of 2007, with severe price drops in May and June, the DRAM industry turned the corner in July and will begin an upward climb, according to IC Insights. For 2007, DRAM units are forecast to increase 49%, and DRAM bit volume is forecast to surge 81%, the highest percentage increase since the 88% increase recorded in 1998, according to the firm.
With the huge potential for mobile triple-play services, market researcher In-Stat believes that the deployment of femtocells is critical to providing the signal coverage and capacity required for these services. According to the company's research, the installed femtocell base is expected to grow from virtually zero to 40,6 million within the next four years, with the number of users reaching more than 100 million within five years.
Government pollution guidelines, safety and security regulations and concerns over oil supply are encouraging the demand for automobile electronic content. There is a growing need for automobile application specific integrated circuits (ASICs), application specific standard parts (ASSPs) and field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs). Analysis by Frost & Sullivan has revealed that the worldwide automobile ASIC, ASSP and FPGA market earned revenues of $6,75 billion in 2006 and predicts that this will reach $10,26 billion in 2010.
Taiwanese companies will increase their semiconductor capital spending by $4 billion to $13 billion this year, according to a report by Strategic Marketing Associates. The report predicts slight growth in China and Southeast Asia, with no growth by US and European companies, while Japan's capital spending will see a 'significant retrenchment' and is expected to fall by 15%.
Last year, research firm Forward Concepts predicted 10% growth for DSPs in 2007, but it lowered that to 8% in May. Now, it has lowered its forecast into negative territory, predicting the market to reach only $7,6 billion, down 9% from 2006. Second quarter 2007 shipments were up 6% over the first quarter, but down 11% over the similar period last year, according to the firm.
According to Chinese researcher CCID Consulting, China's IC industry slowed in the first half of 2007. Sales revenues were up 33,2% year-on-year, but this represented a fallback from the 48% growth in the first half of 2006. IC output was up 15,2% over the first half of 2006 at 19,74 billion pieces.
According to US research company Visant Strategies, the market for printed circuit boards will be $50 billion in 2007 and rise to more than $76 billion in 2012. Revenues for the Asia-Pacific region are expected to increase by over 60% from 2007 to 2012, at the expense of other regions.
New analysis from global growth consultancy Frost & Sullivan reveals that the worldwide discrete power semiconductor market earned revenues of $10,49 billion in 2005 and estimates this to reach $14,42 billion in 2009. Despite the growth of the end-user markets, thyristors, rectifiers and bipolar transistors lack technological innovation. Consequently, they lack differentiation and as such, manufacturers have begun abandoning these products.
Technology
A prototype device, said by Microsoft, Google, Dell and other technology companies to beam high-speed Internet service over unused television airwaves, has been given the thumbs-down by the US government. The Federal Communications Commission said in a report that the device submitted by the technology coalition could not reliably detect unused TV spectrum and could also cause interference. Microsoft has subsequently claimed that the reason for the negative results was that the test device in question had a malfunctioning internal component. TV broadcasters fear that interference from such a device would cause problems with TV programming and with a transition from analog to digital signals in early 2009.
A device called the LED Incapacitator is being developed by US company Intelligent Optical Systems for the US Homeland Security Department. The device emits a dazzling strobe capable of subduing criminals, terrorists and even unruly airline passengers. Once aimed at someone's eyes, a series of light pulses and colours can be triggered and the subject's eyes cannot adjust quickly enough to see. The reaction can range through vertigo to nausea. An issue of concern that has been raised is that if the devices are mass-produced and fairly inexpensive, they are likely to be sold on the black market.
A company called CPFilms has developed a product called LLumar Signal Defense Security Film, a high-tech clear window film that serves as a transparent barrier that allows light to pass through, while minimising transmission of wireless (WiFi), radio frequency (RF) and other electronic signals.
Nissan recently unveiled a new demonstration car that has advanced systems designed to detect if the driver of the car is intoxicated. The car has cameras that can recognise drooping eyelids, sensors in the gear lever that measure alcohol content in sweat and sensors in the seat belts that measure ambient alcohol levels in the air of the car, with a final set of tools monitoring driving behaviour.
A technology called high-dynamic range (HDR) is hot on the heels of already popular high-definition television (HDTV). As opposed to HDTV which renders images in very high resolutions, HDR displays provide more contrast, with the brightest whites being hundreds of thousands of times brighter than the darkest blacks. This contrast is closer to what the human eye can perceive, promising a very high level of realism.
Researchers at the University of Connecticut have demonstrated a way to produce rewritable holographic memory, by using lasers to etch data onto microbial proteins. By storing memory in three dimensions instead of two, holographic memory could make data retrieval hundreds of times faster. Although the first holographic-memory systems have recently come to market, they do not yet feature discs that are rewritable in realtime.
Researchers at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory in the US have demonstrated an effect which they say could lead to the development of cheaper solar cells that are also more than twice as efficient as today's typical photovoltaics. They showed that silicon nanocrystals can produce two or three electrons per photon of incoming sunlight, by harnessing the energy in blue and ultraviolet light instead of it being wasted as heat, as in current systems.
Luxtera, a US startup, has announced the development of the first optical cable making use of silicon photonics, which uses silicon chips to send and receive data-carrying light signals and promises to revolutionise telecommunications. The company says that the cable, built using standard CMOS processing, can send 40 gigabits of data per second through its fibre but will cost as little as today's 20-gigabit-per-second optical cables.
A prototype device which counters the natural effect whereby air molecules closer to a surface are increasingly stationary, could enhance a chip's heat-transfer coefficient by 250%, according to Purdue University. The prototype, funded by Intel, uses a thousand volt potential between two electrodes positioned on either side of a chip's backside to generate an ionic wind across the surface of the chip.
By immersing a carpet of vertical nanotubes in an ionic liquid electrolyte, researchers at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute claim to have developed a cellulose paper that stores electrical energy. The team produced a supercapacitor by placing a second nanotube electrode on the other side of the paper. They then added a lithium electrode atop the paper, creating what they claim is a paper-thin rechargeable battery that looks, feels and weighs about the same as paper.
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