Southern Africa
The Competitions Commission has given the green light to ALSTOM to acquire the assets of Northern Engineering Industries Africa (NEI). In terms of the acquisition agreement, ALSTOM South Africa will acquire, as a going concern, the businesses and assets of the operating companies. Under the terms ALSTOM will on-sell the switchgear and distribution transformer operations to ABB South Africa and Desta Power Matla - one of ABB's associate companies - respectively. The balance of the NEI group will be retained by ALSTOM, ie John Thompson (water tube and package boilers), Power Transformers (Bonar Long), CHI Control (low voltage control equipment and components) and Meissner (uninterruptable power supplies).
Siemens Information and Communications Group (I and C Group) has commissioned a fully operational Intelligent Network (IN) platform for Vodacom Lesotho Limited (VCL) in Maseru. The group signed the initial R17m contract to provide an IN platform for VCL last December. The IN Platform will be known in the marketplace as Mocha-O-Chele and allows capacity for 24 000 prepaid subscribers. It is fully extendable to 150 000 subscribers.
US-based Altris Software has announced that Carl Mostert, the Chief Operating Officer of the eBusiness Solutions Group of Spescom, has been appointed interim CEO of Altris Software, a Spescom subsidiary. Altris Software also announced that it plans to change its name to Spescom Software Inc. The name change has been approved by the company's board of directors and is subject to final approval by shareholders at the annual meeting to be held later this year. The effective date of the change is planned for 1 October, 2001. In line with this, Altris Software's UK subsidiary, Spescom KMS, will change its name to Spescom Software Ltd.
Power protection equipment manufacturer Tripp Lite has announced that its line of computer and electronic power protection products will now be available through Business Machines Tanzania (BMTL). The new partnership will promote the distribution and sales of Tripp Lite products throughout Tanzania, it said.
MB Silicon Systems has been appointed as the sole distributor in South Africa for Spinner, a leader in RF connectors. The company supplies high quality RF and coax connectors, and RF cable assemblies.
Accutronics has announced that it has been appointed as exclusive representative for Narda Safety Test Solutions in South Africa. Narda acquired the Safety Test Solutions business from Wavetek Wandel & Goltermann in February last year. To give more focus to the RF safety business, and to separate it from Narda's other business in components and networks, the new Narda Safety Test Solutions division was formed that combines the complementary product lines and expertise of the two businesses.
UPS Cape, the South African business partner of the Swiss-based UPS manufacturer IMV, has announced that GE Digital Energy has officially closed the deal to acquire IMV. IMV provides power protection solutions from standalone UPS to large, distributed networks. Terms of the acquisition were not disclosed.
Microsoft has made available the MSDN Academic Alliance programme in South Africa from 1 August. Subscription to the annual programme will allow eligible academic institutions to run Microsoft developer tools, platforms and servers on all laboratory machines in the department as well as for home use by students enrolled in the department's academic courses, it said. The programme was designed especially for academic departments that offer Computer Science, Engineering and Information Systems courses, helping them to stay current with the latest technology tools for instructional and research use at a very low cost. Microsoft adds that students will be able to use the products at home for projects and research giving them a better understanding of the technology as well as relieving the burden on the institution's computer facilities.
The Cape IT Expo has postponed its forthcoming show from August 2001 to 13-15 March 2002. Expressing his regrets at having to postpone the event, organiser Doug Adams said that economic trends affecting the IT industry had contributed to the decision. He said that the overwhelming majority of exhibitors who had already committed have been consulted and have agreed with the postponement. Expectations are that the industry will be more buoyant in the new year. The event is planned to take place at GrandWest Casino in Goodwood.
Computer Faire, South Africa's information technology exhibition, has a new general manager. Aldean Prior has taken over as General Manager of the show from Celeste Abroms who intends taking a short sabbatical to further her management studies before finalising a new career.
Overseas
Business
Arrow Electronics has reported net income of $7m on sales of $2,5 bn in the second quarter, compared with net income of $84m on sales of $3,2 bn for the prior year. Arrow also announced that it is intensifying its cost-cutting efforts and plans to cut an additional 1000 jobs, as well as close some facilities. Arrow said it will also trim other operating expenses to mitigate the continuing impact of the downturn in its components business. Although the distributor's computer products revenue declined 4% to $695 million from last year's second quarter, it strengthened toward the end of the quarter. Francis M. Scricco, President and CEO of Arrow said that the pick-up in its computer products business was largely responsible for its earnings coming in above the range Arrow estimated in late June. Worldwide components revenue decreased 26% from last year's second quarter to $1,8 bn. "Although we are seeing some hints of the early stages of recovery from the depths of the recession in our mid-range computer businesses, we do not yet see similar signs in the components sector," stated Scricco. "Our components businesses are continuing to experience sequentially declining sales as electronic equipment OEMs and contract manufacturers, particularly in the communications and networking segments, are still ordering at greatly reduced rates in order to work off their own inventories of components and finished products."
International Rectifier (IR) has announced a 33% sequential decline in sales to $185,1m in the company's fourth quarter, ended 30 June, compared to $276m in the prior quarter. The company recorded a net loss of $48,8m in the quarter, including restructuring charges, compared to a net income of $47,9m in the third quarter. IR said it expects revenues to drop another 5-to-10% in the current quarter, which it believes will be the trough in the current downturn. However, IR said it was restructuring its operations, which includes a 10% workforce reduction, as it prepares for a further revenue drop in the current fiscal quarter.
Corning posted a $4,8 bn loss for the second-quarter. Excluding one-time merger- related charges and a writedown of obsolete inventory, the company said its results beat Wall Street's lowered forecasts. Last year's second quarter showed profits of $149m. Corning is one of a number of technology companies which has been affected by the current slump in the telecoms industry.
Zilog has reported net sales of $44m for the second quarter of 2001, versus $61,1m in net sales during the second quarter of 2000 and $44,3m in the first quarter of 2001. Overall, Zilog reported an operating loss of $19,7m during the second quarter of 2001, compared to a $600 000 operating income reported during last year's second quarter. According to Jim Thorburn, Acting Chief Executive, with Zilog's sales essentially flat from Q1 to Q2 of this year, its sequential revenue performance was doing well in relation to the rest of the industry.
At RF Micro Devices' annual meeting of shareholders, President and CEO David Norbury discussed the company's record results for 2001: "Fiscal 2001 was a year of significant financial and strategic achievements. In addition to posting record revenues of $335,4m, we improved upon our leading position in the industry by carrying out aggressive module design and manufacturing initiatives. Increasingly, major cellphone manufacturers are requiring these highly integrated, multichip modules." He said that module revenues grew rapidly from 1% of total sales in the first quarter of fiscal 2001 to 32% of total sales in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2001. RFMD believes module revenues will continue to increase and will account for approximately 50% of total revenues in the current quarter.
LSI Logic reported second quarter revenues of $465m, a 10% decrease from the $517m reported in the first quarter, and 28% lower than the $644m recorded in the quarter a year ago. Second quarter 2001 net loss was $20,9m. Wilf Corrigan, Chairman and CEO said that the second quarter financial results reflected the continuation of the widespread inventory correction in the supply chain and weakened end-demand in global communications and storage markets. LSI Logic expects its business to bottom in the third quarter and anticipates revenue growth in the fourth quarter.
Actel announced revenues of $36,5m for its second quarter 2001, down 34% from second quarter of 2000 and 19% from the first quarter of 2001. It said pro-forma net income was $1,1m for the second quarter of 2001, down 90% from the second quarter of 2000 and 83% sequentially. Including acquisition-related costs Actel reported a loss of $2,6m, compared with net income of $20,1m for second quarter 2000.
Texas Instruments reported second quarter net loss ended 30 June and warned its results would deteriorate in the third quarter. For the quarter it posted a net loss of $197m, compared to a profit of $1,3 bn, a year earlier. Excluding one-time charges for restructuring and other items, the company said it earned $50m, compared with $543m a year ago. Revenue fell 31% to $2,04 bn from $2,93 bn.
Companies
Vishay Intertechnology has announced an agreement to acquire General Semiconductor for $538,9m in stock and the assumption of $229,4m in debt. The acquisition is aimed at greatly extending Vishay's portfolio in discrete semiconductors. Vishay said that the two companies have complementary product lines.
Alcatel's Optronics Division has announced it will acquire Kymata of Scotland for stock worth $117,9m. Kymata is a supplier of optical components for dense wavelength division multiplexing (DWDM) transmission applications. Kymata claims it is the first company to produce commercially available devices using planar processes.
STMicroelectronics has completed the acquisition of technologies and products for fingerprint biometric security systems from Veridicom. ST intends to enhance its TouchChip product series by combining fingerprint biometrics with PC smartcard readers.
Microchip Technology has formed a new division which it says offers more than 250 high-performance mixed-signal, power management, thermal management and interface solutions for embedded systems applications. The Analog & Interface Products Division results from the integration of TelCom Semiconductor which the company acquired in January 2001, with Microchip's own standalone analog and interface products. The division is chartered with designing, developing and launching new product offerings to target high-growth markets, such as automotive, portable/battery-powered and networking.
Motorola has signed a major deal with BMW to develop and deliver a global, cross-car line telematics solution for cars in Europe, USA and Japan. Motorola expects the overall award to be several hundred million dollars, making this a strategically important relationship. In developing telematics systems, Motorola combines its technology expertise in embedded automobile electronics, wireless communications systems and GPS location technology.
Clare has announced a development partnership with Analog Devices to create high-voltage IC technology for fibre-optic networks using integrated microelectromechanical systems (iMEMS). The new technology will use Clare's proprietary silicon-on-insulator (SOI) high-voltage IC technology and integrate high-voltage circuits with CMOS logic and microelectromechanical structures.
Intergraph has announced that it has filed another patent infringement suit against Intel. It charges that Intel's 64 bit Itanium processor technology infringes upon Intergraph's RISC-based MPU patents which relate to key aspects of parallel instruction computing (PIC). Intergraph said it originally used this technology in its C5 Clipper microprocessor line.
A consortium of Chinese companies have formed the Bluetooth Technology Commission to accelerate the use of the new technology wireless interface in computing, telecom and home appliance products in China.
Samsung Electronics and Sony have announced plans to jointly promote Memory Stick-compatible products for digital audio, camcorders, mobile phones, PCs, TVs, and other consumer products. Sony in Japan will adopt Samsung's Memory Stick products in system applications, and Samsung intends to equip its PC products with built-in slots for Memory Sticks. Samsung will introduce Memory Stick adapters in notebooks and PCs, and these will also support Samsung's existing Smartmedia cards, used in MP3 players, cameras and printers.
Industry
Worldwide sales of semiconductors were $11,60 bn in June, a decrease of 30,7% from $16,74 bn a year ago, said the Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA) in its August report. Month-to-month, June sales were 8,8% below the May 2001 level of $12,71 bn. States George Scalise, SIA President: "The lower sales are caused by the slower economic activity in the world's major economies combined with excess inventory in the IT market. This is reflected in every geographic region and product sector." Compared to June 2000, June sales in the European market were lower by 26,8%, the Americas market was down 45,1%, and Asia Pacific was down 25,3%. In Japan, sales declined 20,0%. The SIA said that from the semiconductor industry's beginning in the 1950s, it has been characterised by a four-year cycle, sporadically modified by unexpected economic factors. The industry has grown at a compound annual growth rate of 17% over the past 40 years.
The first three positions in the worldwide 'top 10' semiconductor supplier rankings remained unchanged in the first half of 2001 compared to 2000, according to IC Insights. There was, however, significant movement in the remainder of the rankings, it said. STMicroelectronics gained three positions from 7th to 4th; Mitsubishi penetrated the top 10 list by jumping three spots; Samsung and Motorola each fell two positions; and Micron Technology dropped out of the top 10 ranking. Notably, STMicroelectronics gained three spots by displaying only a 2% decline in first-half 2001 semiconductor sales, the least of any of the top 10 suppliers. ST ranked 8th in worldwide semiconductor sales as recently as 1999. Mitsubishi gained entry into the top 10 primarily due to other companies faltering. For example, Micron and Hynix each witnessed over 40% drop in sales, and Philips (ranked 12th in 2000) posted semiconductor sales of only $2,30 bn in the first half of 2001, just under Mitsubishi's $2,38 bn. In total, sales of the top 10 semiconductor producers dropped 16% in the first half of 2001 compared to the first half of 2000 said IC Insights. After registering two very steep quarterly declines in the first half of this year, IC Insights expects sequential quarterly growth to return in the third and fourth quarters of 2001, and forecasts that worldwide semiconductor industry growth will return in 2002 with an increase of 14% or higher.
The worldwide PC market has declined for the first time ever, says IDC. The market was stagnant in the second quarter of 2001 with shipments declining by 2%, it reports. According to IDC research, shipments of 29,8 million were down 7,2% sequentially as growth from Asian markets evaporated amid a continuing US market slump. IDC said the Japanese market also gave in to worsening economic conditions, with shipment growth in the second quarter of 2001 essentially flat, as consumers and businesses postponed or cancelled purchases. Other Asian markets were also affected by economic and currency issues.
Hewlett-Packard has again lowered sales forecasts and announced a further 6000 job cuts, more than 6% of its work force. Earlier this year the company announced 4700 cuts. HP Chairwoman, President and CEO, Carly Fiorina, said she now expects revenues in the third quarter, which ends 31 July, to decline 14% to 16% from the same time last year.
In light of continued weakness in the technology sector worldwide, Infineon Technologies announced a 'comprehensive package of measures' to further reduce costs. It said the package is aimed at streamlining processes such as procurement, logistics, information technology, and manufacturing in the company's various business units. In addition, Infineon is planning to introduce short-time work and reduce the size of its workforce worldwide by roughly 5000 jobs. The overall program has been code-named 'Impact' and is expected to save roughly Euro 1 bn over the next 12 to 18 months.
Lucent Technologies has posted a substantial $3,25 bn third-quarter loss and announced plans to eliminate 15 000 to 20 000 more jobs. The company also unveiled an agreement to sell its fibre-optics operations for $2,75 bn.
Qualcomm has scrapped its plans to spin off its semiconductor business, and announced that current Chief Operating Officer Richard Sulpizio is being replaced by COO Anthony Thornley, who will retain his duties as Chief Financial Officer. Sulpizio will remain on Qualcomm's board of directors.
Sony posted a large loss for the latest quarter due to a slump in its electronics, videogame and movie businesses. Stagnant worldwide demand, rising inventories and falling prices would not be good for its business for the rest of this year, it said.
Marconi has been selected to create one of the fastest and most efficient long-haul networks in Australia. The communications specialist will provide a high-speed optical fibre network link between the country's west and east coasts. Marconi will provide IP1, a subsidiary of Amcom Telecommunications, with its SmartPhotoniX Dense Wavelength Division Multiplexing (DWDM) optical networking equipment for the 3875km link between Melbourne, Adelaide and Perth.
Shipments of Bluetooth-enabled products will jump from 4,2 million units in 2001, to 1,01 billion units by 2006, according to market research firm Frost & Sullivan. Total revenues of Bluetooth-based products will grow from $1,8 bn in 2001, to $330 bn by 2006, it reports. However, progress of Bluetooth technology has been slowed over issues such as device interoperability, interference from other radio technologies, and security of the technology.
The ITU has announced that it has approved its work on defining the requirements for the fourth version of the Intelligent Network Capability Set (known as IN CS-4). The IN CS-4-based requirements are defined in nine new standards of the Q.1240-series. The new IN CS-4 set enables a variety of existing ITU-T defined basic and supplementary services to now be provided to Voice over IP customers with the flexibility needed to add new services that may become available in future. This built-in flexibility makes it possible for service providers to quickly respond to changes in the marketplace. The standardisation of intelligent network (IN) will also give service providers the freedom to offer services that are independent of switch vendor software and hardware.
With true on/off switching, RF microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) hold considerable market promise, according to In-Stat Group. The high-tech market research firm projects that if developmental issues can be overcome and appropriate pricing levels are reached, revenues for RF MEMS switches and relays will grow from just over $1m in 2001, to nearly $350m by 2006. It believes there are a number of applications in which RF MEMS is the ideal answer to a specific need. RF MEMS will have the greatest impact on the cell phone segment, where the technology will enable the design of next generation products that are much more functional with increased energy efficiency.
STMicroelectronics has announced that it has received orders for 170 000 receiver chipsets from electronics manufacturers who are planning products for the new US digital radio service, to be launched by XM Satellite Radio soon.
Technology
Infineon Technologies has revealed a low-power 128-megabit DRAM for mobile system applications, that is housed in a new industry-standard memory package called a fine-pitch ball-grid array (FBGA). Compared to existing thin small-outline packages (TSOPs), the new FBGA reduces board space requirements by a factor of three, occupying an 8 x 9 mm area, it says. The DRAM runs on a reduced operating voltage of 2,5 V and an I/O voltage of 1,8 to 2,5 V.
Oki Semiconductor has launched a complete Bluetooth systems solution, including a module with chip set, Bluetooth protocol-stack software, an antenna and connector for products connecting to the short-range wireless link. The company is using advanced multi-chip packaging technology to reduce the module size. The Bluetooth module is 18 x 38 mm.
Micrel's new MIC860 consumes only 81 µW. Operating on 2,7 V the 4 MHz rail-to-rail op-amp's 30 µA supply current compares with the 200 µA consumed by industry-standard devices of similar capability, according to the company. It is packaged in SC70-5, about half the size of the SOT23-5.
Infineon Technologies' new eight-channel chipset for high-density Ethernet or digital subscriber line multiplexers (DSLAM) applications is based on the company's proprietary 10Base-S technology, which extends Ethernet networks over existing copper-wire infrastructure. The chip set is targeted at multitenant unit/multidwelling unit (MTU/MDU) applications, such as Ethernet switches and DSLAM line cards, said Infineon. The 10Base-S technology has been developed as an Ethernet over VDSL quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM) solution.
Web-based engineering service provider Aprisa ( www.theCubicle.com) has announced v3.1 of CircuitNet, an on-line research and design environment that can help hardware engineers shorten the discovery phase of product development. Among other enhancements, it has also increased the on-line component database to over 1,3 million orderable part numbers.
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