News
Electronics manufacturing services (EMS) provider Flextronics (Singapore) has signed an agreement with Nortel Networks (Brampton, Ontario, Canada) whereby Nortel will divest certain optical, wireless and enterprise manufacturing operations and optical design operations to Flextronics.
Subject to closing the four-year manufacturing agreement, Flextronics will assume most of Nortel Networks' systems integration activities, final assembly, testing and repair operations, along with the management of the related supply chain and suppliers. Over time, Flextronics expects to consolidate and internally source its vertically integrated supply chain solutions, which include the fabrication and assembly of printed circuit boards and enclosures, as well as logistics and repair services.
Through an optical design services agreement, Flextronics will acquire a group of engineers with expertise in end-to-end, carrier grade optical network products. The design and engineering skills to be transferred to Flextronics include hardware development, software development and project management.
"Flextronics will be acquiring a design group with broad experience in telecommunications and optical networks, with extensive knowledge of optical products and processes," said Michael Marks, chief executive officer of Flextronics. "There are no independent design companies in the world that have this degree of design expertise, so we are thrilled to have expanded the scope of our engagement with Nortel Networks to include these services...We believe hardware design, software design and manufacturing are converging, which makes the addition of the Nortel Networks design group an excellent fit with our long-term strategy."
Mike McNamara, chief operating officer of Flextronics, said, "The significant increase in complex, multi-technology telecom and network solutions, including carrier grade products, further diversifies our product mix and reduces seasonality. The expertise acquired from the Nortel Networks' operations will enhance the capabilities in our Industrial Parks in China, Poland, Mexico and Brazil."
As part of the transaction, approximately 2,500 employees would transfer to Flextronics. The business transfer to Flextronics is expected to begin in November 2004 and will take approximately six months to complete. During this time, Flextronics' revenues from Nortel will increase each quarter and should reach an annual revenue rate of approximately $2.5 billion.
Copyright 2004, UP Media Group. All rights reserved.
Sanmina-SCI Corp. (San Jose, CA), an electronics manufacturing services (EMS) company, and Teradiant Networks (San Jose, CA), a developer of networking semiconductors, have announced an alliance to accelerate the development of a family of application platforms based on the Advanced Telecom Computing Architecture (ATCA) standard.
The platforms' architecture makes it possible for network equipment companies to build systems that scale easily from 20 to 120 Gbps. The platforms are architected around the first ATCA-based traffic management and switching (TMS) card, providing functional integration while reducing power. With industry-standard hardware and a suite of pre-integrated, pre-validate application programming interfaces (APIs), original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) can minimize development time and cost. The API suite also enables OEMs to build proprietary applications that ensure differentiation in their product offerings.
With the rollout of scalable platforms in late 2004, Sanmina-SCI and Teradiant will catch the growing wave of interest in ATCA. According to Crystal Cube Consulting, demand for ATCA is expected to produce up to $20 billion per year in networking system sales by the year 2007. ATCA provides a common set of physical and electrical interfaces for telecom and networking equipment, and ATCA-based systems are designed for ease of component reuse and ease of product differentiation.
Copyright 2004, UP Media Group. All rights reserved.
Agilent Technologies Inc. (Palo Alto, CA) has introduced its Versatest series Model V5400 to deliver a low cost of test across a full spectrum of memory devices. According to the company, the model's algorithmic pattern generator (APG) and patented tester-per-site (TPS) architecture provide configuration flexibility and up to four times improvement over existing systems in throughput for wafer sort and final memory testing.
Compatible with Agilent's model V4400, the newer version overcomes the challenge of testing standard and stacked memory modules such as flash, DRAM and SRAM while offering up to 4,608 channels and 144 independent test sites. The increased performance and lower system costs helps reduce the overall cost of test for semiconductor contract manufacturers, fabless design houses and memory integrated device manufacturers.
The growing consumer demand for digital devices with added functionality and smaller footprints at lower prices has given rise to new test challenges. The devices require higher frequency test systems and the flexibility to test multiple types of memory such as flash and DRAM concurrently, while continuing to require a lower cost of test. Agilent's single, scalable platform architecture will allow users to test standard memories, reduced pin-count devices, BIST-enabled devices and stacked memories.
Agilent's TPS architecture makes it possible for each device under test (DUT) to receive its own set of tester resources. The APG on the test site module has the ability to maximize tester resources based on the needs of the DUT. Dynamic APG can independently test up to four low-pin-count DUTs per site module. For complex tests or high pin count devices, APG can reallocate all site module resources toward testing a single DUT. Configurable solely through software, the APG enables the model to test devices without a change in tester hardware.
Copyright 2004, UP Media Group. All rights reserved.
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