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BANNOCKBURN, IL – The Emerging/Critical Interconnection Technology program will receive $2 million in federal appropriations for 2009, up 60% year-over-year.

The E/CIT program was created in 2002 to strengthen the Department of Defense and the US PCB industry.

Operated by Naval Surface Warfare Center, Crane (IN) Division, E/CIT is designed to ensure the military has the latest technical capabilities, processes and equipment to support war-fighter requirements.

The program facilitates solutions to current military problems and evaluates leading-edge design and manufacturing technologies for future military and commercial requirements.

IPC is among the groups that has advocated for funds for the program.

SMYRNA, GA – UP Media Group Inc. seeks abstracts for PCB Design Conference East 2009, to be held Apr. 27 - May 1 in Waltham, MA.

The event at Westin Waltham Boston includes a one-day exhibition on Apr. 29.

PCB East is a five-day conference focusing on PCB design, engineering and fabrication. The conference is comprised of a three-day technical conference and a professional development certificate program of one- and two-day courses.

Papers and presentations of the following durations are sought for the technical conference: one-hour lectures and presentations, two-hour workshops, and half-day seminars.

Papers and presentations of one-day and two-day tutorials are sought for a professional development certificate program.

Suggested topics include high-speed, high-frequency and signal integrity; component placement; EMI/EMC analysis; thermal analysis; Pb-free processes (especially how they affect design and fabrication); environmental legislation (REACH, RoHS, etc.) and its effects; RF and microwave design; packaging design; mixed-signal design; area arrays; FPGA design and implementation; embedded passives and active devices; flexible circuitry; HDI design and technologies; PCB design/layout basics; component library creation and management; design for manufacture, test and assembly; design (including analog, digital and power supplies); PCB fabrication; surface finishes; industry forecasts, and business and supply chain issues.

Submit abstracts by Nov. 14 at www.pcbeast.com/speakers/abstract.shtml, or email requested information to knargitoth@upmediagroup.com.

If selected, final papers and presentations will be due in March.

Printed Circuit Design & Fab and Circuits Assembly magazines are media partners for the event.

For more information, visit www.pcbeast.com.

SEOUL -- The suitors for Daewoo Electronics include a US private equity firm and a Russian manufacturer, the company's creditors said today.

Woori Bank and Korea Asset Management, which own 97.5%of the South Korean consumer and white goods OEM, disclosed Ripplewood and Digilant Systems as finalists. The sale is expected to be completed by year-end.

ST. LOUIS – LaBarge Inc. has received an add-on contract for $7 million from Raytheon Missile Systems to continue to provide cables and electronics assemblies for the Tactical Tomahawk cruise missile.

The contract is in addition to the $9.2 million the firm announced last February.

Production at LaBarge’s Joplin, MO, and Huntsville, AK, facilities is expected to begin in November and continue through July 2010.

WOBURN, MA – From the ashes of MassTech EMS and Nexus Nano Electronics has come a new electronics manufacturing company: Newview EMS Corp.

Paul Walker, former founder and CEO of SMTC, is reportedly involved with the new company, as is Jerry Panos, the former CEO of MassTech and Neo Nano.

The new company is located at the former Nexus Electronics site on New Boston St. in Woburn, MA.

This new development marks an end to the various incarnations of Nexus Nano. Last November, Titan Global Holdings purchased the assets of Nexus Nano, including the former Nexus Electronics site in Woburn and the Nexus operations in Brandon, VT. The division was renamed Neo EMS shortly thereafter.

However, Titan quickly decided to sell the division. The Neo EMS facility in Vermont was closed Aug. 13. The company’s answering service references callers to Titan Global Holdings’s corporate headquarters in Richardson, TX.

Nexus had revenues of $12 million in the period ended June 30, 2007. Titan has not reported the group’s revenues for fiscal 2008.

NEWARK, NY – EMS provider IEC Electronics Corp. reported fourth-quarter revenue of approximately $16 million, up 40% year-over-year.

SAN JOSE – Cisco Systems named ISU Petasys Supplier of the Year for excellence across all operational areas in the supply chain: technology, quality, delivery, cost, fulfillment and responsiveness. The printed circuit board fabricator was also nominated for the award in 2007.

ISU is one of Cisco's four main PWB suppliers.

“ISU has consistently exceeded expectations by demonstrating superior responsiveness and flexibility in all areas of our partnership,” said Gina Balunas, Cisco director of global supply management, in a press release. “The result is an enhanced experience for Cisco customers and a mutually beneficial supplier and partner relationship.”

"It is very meaningful that we were recognized by Cisco, the world's leading communications equipment provider," said Sang Kim, chairman, ISU Petasys. "Our ability to cohesively manage a great collection of quality and technology, including competitiveness in performance, was proven by this award. Our goal is to become a world-class company. This award is a platform to be the number one PCB manufacturer worldwide in quality, technology and service."

TAIPEI -- Asustek Computer will postpone the planned hirings of some 1,500 workers in response to the slowing economy, according to published reports.

In today's newsletter, DigiTimes reports Asustek has instituted "a high standard to inspect its human resource demands in each department." The company, DigiTimes said, "will continue on schedule with its personnel plan for next year, so it does not really consider itself as having a hiring freeze."

Asustek is one of the world's largest PC manufacturers and its ODM revenues rank it third in the world.

VANDALIA, OH -- Manufactured Assemblies Corp., a provider of EMS and other products and services, will build a 40,000 sq. ft. office and production facility here, with the planned opening early next year.

MAC, which has operations in Dayton, OH, and suburban Atlanta, has 55 employees. The company plans to hire up to 25 more over the next three years, according to reports.

SPOKANE, WA – A.C.E. Production Technologies reported 30% growth this year on demand for its selective soldering equipment.

In a press release, president and CEO Alan Cable said a number of customers now purchase multiple inline machines, a switch from past demand for standalone systems.

A.C.E. is privately held and not not disclose sales figures or profitability.

TAIPEI -- Foxconn Electronics reported third-quarter revenues rose 37.5% sequentially to NT$431.21 billion, on heavy demand for iPhones and other consumer goods. The last month in the period, September, was the strongest, the company said.

SAN JOSE – Although set-top boxes have been around in one form or another for more than 30 years, the industry is far from settled, says iSuppli Corp. STBs should remain one of the most dynamic areas of the electronics industry for at least the next decade, and quite possibly beyond, according to the research firm.

Over the next few years, expanding box capabilities will drive much of the STB market. For millions worldwide, HD and DVRs are becoming such a part of consumer lives that by 2012 more than 70% of digital STBs shipped are expected to integrate support for one or both of these technologies, up from about 35% in 2007, says iSuppli.

“DVRs are cheap to integrate into STBs because hard disk drive costs have plummeted,” said Jordan Selburn, principal analyst for set-top boxes for iSuppli. “With the street price of storage just pennies per gigabyte and falling daily, the time is not far off when video storage hardware, whether at home or remote, will be both essentially limitless and virtually free.

“HD falls into a similar category as DVRs,” Selburn said. “HD video processing chips are migrating to 65-nm semiconductor manufacturing technologies, causing their incremental costs to drop compared to standard-definition devices. HD display prices are falling rapidly as well. iSuppli forecasts that more than 125 million of these displays will ship in 2008, and customers will demand HD content to watch on their new televisions.”

With a perfect storm of lower-cost HD technology, increasing HD content and greater high-speed Internet access, HD will become the mainstream resolution by 2012, says iSuppli. This is likely to be a one-time transition, however. While companies are beginning to develop the so-called quad definition displays with twice the resolution of HD, most consumers will never need to adopt this technology.

The STB evolution won’t stop when HD and DVRs become the norm, however. In the long term, media hubs and home gateways are destined to supplant today’s one-box-per-set approach. Not only will this lower costs, it will enhance the user experience by serving video to all displays in a home from a centralized location, says the firm.