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News

FRAMINGHAM, MA – Fourth quarter sales of servers fell 0.2% year-over-year to $14.5 billion, the first such drop since the first quarter of 2003, IDC said this week.

Worldwide unit shipment growth slowed to 10.6%. Volume systems grew 7.3% year-on-year

Revenue for midrange enterprise servers dropped 11.5% versus last year and high-end servers fell 1.7%.

"The volume server market continues to evolve as richer server configurations driven by both scale-out cluster implementations and scale-up server virtualization initiatives continue to drive increased customer spending," said Matthew Eastwood, program vice president of IDC's Worldwide Server Group. "However, even in the volume segment, the quarterly unit shipment growth of 11.5% was two-thirds the year-over-year unit growth rate observed in 4Q04, illustrating a transition toward more richly configured systems in the market."

IBM retained the top spot, with 38.4% share in factory revenue on a 0.8% rise in sales over a year ago. HP was next with a 26.8% share, with sales up 3.8%, followed by Dell (9.6% share, 7.3% revenue growth), Sun (8.2% share on a sales drop of 10.9%) and Fujitsu/Fujitsu-Siemens (4.3% share, on a 10.9% revenue decline).

HP was tops in shipments, with a 30.2% share, growing shipments 8.8% year over year. Dell, with a 23.3% share, up from 21.3%., was second.

LOUISVILLE -- Sypris Solutions today reported sales rose 9% year-on-year to $132.1 million for its fourth quarter. The net loss was $300,000, up from a loss of $800,000 a year ago.

For the year, Sypris reported revenue rose 23% to a record $522.8 million compared to $425.4 million for the prior year. Net income for the year was $5.3 million, down from compared to $8.3 million.

CAYMAN ISLANDS -- Solectron Corp.'s financial arm has sold $150 million worth of 8% notes.

The transaction was conducted by Solectron Global Finance Ltd., an indirect, wholly-owned subsidiary of Solectron based in the Cayman Islands.

The notes will mature March 15, 2016. Solectron did not immediately disclose what the capital would be used for.

NASHVILLE – Calling it “surprising,” Kyzen Corp. on Wednesday rejected an unsolicited yet public bid for the maker of cleaning products by Zestron Corp.

Earlier today, Zestron had announced its interest in purchasing Kyzen, reportedly offering a premium to shareholders of the Nashville-based cleaning products provider.

In a statement issued Wednesday evening Kyzen chief executive and president Kyle J. Doyel said the firm “has not solicited, nor has it directed management to solicit, offers from any party or have discussions regarding a potential sale.”

GARDEN GROVE, CA -- OK International, a maker of soldering and desoldering tools, has named Tom Seratti vice president of global sales and marketing.

Seratti has spent 25 years in electronics manufacturing. He previously ran Marshall Industries/Avnet Production Supply and Test, and was co-owner of SPI Westek, a manufacturer of ESD control products in Anaheim, CA.

ENDICOTT, NY – Endicott Interconnect and VisiLED have entered a development and manufacturing agreement for medical devices. EI’s Precision Equipment Manufacturing team will provide contract manufacturing services, including prototype fabrication, product development, manufacture and test of LED lights. The first devices produced by EI directly replace existing overhead operating room lights and will be available for sale in the second quarter of the year.

VisiLED develops LED-based lighting systems for use in surgical suites, medical and dental exam rooms. These devices replace current halogen and xenon bulb technology with smaller, LED light sources which reduce power consumption, heat generation and device weight, while providing greater light intensity and improved light color. Other products under development include an endoscope light, used for examination and photography within the human body, and a device for illuminating deep cavities during surgery.

New York – The introduction of Microsoft's Vista in the second half of the year will drive PC demand as users upgrade to higher performing PCs to maximize the benefits of the improved OS, according to Deutsche Bank analysts.

Users may migrate to systems with dual-core processors, 1GB+ RAM and enhanced GPUs, particularly mobile users and those who favor video editing or high-end gaming. DB believes Vista will spur a positive mix-shift across the PC industry, reversing the recent shift towards low-end desktops and notebooks.

ATLANTA– Jabil Circuit, the Georgia Institute of Technology, GTC, Universal Instruments and Vitronics Soltec recently completed a pilot test to demonstrate the speed and viability of CAMX software for electronics manufacturers. CAMX aims to quickly and effectively gather, compile and communicate data essential for manufacturers as they seek to address regulatory requirements and control costs.

The pilot took place at Jabil’s Billerica, MA, manufacturing facility in October 2005. The test team installed software and configured vital equipment in minutes. A number of CAMX events identified by Jabil for the pilot were collected and displayed throughout Jabil’s global enterprise using real-time, Web-based applications.

Since CAMX is based upon international standards, the time spent on configuring systems was minimal. The test also showed that critical machine and manufacturing data were exchanged accurately and efficiently.

Jim Jacobson, director of software product development for Universal, said, "The test proved that CAMX will enable more of our customers to easily monitor and collect machine performance data."

As demonstrated by the pilot test, CAMX can simplify and improve the speed of communications, while providing a non-proprietary standard platform for message exchange for manufacturers.

OTTAWA, CANADA -- Fabrinet, a top manufacturer of optical components, will acquire the Ottawa operations of JDS Uniphase Corp., the companies said.

The deal covers JDS' manufacturing operations in Ottawa, and is expected to be completed by April 1.

ONTARIO, CA -- J.R. Controls has acquired Cosmotronic Inc., a maker of mil spec rigid and rigid-flex printed circuit boards and assemblies.

The Cosmotronic management team has been retained and will report to Bill Kennard, president and general manager of the Winonics Printed Circuit Board group, a wholly owned subsidiary of J.R.Controls.

MINNEAPOLIS -- Abstracts for the SMTA International 2006 conference are due this week. Proposals for short course are also being solicited. The deadline is Feb. 24.

Notifications of acceptance will be made April 14.

To submit a abstract online go to www.smta.org/smtai/call_for_papers.cfm. Papers should describe significant results from experiments, emphasize new techniques, and contain technical, economic or appropriate test data. Material should be original, unpublished and noncommercial in nature.

NORTH BILLERICA, MA -- Oven maker BTU International Inc. today reported net sales of $19.3 million, up 4% sequentially and 41% over a year ago, and net income of $2.1 million, up 31% vs. the third quarter and 2000% over the fourth quarter 2004, for its fourth quarter ended Dec. 31.