News
WEST CHICAGO, IL - M-Wave Inc. has acquired the assets of Jayco Ventures Inc. for approximately $1.4 million, the company said today.
M-Wave brokers printed circuit boards and components.
M-Wave, which released its fourth-quarter results last week, upped its 2005 guidance to $34.6 million, nearly double 2004's sales. M-Wave projects revenues of $15.3 million from JVI.
M-Wave will also split into two operating units, with its PCB unit becoming M-Wave Electro-Mechanical Group. Bob Duke, VP of sales and marketing, was named divisional president.
The other unit, M-Wave Digital Broadband Services, will manage JVI's assets, and will do business as JVI Technologies. JVI founder Jason Cohen was named the subdiary's president.
M-Wave expects revenue for its fourth-quarter ended Dec. 31, of $3.89 million, up 17% over the fourth quarter of 2003. Gross margin is expected to be 21%, up from 8%.
The annual revenue of $17.5 million for fiscal 2004 is up 23% increase from 2003. The net loss improved to $2.24 million, from $12.1 million last year. The 2004 results include a one-time charge of approximately $1.9 million.
The loss from operations was $1.2 million, versus $13 million in fiscal 2003. Gross margins improved to 18%, from a loss of 12%.
SAN FRANCISCO -
Despite a modest improvement over January, CIO spending expectations are
dropping from last year, according to the latest poll of the nation's tech leaders.
For the third straight month,
large enterprises reduced spending expectations to 2% growth for the year.
Deutsche Bank, in a research note today, said growth rates for most major
technology product areas will slow in 2005. DB forecasts IT spending will grow
4 to 5% this year, down one point from 2004.
Small companies - those with
less than 100 employees - see higher IT spending. CIOs at these firms predict 8.7%
growth this year. The largest companies (more than 5000 workers) are the most
cautious, forecasting 2.2% growth.
Security is the top priority, with storage a close second.
What is not confusing, however, is deSouza's approach to running the placement equipment maker. As senior vice president of operations he had been on the executive team for years and played a large role in formulating the company's strategy, first for recovery from the recession and now for a new industry growth phase.
An avid amateur pilot - he says his first solo came when he was "11 or 12" - deSouza spoke with Circuits Assembly's editor-in-chief Mike Buetow on Asia's maturity, the need for tighter development windows and the pros of decentralization. Excerpts.
LAGUNA, PHILIPPINES - Electronics
manufacturing services provider IMI has
achieved registration to the ISO/TS 16949:2002 quality standard, the highest
international quality standard for the automotive industry. The company said it
will increase its pursuit of automotive business.
In a press release, president and CEO Arthur R. Tan said, "Our ISO/TS
16949 certification ... improves our competitiveness in the automotive electronics
market segment, which is anticipated by analysts to offer tremendous outsourcing
opportunities in the coming years."
"The road has been paved for our increased presence in the automotive
market and expanded business with our existing automotive electronics OEM
customers."
IMI was certified in 2000 to QS 9000, the American automotive industry's
quality standard.
ISO/TS
16949 is an international quality management system certification that
harmonizes existing American, German, French, and Italian automotive standards
into a single standard, eliminating the need for multiple certifications. It
was developed by the International Automotive Task Force, which represents
major automotive manufacturers in the world, in collaboration with the
International Standards Organization.
ST. LOUIS -- Viasystems Group, once the largest PCB maker in North America, will shutter its remaining circuit board plants outside Asia while adding even more capacity in China.
The company will spend $60 million toward expanding its China operations. These funds will primarily be used to further expand its Chinese PCB production capabilities and enhance its technological capabilities.
FRAMINGHAM, MA - Worldwide factory sales of servers grew 5.1% to $14.4 billion in the fourth quarter, the seventh consecutive quarter of growth, according to research firm IDC.
Unit shipments slowed 15.7% year-on-year, IDC said.
For the year, worldwide server revenue grew 6.2% to $49 billion, while worldwide unit shipments grew 19.3% to 6.3 million units.
Meanwhile, a competing research firm, Gartner Group, pegged server growth at 7.2%, at $49.5 billion in 2004.
IBM led the overall server market in 2004 with 33.3 percent revenue share, followed by HP with 26.6 percent share, said IDC. Sun, Dell and Fujitsu/Fujitsu-Siemens round out the top five.
For the quarter, sales of volume servers (servers priced less than $25,000) rose, IDC said, the only segment to do so. Midrange and high-end enterprise servers fell, reflecting lower unit shipments and pricing pressures.
The volume servers lead in both revenue and unit shipment growth, demonstrating the impact these systems are having on the worldwide server marketplace.
Unix server unit shipments grew, with IBM retaking the lead worldwide, with a 36.3%. HP is no. 2 (27.6%), followed by Sun (25.3%). Linux server revenue grew 35.6% year-on-year, while unit shipments were up 29.1%.
BINGHAMTON, NY - Universal Instruments' SMT Laboratory has committed over $10 million in research grants and stipends, as well as mentoring research projects and providing access to equipment and facilities.
The investment has accrued over 14 years, during which the SMT Lab has supported leading-edge research into second-level packaging and sponsored the activities of the Area Array Consortium.
The AAC has historically consisted of up to 32 large member companies which support the lab's research.
"This success does not just happen." said Bill Jackson, director of corporate quality, in a statement, "It is the result of people working together to improve the effectiveness of our processes and systems to increase our ability to fulfill customers requirements."
SANTA CLARA, CA - Sierra Proto Express next week will roll out what it calls the "first true lead-free PCBs guaranteed not to fail in process or use."
The maker of quickturn prototype PCBs will put discuss its methods next week at the Printed Circuit Board Design Conference West, in Santa Clara.
In the seminar, the company says
it will cover compliance with Europe's RoHS
initiative for electronics products, and fabrication
of high reliability PCBs
intended for extreme environments and life-sensitive applications. The boards,
Sierra Proto says, can withstand up to 2000 cycles of -45˚ to 145˚C.
The seminar will review the needs
associated with lead-free printed circuits and discuss materials suitable for
meeting the lead-free directives. The seminar also provides a new solution for boards
for space, aeronautical, military, transportation, medical, and oil exploration
applications.
The seminars will take place
during PCB Design Conference West in the exhibits area each day of the show.
To register: call 800-763-7503 x500, or email frankd@protoexpress.com.
NORWALK, CT - Waste from electronics equipment that has reached the end of its useful life - already valued at 6% of the U.S. GDP alone - will open a new door for companies that recycle or remanufacture such goods, a new study says.
According to a soon-to-be-released report from Business Communications Co., the worldwide market for electronic waste will rise at an average annual growth rate of 8.8%, from $7.2 billion in 2004 to $11 billion in 2009.
Electronics equipment that is ready for disposal is generally considered toxic when disassembled or incinerated and is typically targeted for hazardous disposal or slated for recovery and reuse.
The market for post-consumer recycled materials from electronics will be
strong over the next five years. The largest driver of growth will be the
regulatory-driven onus on OEMs to manage hazardous waste materials from
cradle-to-grave. This lifecycle begins with designing for the environment and
in certain regions of the world now requires OEMS to finance all recovery costs
of electronics products and their constituent materials. The need to rapidly
curb toxins in the waste stream is apparent as electronic waste grows at three
times the rate of other waste in the municipal solid waste stream.
E-waste has been mounting rapidly with the rise of the information society. It
is the fastest growing segment of the municipal solid waste stream. E-waste
equals 1% of solid waste on average in developed countries and is expected to
grow to 2% by 2010. In developing countries, E-waste as a percentage of solid
waste can range from 0.01% to 1%. However, led by China, developing countries will be
the fastest growing segment of the E-waste market with the potential to triple
output over the next five years. Electric and electronics equipment equals 6%
of the U.S.
gross domestic product, up from 5% 10 years ago. Yet that growth is easily
eclipsed by that of China's
where the gross domestic product is growing in excess of 8% a year - versus 3%
for the U.S.
At the same time, the rate of obsolescence of electronic equipment is rising.
globally, computer sales continue to grow at 10% plus rates annually. Sales of
DVD players are doubling year over year. Yet the lifecycle of these products
are shortening, shrinking to 10 years for a television set to two or three
years for a computer.
Manufacturers and governments have not kept pace with electronic waste policy and practice. As a result, a high percentage of electronics are ending up in the waste stream.
BOSTON -- On May 4 Charles R. McClinton, technology manager for the Hyper-X Program at NASA's Langley Research Center will talk on breaking the hypersonic barrier.
The Nepcon East/Electro and Assembly East events take place May 4 and 5 at the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center.
Last November, NASA's X-43 research vehicle made aviation
history with the second successful flight of a scramjet-powered airplane at
hypersonic speeds, which are speeds of nearly Mach 10 -ten times the speed of
sound. Compared to a rocket-powered vehicle like the Space Shuttle, scramjet
(supersonic combustion ramjet) powered vehicles promise more airplane-like
operations for increased affordability, flexibility and safety for ultra
high-speed flights within the atmosphere and into Earth orbit. Because they do
not have to carry their own oxidizer, as rockets must, vehicles powered by
air-breathing scramjets can be smaller and lighter - or be the same size and
carry more payload. Over the past four years, McClinton has been instrumental
in various planning capacities for hypersonic air breathing technology
development programs.
McClinton has been technology manager for the Hyper-X program since 1996. Prior
to that, he formed and led the Numerical Applications Office, of the National
Aero-Space Plane Office, to provide flow field details using the
state-of-the-art Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) methods.
BRUSSELS - HP is applying for an exemption from the Restriction of Hazardous Substances Directive on the grounds of reliability, according to a news report last week.
The exemption HP seeks is for fine-pitch components "with electrical terminations spaced with centers 0.65mm or less apart."
Tin whiskers,
which are known to cause shorts, are behind HP's request, a company
spokesman told Electronics Weekly.
HP is pushing for a composition that includes 15% lead mixed with tin.
Tin whiskers was also behind Sony's application for an exemption. Sony seeks inclusion of five to 10% lead in the electroplated tin coating that goes on flexible circuits that are used as plug-in connectors between PCBs.
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