South Africa
Stellenbosch University recently bought a world-class micro CT scanner from Zetech. The GE Phoenix L-240 will be used for non-destructive three dimensional inspection and analysis of materials by the faculties of AgriSciences, Engineering, Science and Health Sciences. Stellenbosch University expects to provide a cutting edge service to its own researchers and those from other research organisations, as this world class equipment which will be unique in South Africa, will be managed in the Central Analytical Facilities (CAF) of the university which ensures access to the equipment and training on its use, for all South African researchers.
CST Electronics has been appointed as local distributor for Trimble and Digi International. Though best known for GPS technology, Trimble integrates a wide range of positioning technologies including GPS, laser, optical and inertial technologies with application software, wireless communications, and services to provide complete commercial solutions. Digi is a leader in commercial grade device networking and is an innovator of wireless machine-to-machine (M2M) device networking products.
Overseas
Business
EXFO reported record sales and bookings for its first quarter ended 30 November 2010. Total sales increased 48,5% to $67,6 million in the first quarter of fiscal 2011 from $45,6 million in the first quarter of 2010 and 3,7% from $65,2 million in the fourth quarter of 2010. GAAP net earnings in the first quarter of fiscal 2011 totalled $14,1 million, or $0,23 per diluted share. In comparison, the company generated $0,3 million, or $0,01 per diluted share, in the same period last year and $5,0 million, or $0,08 per diluted share, in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2010.
Intel has ridden an upswing in corporate technology spending to post record financial results for the last quarter of 2010 – and the company says things will only get better in 2011. Intel reported record full-year revenue of $43,6 billion, operating income of $15,9 billion and net income of $11,7 billion. The company posted revenue of $11,5 billion for the fourth quarter alone, with operating income of $4,3 billion and net income of $3,4 billion.
Companies
Altera has acquired Avalon Microelectronics, a developer of flexible optical transport network (OTN) IP, for use in its FPGA and ASIC products. With this acquisition, Altera expands its portfolio of customisable IP solutions for OTN applications, supporting data rates at 1,2G, 2,5G and 10G, as well as 40G and 100G.
SMSC and Conexant Systems announced the signing of a definitive agreement under which SMSC will purchase all of the outstanding shares of Conexant in a stock and cash transaction valued at approximately $284 million including the assumption of Conexant’s net debt. The combined company has a trailing 12 month revenue of approximately $632 million and will have an analog/mixed-signal R&D team with over 900 engineers globally.
Arrow Electronics recently completed acquisitions of both Nu Horizons Electronics and Intechra. Nu Horizons is a global distributor of semiconductor, display, illumination and power solutions to a wide variety of commercial OEMs and electronic manufacturing services providers (EMS), and was bought in an all cash transaction for $7,00 per share. The company’s total sales were $671 million for the fiscal year ended 28 February 2010. The buying price for Intechra was not disclosed. The company is an information technology asset disposition company with total sales of approximately $75 million for the most recent fiscal year.
Royal Philips Electronics has acquired Optimum Lighting, a privately owned company specialising in customised energy-efficient lighting solutions for the office, industry and retail segments. Financial details of the transaction were not disclosed.
Industry
According to the Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA), worldwide semiconductor sales in November were $26,0 billion, a decrease of 0,9% from the prior month’s total $26,2 billion. Sales increased by 14,4% from November 2009 when they were $22,7 billion. Year-to date sales through November were $271,8 billion, up 34,0% from the like period of 2009 when sales were $202,8 billion.
The landscape for low-power wireless technologies is forecast to alter dramatically over the coming years, driven by a combination of emerging application areas and new low-power RF solutions. In 2009, proprietary solutions accounted for over 85% of the low-power RF market; predominantly for application areas such as automotive devices and wireless PC peripherals. Proprietary low-power wireless IC shipments are forecast by IMS Research to increase at a CAGR of over 20% for the period 2009-2015; yet by 2015, they are projected to account for less than half of low-power RF IC shipments, as momentum grows behind key standardised solutions. According to a recent report from the market research firm, there is no single ‘killer-app’ that is the same across all low-power wireless solutions. Different technologies are being driven by a wide range of existing and emerging applications, which vary in importance across the forecast period. For example, in 2009, smart metering gateways represented over half of the market for ZigBee ICs; however, by 2015, smart meter gateways are forecast to decline in their proportion of all ZigBee-enabled devices, as ZigBee-enabled HAN and home health monitoring devices start to be shipped in higher volumes.
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