Electronic Business articles from April 2005

Electronic Business archives from April 2005

The third way: sign up for a new digital edition of Electronic Business.(Editor's Note)
April 1, 2005... ELECTRONIC BUSINESS has been around for 30 years now, quite a long time as technology magazines go. Since its inception, the magazine has chronicled a staggering number of changes in the electronics industry, from the creation and maturation of...

The ouch from outsourcing.(Letter to the Editor)
April 1, 2005... Thank you for featuring very interesting articles on outsourcing. I continue to have grave concerns about the loss of manufacturing technology and manufacturing know-how from the American scene. I can't think of any consumer electronics...

Cheating death.(Letter to the Editor)
April 1, 2005... In her article "The End Is Near" (February 2005, page 33), Barbara Jorgensen points out that when a component nears its end of life (EOL), OEMs have a choice of either doing a last-time buy, having a distributor buy the part or redesigning...

Different kind of infrastructure.(Letter to the Editor)
April 1, 2005... In the article "Chinese Telecom Companies Come Calling," February 2005, page 38, we quoted Mark Natkin, managing director of Marbridge Consulting, as saying, "Nokia will have 40 percent of its worldwide handset R&D based in Beijing, and it is...

Let there be light: is it time to rethink the simple lightbulb?(VENTURE PULSE)
April 1, 2005... One of the simmering challenges in the consumer electronics market is something dating back to the beginning of modern technology: the lightbulb. In fact, some of the technologies used today in the most-advanced flat-panel large-screen...

Correcting course or sailing in circles? Sun strives to find a direction in a changing world.(Sun Microsystems Inc.)
April 1, 2005... Sun Microsystems is on the verge of becoming the Rodney Dangerfield of systems companies. Although Sun shows signs of turning the corner financially, it doesn't get much respect. The problem is not technology. Sun still gets good reviews...

The Russians are coming: can the other (former) Communists follow in China's footsteps?(Russia may become dominant player in world economy after joining WTO)
April 1, 2005... Don't head for the bomb shelter. It's not those Russians. It's the new ones who are joining the World Trade Organization in about a year, after long negotiations. They hope to repeat the success of the Mexicans and the Chinese in transitioning...

Building a better CFO: how finance executives at high-tech companies can adapt to slower growth.(chief financial officers)
April 1, 2005... Five years ago, when the good times were booming, high-tech finance executives watched the money roll in. These days, many CFOs in the tech industry are struggling just to eke out a profit. What has changed? "During the 2000 bubble, many...

Closing loopholes in L-1 visa legislation: new guidelines enforce stricter compliance by U.S. companies.(MANAGEMENT)
April 1, 2005... If your company employs foreign nationals, you need to review the latest visa legislation coming out of Congress. It might have significant impact on your hiring practices. Visa reforms recently approved by the Bush administration represent...

A world of opportunities and challenges: a panel of CTOs discusses problems both cultural and technological.(Chief technology officers)(Panel Discussion)
April 1, 2005... In a way, it's not a bad problem to have, even though it's a daunting triumvirate of complexity. There are more electronic devices available today than ever before. Their power and performance is increasing. But at the same time, companies want...

LED market lights up: bright chips, although costly, are finding new markets.(OPTICAL TECHNOLOGY)
April 1, 2005... Light-emitting diode (LED) chip makers hope to make big inroads within the next decade into the $12 billion conventional lighting market, now served by incandescent and fluorescent bulbs. But in the meantime, they are doing very well supplying...

Beyond digital EDA: can analog computing solve the analog EDA puzzle?(Electron Design Automation)
April 1, 2005... Every few years, a new crop of companies purporting to solve the knotty problem of analog EDA emerges. Everything from recombinant IP to super-duper SPICE clones has trotted into the marketplace. Nevertheless, in terms of automation, the layout...

Made in India: can the nation excel in hardware as well as software?(Supply Chain Management)
April 1, 2005... Is India the next stop in the electronics manufacturing supply chain? Not in the near term, industry watchers say. Although the words India and outsourcing have been linked for a while, they're largely used in conjunction with the terms...

Where will startups come from? An industry veteran says to look for spin-offs rather than startups.(Capital Equipment)(Jerauld "Jerry" Cutini)(Interview)
April 1, 2005... When we talk about critical sues facing the semiconductor industry--such as the increasing development costs for each technology node--it's not always apparent that the problem extends beyond foundries and chip companies. Capital equipment...

Little fish, big pond: how to partner with the big boys without being eaten alive.(BEST SMALL COMPANIES)(partnering with big companies)
April 1, 2005... "Big companies aren't interested in win-win. The people in charge of negotiations are driven by what kind of deal they can make. Sometimes their terms make no business sense for small companies. It's the job of the people doing the contracts to...

Mighty morphin' MEMS: it's hard to establish a foundry business for a part that keeps changing.(MANUFACTURING)(micro-electromechanical systems)
April 1, 2005... Is the term MEMS foundry an oxymoron? Although several companies continue to try to make a viable business out of manufacturing micro-electromechanical systems (MEMS) for others, few have succeeded. That's because MEMS, bv their very nature,...

Re-aiming arrow: can CEO William Mitchell get all the employees behind his new strategy for Arrow?(DISTRIBUTORS)(Arrow Electronics Inc.)
April 1, 2005... WHEN WILLIAM MITCHELL became CEO of Arrow Electronics, in February 2003, the company was emerging from a painful period of retrenchment after losing nearly $700 million and laying off thousands of employees. Sales and earnings were improving,...