Electronic Business articles from February 2005

Electronic Business archives from February 2005

The China syndrome: the U.S. market is primed for low-cost consumer electronics "clones".(Editor's Note)(International Consumer Electronics Show)
February 1, 2005... Remember disaggregation? During the Internet craze, pundits predicted that traditional sales and distribution models would break down and that the Internet would allow a direct link between buyer and supplier. Dell, which was already attacking...

Thumbs up.(Letters)(Letter to the Editor)
February 1, 2005... Tam Harbert's profile of Analog Devices' CEO Jerry Fishman ("Street Smart," December 2004, page 40) is one of the best business profile articles I've read in a long while. It spoke clearly but not slavishly about a powerful business mogul. How...

Getting the lead out.(Letters)(Letter to the Editor)
February 1, 2005... I enjoyed Rachael King's article "Shooting at a Moving Target" (December 2004, page 50), because it really details all the hoops companies are jumping through to try to meet the requirements of the EU's lead-free law. Our company is right in...

Update.(Letters)(Correction Notice)
February 1, 2005... In the article "Processors Get Hardened" (December 2004, page 30), we identified Nancy Sumrall of Intel as the marketing chair of the Trusted Computing Group. After we went to press, Brian Berger, of Wave Systems, took over this position. ...

Oaths of office: complex regulations prompt more companies to hire compliance chiefs.(Management)
February 1, 2005... Back in the 1980s, the average number of pages in the annual Federal Register--the official publication for rules, proposed rules and notices of U.S. federal agencies and organizations--averaged around 55,000. Nowadays, the Register averages...

Microsoft doesn't double up on price: favorable licensing paves way for dual-core processors.(Technology)
February 1, 2005... Intel and AMD didn't want to debut their dual-core server processors later this year with this sales pitch: "You'll get 20 percent to 50 percent more performance than with a single-core chip in the same space and without using more power. Of...

The sounds of silence: CEOs are advised to take it slow even if quiet period rules are relaxed.(Securities and Exchange Commission; initial public offerings)
February 1, 2005... CEOs intent upon taking their companies public--or raising additional capital from public markets--may not have to bite their tongues as hard as in years past. The U.S. Securities & Exchange Commission is considering loosening restrictions on...

The sweet spot in buying: new technologies are driving corporate investment.(Economic Outlook)
February 1, 2005... If the electronics industry wants to send a belated holiday thank-you card in 2005, it should address it to corporate IT departments. U.S. businesses increased IT equipment investment 13 percent in 2004, matching the sales gain in 2000 as well...

Secure horizons: companies look to policies and standards-not just products-to secure their data.(Management)
February 1, 2005... If you want to stress the importance of something in corporate America, try treating employees to a brown bag lunch. National Semiconductor took that route to lay the groundwork for its IT security policies, particularly those pertaining to...

Standing pat.(Business Barometer)(prices of semiconductors to rise)(Illustration)
February 1, 2005... This month's polling of purchasing managers does not show much movement for the electronics industry. Roughly two-thirds of companies believe that overall business conditions and capacity utilization will remain the same for the next 30 days....

The waiting game: consumer devices may kick-start the nascent market for embedded 64-bit processors.(Semiconductors)
February 1, 2005... Advanced Micro Devices received accolades in 2003 when it introduced 64-bit computing to x86 architecture. And Intel followed suit last year, bringing even more attention to the concept of 64-bit computing, which promises the wider data streams...

Cooling chips down: startups are trying to take the heat off chip manufacturers.(Power Management)
February 1, 2005... Semiconductor makers have been struggling to find ways to cool their increasingly powerful chips. Intel's recent cancellation of a 4-gigahertz Pentium 4 processor that might have turned PCs into toaster ovens was a sign that they may be losing...

Credibility GAAP: should EDA treat acquisition as an operating expense?(Electronic Design Automation, generally accepted accounting principles)
February 1, 2005... When reporting earnings to the press, the Big 3 EDA firms (Cadence Design Systems, Synopsys and Mentor Graphics) emphasize "pro forma" accounting, which treats their corporate acquisitions as one-time expenses rather than operating expenses....

The end is near: hazardous-waste edict may accelerate component obsolescence.(Supply Chain Management; electronic components)
February 1, 2005... With Europe's restriction of hazardous substances (RoHS) less than 18 months away, components slated to exit the supply chain are getting almost as much attention as the state-of-the-art devices entering it. The industry has (arguably)...

Outsourcing continues positive growth trend.(Electronics manufacturing services)
February 1, 2005... PROVIDERS OF ELECTRONICS manufacturing and design services will enjoy double-digit growth rates this year-a trend that is expected to continue through 2010, according to supply chain consultancy Technology Forecasters Inc. (TFI). The...

No booms, no busts: 2005 may not be grim, but it won't be great.(Capital Equipment; semiconductor industry)
February 1, 2005... As 2005 began, data points were still coming in indicating that although the inventory correction may be drawing to a close, 2005 is initially shaping up to be a tough year. Many in the materials-and-equipment realm believe that the industry by...

Learning to love Centrino: to avoid a commodity market, WiFi chip makers vow to stay out of Intel's way.(Wireless)
February 1, 2005... GREG RALEIGH knows just how to attack the WiFi chip set business. The CEO of Airgo has a technical edge on his competition--a newly commercialized radio technology that helps expand the range of a wireless network eightfold and its speed as...

Electronic comic.
February 1, 2005... "We appear to have made a little billion dollar mistake. Can we have a do over?"

EDA indigestion: will the ongoing cycle of acquisition upset the Big 3 EDA firms?(Electronic design automation)(Cadence Design Systems Inc., Mentor Graphics Corp. and Synopsys Inc.)
February 1, 2005... The EDA industry is a true business anomaly. Usually, when an industry matures, it has two or three mainstay companies. In EDA, however, the constant evolution of semiconductor design has created three mainstay companies and a host of startups,...

Nanometer schmanometer: keep your eye on MEMS.(Venture Pulse)(microelectromechanical systems)
February 1, 2005... There has been a lot of industry excitement lately about the promise of nanotechnology, particularly in the fields of biotechnology and materials science (see "Small Ideas for a Big Market," November 2004, page 58). In the rush to think nano, a...