Electronic Business articles from July 2004

Electronic Business archives from July 2004

In search of failure: Postmortems on disastrous deals would help the industry.
July 1, 2004... When my editor tapped me to write this month"s story on strategic partnerships (see "In Search of Partner for Possible Long-Term Relationship," page 58), I groaned. If I could've thought of a credible way to get out of the assignment, I would...

Into the sunset.(Letter to the Editor)
July 1, 2004... The title of Bill Roberts' editorial in the May issue should have been "Ballmer, Butthead and Bucktooth McNealy." McNealy can't be trusted--he only wants the government to help him rather than competing in the marketplace. Name withheld by...

Products tabled.(Letters)(Letter to the Editor)
July 1, 2004... I just had a chance to read Bridget Mintz Testa's article on software-defined radio (SDR) technology ("Redefining Radio with Software," June 2004, page 58) and was disappointed to see no reference to Morpho Technologies in the article,...

Losing the numbers game.(Letters)(Letter to the Editor)
July 1, 2004... The May 2004 issue contained some rather embarrassing numerical and spelling gaffes for which we'd like to apologize. We are indeed aware that Philips began its corporate life as a manufacturer of lightbulbs in 1891, rather than 1981 ("Going...

Display symposium offers lots to look at: bigger, better displays coming to our desktops and living rooms.(Chip Advisor)(Column)
July 1, 2004... I attended the Society for Information Display's annual symposium recently in Seattle, and it was a great show. SID04 was big and busy, and almost everyone seemed happy and engaged. No wonder--the display industry is fantastically profitable...

Why Johnny can't engineer.(industry and education)
July 1, 2004... When Kathy Gornik, president of Thiel Audio Products, looks for workers to manufacture Thiel's speakers, she has trouble finding high school graduates who can measure assembly pieces and calculate fractions to make sure the pieces are within...

A dose of flesh thinking for MEMS: can one startup's new business model bridge the gap?(microelectromechanical systems)
July 1, 2004... When it launched four years ago, Siwave built a lab that could produce nearly three times as many microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) as it plans to sell under its own brand. Although imaging devices and gyroscopes for digital cameras are its...

Companies with cash are spending on startups again: investment and acquisition activity is picking up.(Finance)
July 1, 2004... With the economy apparently in full recovery, electronics companies are beginning, albeit timidly, to make more-risky investments. In particular, they appear to be regaining interest in venture-backed companies, both during their startup phase...

Beating bad blood: how to get beyond the rancor and make alliances work.(Management)(software industry)
July 1, 2004... After years of enmity, Sun Microsystems and Microsoft say they want to cooperate to make their server software compatible. Easier said than done for these two battle-fatigued foes. In the increasingly complicated world of electronics, with...

Eighteen months of expansion ahead: after that, caution and sanity may win out.(Economic Outlook)
July 1, 2004... The electronics market expansion has now progressed to sustainable double-digit sales growth, evidenced by rising inventory, capacity expansion and the initial stages of increasing prices and lengthening lead times. Enjoy it--but now is also...

Terms for lead-free ID.(standards)
July 1, 2004... When the European Union's hazardous materials ban becomes law, in August 2004, the clock will start ticking toward the July 1, 2006, deadline when electronics products containing lead and other banned substances can no longer be sold in the EU....

It's alive!(Business Barometer)(Illustration)
July 1, 2004... This month's survey of purchasing managers shows that as the economy stabilizes and consumer confidence builds, the electronics sector is beginning to show some signs of life. After what was seen as a slow and gradual recovery, business...

Ultra-wideband: two roads diverged deadlocked, rivals have taken standards into their own hands.(Semiconductors)
July 1, 2004... With the steady certainty of a mantra, semiconductor industry companies today repeat the word standards as a way to promote themselves and their products. Gone are the days when companies sought a competitive advantage by building a proprietary...

Camera-phones make CMOS click: lower cost, power and size provide an advantage over CCDs.(Sensors)(complementary metal oxide semiconductors)
July 1, 2004... Makers of CMOS image sensors are being rewarded for their persistence, as camera-equipped cell phones bring new growth to a technology that thus far has struggled to win acceptance in digital still cameras. The cell phone industry, more...

EDA and AI: how automated can EDA get?(Electronic Design Automation, Artificial Intelligence)
July 1, 2004... Ten years ago, if you had asked a panel of EDA pundits whether we'd still be doing hand layout and hand tuning in 2004, they would have laughed in your face. Back then, artificial intelligence (AI) was expected not only to fully automate layout...

Reverse logistics: will Chinese component makers make it into the channel?(Supply Chain Management)
July 1, 2004... U.S. electronics companies frequently cite differences in culture as one of the main challenges they face when setting up business in China. But from the supply chain perspective, the difficulties flow both ways. Unlike their Western...

Where the costs are.(Supply Chain Management)
July 1, 2004... SUPPLY CHAIN consultancy Technology Forecasters recently analyzed more than 60 actual manufacturing case studies and discovered that labor represents only 2 percent of a project's overall cost, according to Charlie Barnhart, whose Global...

The evolving trade show: it's not about kicking tires anymore.(Semicon Europa)
July 1, 2004... Last spring's Semicon Europa trade show in Munich was notable not so much by who was there but by who wasn't: Applied Materials, the world's largest capital equipment vendor. Although it decided not to exhibit, the company partially subsidized...

For once, AMD goes its own way: how the proverbial second source went from negligible to noticeable in the x86 server market.(Profile)(Advanced Micro Devices Inc)
July 1, 2004... IT IS TEMPTING TO CHARACTERIZE the rivalry between Advanced Micro Devices and Intel as David versus Goliath, but AMD has never come close to slinging a fatal blow. In the $27 billion microprocessor market, Intel is the leader by a whopping...

Aligning up: more than ever before, costs and the need to understand complementary technology are driving partnerships.(Semiconductor Equipment)(Silicon-On-Insulator)
July 1, 2004... WHEN TWO LEADING wafer producers announced silicon-on-insulator (SoI) manufacturing-licensing agreements with Soitec in 2003, KLA-Tencor took notice. The manufacturer of process control tools believed that it signaled SoI's arrival as a viable...

In search of partner for possible long-term relationship: making a good match is hard; making it work is even harder.(Strategic Partnership)
July 1, 2004... STRATEGIC PARTNERSHIPS ARE LIKE SECOND MARRIAGES: They are the triumph of hope over experience. Some 65 to 70 percent of all strategic partnerships fail, according to Vantage Partners, a consulting firm that advises companies on such...