Electronic Business articles from September 2005

Electronic Business archives from September 2005

The automotive infotainment quandary: can the automotive electronics industry satisfy consumers' expectations?(Editor's Note)
September 1, 2005... Consumer electronics are everywhere. When you walk around in a public place, it's now common to see white wires trailing from people's ears--the telltale sign of an iPod. Open-air monologues in department stores, supermarkets and trains...

Bland, not grand.(Letters)(Letter to the Editor)
September 1, 2005... The "not-so-grand entrance" title about Apple's changing to Intel chips makes no sense (August 2005, page 21). What is Apple entering? Nothing of consequence will change, other than ordering parts from a different vendor. So how can that be...

Oops.(Letters)(Letter to the Editor)
September 1, 2005... In your August 2005 profile of Motorola ("Zander's Balancing Act," page 30), you write, "When he took over as chairman and CEO of technology, behemoth Motorola in the first few days of 2004, Ed Zander must have felt as though he'd agreed to...

Oops again.(Letters)(Letter to the Editor)
September 1, 2005... The "EB300" (August 2005, page 40) inadvertently excluded Systemax, a $200 million computer systems manufacturer and distributor based in Port Washington, N.Y. Reed Research Group and EB regret the error.

Get rid of the handcuffs: it's time to downsize the practice of noncompete agreements in electronics.(Commentary)
September 1, 2005... It should be an unfair employment practice for companies in the electronics industry to handcuff scientists, engineers and other high-value employees. Keeping them from jumping ship to direct competitors by enforcing two- to five-year...

The high cost of noncompliance: even without fines, violating regulations brings financial consequences.(MANAGEMENT)
September 1, 2005... Compliance with rules and regulations is expensive. But the price of noncompliance is far worse: It can include prison, fines, firings, accounting overhauls, public censure, stock devaluation and bankruptcy. "The world changed after Enron...

End of an economic era: how currency revaluation changes China's business environment.(ECONOMIC OUTLOOK)
September 1, 2005... The long-expected revaluation of the Chinese currency, up a token 2.1 percent in late July, marks the end of an era. The environment for doing business in China--whether sourcing, selling or manufacturing--is now undergoing a change, although...

Stock options take a hit: expensing is really going to happen--are you prepared?(FINANCE)
September 1, 2005... Now that high tech's hopes for a reprieve from FAS 123, the accounting- standard that requires treating stock options as an expense, have been dashed, tech companies are reluctantly--and perhaps, belatedly--considering alternatives to stock...

California dreaming: can a sleepy Mexican border community become a manufacturing hub?(SITE SELECTION)(Silicon Border project)
September 1, 2005... Mexico was one of the first outsourcing destinations of the United States, but it has been playing second (or third) fiddle to Asian giants. Now the country is hoping that copying the tactics of rival countries will help boost its share of the...

Inventory liability--the scourge of supply chain management.(Response: Management)(Advertisement)
September 1, 2005... Some things never seem to change in life. Excess inventory is one of them. In spite of all the investment in state-of-the-art demand and production planning systems, improvements in inventory management have been marginal at best. In fact,...

Getting more R&D bang for the buck: best-practices study links research performance with financial success.(INVESTMENTS)
September 1, 2005... History has shown that high-tech companies can improve their financial performance by streamlining so-called "back-end" operations, such as supply chain and logistics. Now a recent study shows that streamlining the front end--product...

New leader in DVD recorder chips: LSI Logic rebounds to dominate this fast-growing chip market.(Semiconductors)
September 1, 2005... Chip maker LSI Logic withdrew from the DVD-player chip market several years ago amid falling prices and brutal competition from the likes of ESS Technology, MediaTek and Zoran. But as demand shifts to next-generation DVD machines that record as...

Fickle finger of marketing: a catchy commercial suggests greater acceptance of fingerprint sensing.(BIOMETRICS)
September 1, 2005... Hip, cool and narcissistic, the 20-something leaps from bed into his suit pants. His wall is plastered with pictures of him holding up his right index finger. There's even a close-up just of the finger. The 20-second TV commercial bounces along...

Is the EDA IPO an oxymoron? Aprio goes against the flow but may be a pioneer.(Electronic Design Automation)
September 1, 2005... Mike Gianfagna is a confident man. Last spring he took over the role of CEO at Aprio, an EDA startup focusing on design for manufacturing (DFM) software, after serving as vice president of marketing at eSilicon, a chip packaging company. Unlike...

Born in the USA--and staying: a domestic location can be a competitive advantage for small EMS companies.(Supply Chain Management)
September 1, 2005... Reports of the demise of the U.S. contract manufacturing industry have been greatly exaggerated. Despite some obvious hurdles, many small electronics manufacturing services (EMS) companies are surviving---even thriving. "The smaller,...

Making sense of Semicon: which is worse, the briefing or the debriefing?(Capital Equipment)
September 1, 2005... In the wake of Semicon West, there are always more stories and topics than one person can possibly follow up on in any reasonable length of time, but then that's the nature of journalism. But rather go on ad nauseam about how brutal Semicon...

Free software! Chip makers are giving away tools to attract customers.(Software)
September 1, 2005... Smart semiconductor companies have long understood that offering great software is one of the best ways to set their products apart from the competition. But what's surprising is how much software the industry literally gives away. Chip...

Uncharted territory: the trend in outsourcing design is creating fuzzy boundaries for OEMs as well as contract manufacturers seeking to allay risks and increase rewards.(CONTRACT MANUFACTURING)(Cover Story)
September 1, 2005... IF YOUR CUSTOMER LIST includes the U.S. Air Force and the FBI, you're used to meeting high expectations. So when a customer asked L-3 Communications Infrared Products (L-3 IP) to design a device based on brand-new imaging technology, it was...

Top 100 contract manufacturers.(ELECTRONIC BUSINESS)
September 1, 2005... TOP 100 CONTRACT MANUFACTURERS ELECTRONIC BUSINESS Total revenue 2002 Public = P, Rank Company ...

Top 100 contract manufacturers: alphabetical index.(ELECTRONIC BUSINESS)
September 1, 2005... Rank Company Web Site 53 ACT Electronics www.act-electronics.com 96 ADCO Circuits www.adcocircuits.com 28 Aeroflex UTMC ...

Success by design: IC design services are low-margin, but many companies are offering them in order to get and keep customers.(integrated circuit designs)
September 1, 2005... The IC design services business is not for the faint of heart. When times are good, you've got so much business that you daydream about cloning your top engineers, but when times are bad and the chips are down, your revenues are like the...

Infotainment invades the auto: the automobile is practically virgin territory for infotainment electronics--is the auto industry ready to take the plunge?(POWER MANAGEMENT)
September 1, 2005... Want to take a trip back in time? Slip your cell phone and PDA out of your pocket, drop your notebook PC next to your home theater system, walk out into your garage, climb in your car and close the door. Chances are that you now have two...