Circuits Assembly Online Magazine - CA Magazine Issues

News

THIEF RIVER FALLS, MN – Digi-Key Corp. has signed a deal to distribute the integrated antenna product line of Cambridge, UK-based Antenova Ltd. Digi-Key will sell the products globally.

Antenova's radio antenna modules and other products are used in wireless applications such as mobile handsets, portable devices and other consumer electronics.

Antenova products are available for purchase directly from Digi-Key and are featured in its print and online catalogs.

In a statement, Digi-Key president and COO Mark Larson said, “ “We are very excited to add this innovative company to our line card. I am certain that the rapid design and ease of use benefits of Antenova’s products will be of consequential interest and appeal to our customers.”

“Antenova is proud to be working with Digi-Key to further grow our customer base,” said David Nuti, North American sales manager for Antenova. “This agreement underpins our commitment to providing the best integrated antenna solutions and support to our global handset, portable device and laptop computer customers and partners.”

SANTA CLARA, CA -- More than 400 industry insiders gathered here yesterday for Microsoft's first Global High Tech Summit, a forum that looked at challenges and trends facing high tech manufacturing.

In a joint effort to improve supplier collaboration, Microsoft and Intel announced proposals for the next-generation of open, interoperable business standards for small-to-medium enterprise supplier collaboration, based on the Office Open XML formats.

Under the management of the open standards body Ecma International, the Open XML document formats are now being finalized as a worldwide standard by leading tech companies including Intel. The document format standard offers flexible support for integration external XML information, which is critical to RosettaNet requirements.

Also announced was the establishment of a customer advisory board composed of companies representing various market segments, including Applied Materials, Flextronics, Juniper Networks, Nvidia, Xilinx and others.

Electronics Workbench will sponsor a free Webinar on enhanced schematic capture during PCB layout using specific software tools.

The one-hour online event takes place Oct. 3, at 9 and 3 EST.

Topics to be covered include the company's Ultiboard interface, advanced routing and placement, managing design constraints, exporting industry standard formats and more. To register, visit http://www.electronicsworkbench.com/news/pronews3b.html.

ALLEN, TX -- Sanmina-SCI has signed a deal to assemble certain components designed by Enablence Technologies and used in household optical modems, the companies told a local paper. Financial terms were not disclosed.

BANNOCKBURN, IL — Rigid PCB shipments by North American fabricators rose 8% in August while bookings climbed 7.7% year-over-year, according to a monthly poll. Flex circuit shipments were up 27% and bookings were up 30.5% percent, IPC said.

The rigid board book-to-bill ratio rose 0.04 points to 1.06, and the flex circuit book-to-bill ratio was up 0.04 points to 1.05. The overall ratio was also 1.05, up 0.03 points. The ratios are calculated by dividing the value of orders booked over the past three months by the value of sales billed during the same period. A ratio of more than 1.0 suggests probable near-term growth.

Year to date, rigid PCB shipments are up 10.6%, and bookings are up 13.8%. Flex circuit shipments are up 4.5%, bookings are down 8.4%.

Combined shipments in August increased 9.3% from a year ago and bookings increased 9%. Year to date, combined shipments are up 10.2%, bookings are up 12.1%. Rigid PCBs make up an estimated 85% of the North American market, IPC said.

The data reflect sales, not production, IPC notes. For the month, 89% of the PCB shipments reported were produced in the U.S. or Canada. Furthermore, about 26% of the flex circuit sales comes from value-added services.