By Valerie Coffey
Things are looking up for trade shows, and for connector and interconnect system developer, FCI (Etters, PA), which made a big splash at DesignCon 2005 Technology Exhibition, held Jan.31 - Feb. 3 in Santa Clara, CA. Organizers of DesignCon, the International Engineering Consortium, reported record attendance this year, in spite of a semiconductor industry slump (see Fig.). As for FCI, not only did the company reveal a new clever ad campaign for their AirMax VS shield-less connector system, but their name appeared to be everywhere, in technical sessions, TecPreview program sessions, and receiving the International Engineering Consortium Design Vision Award during a special media reception Feb. 1.
 The calm before the storm: the sunny Westin Santa Clara registration area at DesignCon 2005 awaits record attendance. |
The novel high-speed AirMax “virtual shield” backplane connector system was honored in the interconnect technologies and components product category of the Design Vision Awards for its unique shield-less design that exhibits excellent signal integrity and provides designers with flexibility in backplane signal routing and fabrication through the ability to vary column spacing. The Design Vision Awards recognize technologies, applications, products, and services judged by industry experts to be the most innovative and beneficial to the industry.
“We are extremely pleased to be recognized by the International Engineering Consortium. Receiving the award for AirMax VS connectors further underscores our commitment to developing interconnect solutions for an ever-evolving marketplace,” said Steve Smith, staff signal integrity engineer.
The company also presented to a standing-room-only crowd in the TecForum technical sessions, on “Optimization of connector footprint for 10-G signals.” In spite of the soft-spoken speaker, the presentation illustrated a common theme lately-that connectors are the barrier to increasing data rates. Particularly, the barrier is the connector footprint, or the transition between connectors and PCBs, which can be optimized using SMT connectors, according to FCI.
In the TecPreview program, manager of FCI’s signal integrity group, Dana Bergey, gave a review of the AirMax VS concept, which uses staggered air gaps between conductors to minimize magnetic coupling between columns. Other visible signs at DesignCon that FCI has been busy this year are collaborations with Xilinx on a development and testing board, and Gore (Elkton, MD), one of the two exclusive licensees (the other not yet announced) for a high-speed cable assembly using the AirMax VS connector.
Capitalizing on the shield-less design in the innovative AirMax connector, FCI premiered an ad campaign showcasing examples of “ancient forms of shielding”: stegosauruses, knights in armor, and “other” connectors with metal shielding.
“Our plastic dinosaurs were the best giveaways” said Bergey, “Dinosaurs were big, slow, and shielded, and now they are extinct, just like some connectors.” On day two of the exhibit, competitors arrived to their booths to find plastic dinosaurs placed on their countertops. Although the sharp humor was borne with good will, competitors with shielded connectors say there are drawbacks to every technology, and there is no extinction in the cards.
