New SCSI Board elected
The SCSI Trade Association (STA), a member-run industry association established to support and promote SCSI technology, announced their newly elected Board of Directors for 2005. Re-elected to the position of president was Harry Mason of LSI Logic, president from 1995 through 2000, and again from 2002 to 2005. Serial Attached SCSI (SAS) products began entering the market in late 2004, and STA expects SAS-based system and subsystem products will soon garner a significant share of enterprise storage shipments. Credit is due in large measure to the SAS interoperability plugfests held during 2004. More plugfests are scheduled for 2005. The SAS plugfests, held at the University of New Hampshire InterOperability Lab, were instrumental in speeding the development of test tools and programs, and consequently products.
www.scsita.org
Isola responds to lawsuit
Isola Group (Chandler, AZ), a global designer, developer, and manufacturer of high-performance laminates used in multilayer printed circuit boards, announced that it will vigorously defend itself against Rogers Corporation’s claims of patent infringement made against Isola’s IS640 product. Rogers Corporation filed a lawsuit as a licensee of two U.S. patents, contending that two members of Isola Group had infringed those patents. Isola USA Corp., which has a patent pending on its IS640 product, has referred the matter to outside legal counsel.
www.isola-group.com.
Lookin’ good, 2004
The connector industry achieved sales of $33.4 billion in 2004, growing +17.9%, according to the February 2005 Bishop Report. These results make 2004 the second best year in industry history. In the industry’s best year, 2000, sales increased +18.1%. All geographic regions individually achieved double-digit growth with China up an incredible +34.8%. The U.S. dollar continued to decline versus major currencies throughout 2004. Real growth, measured in local currencies, was +13.4%. Connector markets recording the largest growth in 2004 were medical equipment, consumer, and business/office equipment. However, analysts say that the market in 2005, although stable, is not expected to return the same strong growth.
www.connectorstats.com
Universal invests in China
Because the China market accounts for almost half of its business, Universal Instruments (Binghamton, NY) has expanded its research and development in China to provide support for its customers in the region by opening its expanded Suzhou Technology Excellence Center (TEC). First established in 2002, it is comprised of a technology gallery, research laboratory, and display/demonstration room to offer process support for customers in technology research and training, prototyping, yield improvement, and failure analysis.
www.uic.com
YESTech opens China office
YESTech (San Clemente CA), a provider of yield-enhancement solutions, has opened an office in Shanghai, China. The new office provides sales and technical support to YESTech’s growing customer base in China, as well as training and sales for their YTV Series of automated optical inspection (AOI) systems and YTX Series of X-ray inspection systems. The company has sales offices and customer support centers in North America, Asia, and Europe.
www.yestechinc.com
MEC Northwest expands
MEC Northwest (Milwaukee, WI) has purchased a 45,000-sq.-ft. light industrial building in Canby, OR, for its 70+ employees there. The company expects to add a full range of positions, including assemblers, machine operators, technicians, machine programmers, and inside sales. The company has invested in machinery and lean-manufacturing processes designed to accommodate quick prototype assembly, including top- and bottom-side SMT, BGA, and through-hole assembly. The facility includes a high-speed CP6 Fuji line, as well as new Fuji IP3 placement equipment for surface-mount applications.
www.mecnorthwest.com
