ERNI and Tyco Announce Collaboration
CHESTER, Va. and HARRISBURG, Pa. — The ERNI Group of Companies and Tyco Electronics Corp., a unit of Tyco International Ltd., announced the first accomplishments of a global engineering and design collaboration. The two companies combined their engineering and marketing teams to create a next-generation, high-speed differential connector that complements their respective 2 mm hard metric product lines. This cross-company engineering collaboration combined the design effort of project teams in four different geographic locations: Pennsylvania, Virginia, Germany and the Netherlands.
 A four-pair module high-speed differential hard metric connector system. |
The 12-month project involved joint market research, extensive product evaluations, diverse methods of electrical modeling and unique design approaches. Because each company already favored different manufacturing processes in its existing offering, a major challenge was to arrive at a design that could be made efficiently by either company's preferred methods. Both companies will manufacture the new connector separately. ERNI will call its connector the ERmetZD, and Tyco will call its connector the Z-PACK HM-Zd.
One of the most important characteristics of this connector is that the layout grid dimensions allow the connector to achieve outstanding differential performance. This same layout also provides a generous routing channel. The connector allows wide, edge-coupled trace routing through the connector pattern without having to split differential pairs around intervening vias and pads. The ability to migrate to an SMT termination will allow further performance gain for product enhancement.
The 12-month development effort had to overcome the challenges of concurrent engineering, language barriers, different analytical tools and diverse corporate cultures. One obvious difference is the respective size of the two organizations: ERNI with revenue of $200 million and Tyco Electronics at $10 billion. "We were remarkably similar in our analysis of what the market needed, and both teams were focused on the same market segment," said Andreas Scheck, Director of Marketing, ERNI Elektroapparate, Adelberg, Germany.
Methode Founder Passes Away
CHICAGO — William Joseph McGinley, 77, of Barrington Hills, Ill., and Key Largo, Fla., passed away on Monday, January 22, 2001. He was born July 14, 1923, in Hinsdale, Ill.
McGinley founded Methode Electron-ics Inc. in 1946 with $1,000 in capital. He continued to serve as its chairman and CEO until his death. In addition, McGinley was a director of Stratos Lightwave Inc.
McGinley was the founding president of the Institute of Printed Circuits and was active in the Electrical Manufacturers Club, the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers, the Electronics Industry Association and the American Electronics Association. Three days before his passing, he was inducted into the Chicago Area Entrepreneurship Hall of Fame at the University of Illinois at Chicago.
While a freshman at Amherst College, McGinley enlisted in the Marine Corps' officer candidate program in 1942 and was trained at Dartmouth College and Camp LeJeune, N.C. He became a lieutenant at the age of 19 years, served in the South Pacific and was awarded the Purple Heart and Pacific Theater Battle Star after serving at Iwo Jima. At the war's conclusion, he returned to Amherst College where he completed his Bachelor of Arts degree in 1945. He then pursued a Master in Industrial Management at Northwestern University, but left the program in 1949 to devote his full attention to Methode Electronics.
RapidIO Trade Association Creates Group
SAN DIEGO — The RapidIO Trade Association has created a Serial RapidIO Working Group. The group is tasked with creating a Serial RapidIO Physical Layer Specification to address the networking industry's need for a very low-pin-count interconnect technology for use in serial backplane applications and pin- and power-sensitive device applications. The output of the group will be a physical layer specification that can be used as an alternative to the current eight-bit/16-bit physical layer specification.
Serial RapidIO technology will be suited for control and management applications over the backplane, digital signal processor (DSP) and control processor interfaces, and as a backplane extension. Serial RapidIO will directly leverage traditional memory mapped system architectures (such as those supported by the peripheral computer interface [PCI] bus) and will not require a supporting software stack.
The RapidIO architecture is able to evolve and fit changing demands in the market because the specification is divided into layers. Each layer allows individual specifications to be modified or added without disturbing the others.
"When Motorola and Mercury Computers began working on the RapidIO technical specifications, we chose to focus upon creating the highest performing interconnect available in the industry — a 'fat pip' solution," said Sam Fuller, Director of System Architecture for Motorola Inc. and Chairman of the RapidIO Trade Association Steering Committee. "Since that time, the industry has also demonstrated a need for a low-pin-count serial control plane technology. Serial RapidIO technology meets this industry need."
2000 Year in Review
ST. CHARLES, Ill. — 2000 was the best year in the history of the connector industry, according to Bishop & Associates Inc. Preliminary analysis shows the world connector market up 19.8 percent in sales. Industry profitability was outstanding, up in the +40 percent range. Growth and profitability was distributed across the industry, with medium and small companies sharing the increased demand for interconnects.
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The chart displays industry growth since 1981. 2000 breaks the record for industry sales growth. 1995 was the previous record with a sales increase of 17.4 percent. Go to www.connectorindustry.com for more information.
PLACES & FACES...
Russell Zierick, President of Zierick Mfg. Corp. (Mount Kisco, N.Y.), an-nounced his retirement after 40 years in that position. Zierick will retain the position of Chairman of the Board but will turn over the presidency to Gretchen Zierick.
ERNI Components Inc. has acquired Maxconn Inc. (San Jose, Calif.). Maxconn manufactures a range of connector, cable, socket and interconnect products for high-technology markets.
Santa Ana, Calif.-based ITT Industries, Cannon has named Amir Saket as Director of Manufacturing for connector products in the Americas. Saket is responsible for managing manufacturing, tooling, prototyping, facilities, maintenance, industrial and mechanical engineering aspects of the connector products.
International Flex Technologies Inc. (IFT; Endicott, N.Y.) and Sheldahl Inc. (Northfield, Minn.) have completed the merger of the two companies. Sheldahl will operate under its current name with IFT as an operating subsidiary.
EDAC Inc. (Toronto) has announced plans to open a manufacturing facility in the Republic of China. The facility, to be built in Dongguan City, will employ 300 to 400 people and is expected to increase the company's production of connectors and cables by 50 percent.
Columbus, Ohio-based Insilco Holding Co. has completed its acquisition of San Diego-based InNet Technologies. InNet designs, develops and markets a range of magnetic interface products to networking, computer and telecommunications OEMs.
Adhesives Research Inc. (Glen Rock, Pa.) has opened a sales office in Singapore. The primary function of this office is to support the company's Electronics Business Unit, while also assisting other business units within the company.
Edmund Optics Inc. (Barrington, N.J.) has signed a definitive agreement to acquire the assets of Plummer Precision Optics Inc. (Pennsburg, Pa.). The acquired business will operate as a wholly owned division of Edmund Optics under the name Plummer Precision Manufacturing Div.
Ken McFarland has been promoted to National Sales Manager of Napa, Calif.-based Marinco Industrial Group, a manufacturer of electrical products for industrial and OEM use. McFarland's responsibilities include all sales of products in the United States and Canada.
The Board of Directors of CTS Corp. (Elkhart, Ind.) has elected Donald K. Schwanz as President and COO. Schwanz was most recently the president of the industrial control business of Honeywell Inc.
The Board of Directors of Valdor Fiber Optics Inc. (Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada) has appointed Glenn Fung as Director. Fung has over 17 years' experience in the investment community, and has a Bachelor of Applied Science in Civil Engineering and a Master in Business Administration.
Murata Electronics North America (Smyrna, Ga.) announced the implementation of a new part numbering system. Murata has introduced a single standard to bring about a strict one-on-one correspondence between a production specification and a part number.
STANDARDS...
Project Number 2995-RV3 — Revision of TIA/EIA-455-36-B, FOTP36, Twist Test for Fiber Optic Connecting Devices.
Project Number 3044-RF1 — Reaffirmation of TIA/EIA-455-38, FOTP38, Measurement of Fiber Strain in Cables.
Project Number 4931 — Creation of TIA/EIA-604-15, FOCIS15, Fiber Optic Connector Intermateability Standard for Type MH.
Project Number 4932 — Creation of TIA/EIA-604-16, FOCIS16, Fiber Optic Connector Intermateablity Standard for Type LSH.
Standards Proposal 3044-RF1 — Reaffirmation of TIA/EIA-455-38, FOTP38, Measurement of Fiber Strain in Cables Under Tensile Load. This standard provides an accurate method for measuring changes in the average longitudinal strain on a cabled optical fiber.
ANSI/TIA/EIA-604-4-A-FOCIS4 — Fiber Optic Connector Intermateability Standard Type FC and FC-APC. This standard presents the intermateability standard for connectors with the commercial designation FC and FC-APC, and includes requirements for PM fiber connectors.
