Where Have All of the M/A-COM Pieces Landed?

Over the past year, one of the RF and microwave industry icons has been diced into 5 pieces and sold to various companies. If we go back a few years, M/A-COM was purchased by the connector giant AMP back in 1995 as they wanted expand into the growing wireless markets. AMP was then acquired by the even larger Tyco International in 1999 as they were buying companies in many industries. In 2007, Tyco International split up into 3 companies (after the Dennis Koslowski years), one of which was Tyco Electronics (the medical companies formed a new company called Covidien and the security companies stayed with Tyco International). Tyco Electronics contained the former AMP and M/A-COM companies along with many other brands. Shortly after that time, Tyco Electronics decided most of the M/A-COM product portfolio was not part of their future strategy and put the defense and commercial components businesses up for sale.

Cobham Defense came along in 2008 and purchased the commercial and defense components businesses with the intent to re-sell the commercial business as soon as they found a buyer. At about the same time, the automotive products (antennas and radar sensors) were sold to Autoliv. Cobham recently found a buyer as John Ocampo purchased the commercial components business (John Ocampo is the owner of GaAs Labs which is a large investor in Mimix Broadband) which retains its name developed under Cobham as M/A-COM Technology Solutions. In between all of this, Micronetics scooped up the RFID product lines from the commercial business in a separate transaction which should nicely complement their existing product lines.

And then last week, the private radio group (Wireless Systems) was purchased from Tyco Electronics by Harris Corporation. This should bring strength to both groups as Harris has a strong foot hold in the military radio market and M/A-COM Wireless Systems was growing in the public safety market where Motorola is a dominate player. It may have been sparked by the potential loss of the $2B New York State contract or maybe Harris just saw a good opportunity to grow their radio business.

It will be interesting (and challenging) to follow the pieces as they continue forward in these new companies. So now M/A-COM is part of Cobham, Harris, Micronetics, M/A-COM Technology Solutions (John Ocampo) and Autoliv. What do you think of their future prospects?

Microwaves Could Enable Solar Energy Harvesting in Space

Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E) has announced they're expanding their solar interest far beyond California and into outer space. The San Francisco based utility plans on purchasing 200 MW of electricity from Solaren Corp., a start-up that is trying to produce solar power in space. Solaren plans to deploy solar panels in space that would collect the sun's energy and transfer it via microwaves back to a collecting station on Earth. Then the energy would be converted to electricity and feed into the grid.

The microwave frequency would be one that is least absorbed by the Earth's atmosphere. People have expressed concern that the beam might damage anything that gets in its path but they claim it would be 1/6 the intensity of noon sunlight. I am not sure how they are comparing light energy to microwave energy. The plan would have the system operating in 2016.

Solaren says that unlike ground-based solar arrays, space satellites could generate power 24 hours a day, unaffected by cloudy weather or Earth's day-night cycle. The capacity factor for a ground-based solar is typically less than 25 percent. In contrast, the capacity factor for a power-generating satellite is expected to be 97 percent.

The agreement calls for 800 gigawatt-hours of electricity to be provided during the first year of operation, and 1,700 gigawatt-hours for subsequent years. The larger figure is roughly equal to the annual consumption of 250,000 average homes.

Very interesting stuff and this year there is really a big emphasis on the "Greening of Wireless" to reduce our dependence on fossil based fuels. Microwave Journal is hosting a webinar and featuring a technical article by Mesuro and Tektronix to introduce a new open loop active load pull technique for the design of complex, highly efficient power amplifiers, necessary for reducing the power consumption of tomorrow’s mobile infrastructure. The method utilizing microwave sampling scope technology to simultaneously capture waveform data ranging from DC to several tens of GHz is demonstrated.

Touchy Cellphone Users Spur Sales

According to Wirefly, sales of touchscreen devices have grown 56% from the fourth quarter of 2008 to the first quarter of 2009 and currently account for 38% of its cell phone sales. Two factors are driving the sharp increase in popularity of touchscreen phones: The increased choice of touchscreen devices from virtually every wireless manufacturer and its affordability for even the most budget-conscious consumer.

“The mobile industry has embraced the touchscreen,” said Andy Zeinfeld, CEO of Simplexity, parent company of Wirefly. “Consumers are in love with the fluid interface. Many find the touchscreen cell phone easier to learn and easier to navigate than its push-button counterpart. With a simple flick, tap or swipe of a finger, users can quickly glide, zoom and flip through web pages, documents, emails and photo albums.”

Grim Week for Agilent Employees

This past Wednesday, Agilent Technologies laid off 300 employees at its Santa Rosa division or more than 20 percent of its work force. Agilent employees had been awaiting the grim news for the past three weeks. In March, the Santa Clara-based company announced plans to eliminate 14 percent of its global work force. The layoffs at the high-tech test & measurement equipment manufacturer occurred over the full range of Agilent jobs in Santa Rosa, including managers, engineers, marketing, human resources, finance, manufacturing and support, said Ron Nersesian, who heads Agilent’s Santa Rosa-based Electronic Measurement Group.

Wednesday’s layoffs were the largest at Agilent in Santa Rosa since 2005, when more than 300 employees were let go. Over the past eight years, the company has eliminated 5 out of 6 jobs at its Sonoma County operations as it slashed costs and moved manufacturing jobs to cheaper facilities overseas. The layoffs will leave Agilent with 1,050 employees in Sonoma County, down from a peak of 6,000 regular and temporary workers in 2001.

Unlike past layoffs that involved the shifting of manufacturing jobs overseas, these recent job cuts were not for the sake of offshoring, Nersesian said. The company’s Asian manufacturing facilities also face “significant” cut-backs because of falling orders for Agilent’s products, he said.

Agilent and other technology companies are losing business as consumers cut back on spending for the latest electronic devices. This year’s revenue for the test and measurement business will be down 30 percent from 2008, the company said in March.
Overall, the company is cutting 2,700 jobs worldwide under the restructuring plan implemented Wednesday. The staffing cuts and other cost-cutting measures are expected to save the company $300 million over the next four quarters.

Handset Market Not Hit As Hard As Expected

According to ABI Research, consumers did not cut back too much in purchasing handsets during the first quarter of 2009 which is good news. Handset vendors shipped 258 million handsets by the end of the quarter which represents an 11% year-over-year decline. This significantly exceeded the previous forecast of 253.5 million.

ABI has introduced a note of mild optimism in its handset forecasts for YE-2009, revising them from -8.4% to -8%. Samsung and LG demonstrated healthy gains to take their market shares to 17.8% and 8.8%, respectively. Another star performer was RIM which raised its share to 3.0% due largely to the success of its Blackberry Bold. It is a little curious that Apple’s market share is just 1.5% given the success of its AppStore. As popular as the iPhone3G has been, increased competition in the touchscreen segment and a lack of product differentiation may be dampening demand. ABI Research expects that by 2H-2009 the iPhone3G will have one or more siblings. That will allow Apple to accelerate growth.

Nokia was beaten out by SonyEricsson for showing the largest contractions (their shares now stand at 36.2% and 5.6%). Nokia will breathe a sigh of relief once its latest smartphone, the N97, enters the market. Nokia has had a fair amount of success with the E71 but needs to beef up its touchscreen product lines. While Sony-Ericsson has the Experia smartphone line-up, the firm’s exposure to the feature phone segment was squeezed more than other handset sectors. While feature phones serve many needs in the market, operators have been especially keen to snap up smartphone stock and were cooler on the Ultra-Low Cost and feature phone orders.

ABI says that despite the positive signs, the industry should be cautious. The IMF has issued another sharp downgrade to its global outlook. Unemployment figures are also likely to continue creeping up. Buyers in the developed world are still concerned about debt and job security. Developing economies are expected to take a hit on the credit side which could have knock-on consequences on credit lines for purchases and stock levels.

Skyworks Revenue Down for Q2

RF/microwave integrated device manufacturer, Skyworks Solutions, Inc. (NASDAQ: SWKS) announced their second fiscal quarter 2009 results on Thursday. Revenue for the quarter was $173.0 million, a 14 percent decrease from $201.7 million in the year-ago period and versus guidance of $168.0 million.

Non-GAAP operating income was $21.2 million in the second fiscal quarter with diluted earnings per share of $0.12, $0.02 better than consensus estimates. On a GAAP basis, operating loss for the second fiscal quarter was $3.7 million and diluted loss per share was $0.03, including $19.4 million of previously disclosed charges relating to the Company’s operating expense reduction initiatives.

“Despite the challenging economic backdrop, Skyworks delivered solid financial results in the second fiscal quarter of 2009 driven by our diversification, scale advantages, fab-lite strategy and improved cost structure,” said David J. Aldrich, president and chief executive officer of Skyworks. “Offsetting general market weakness, our performance was highlighted by strength in energy management and smart grid technologies, China 3G base stations, smart phones and push-to-talk applications. At a higher level, we believe our results demonstrate that Skyworks is gaining share in the broader analog semiconductor market and is creating a highly differentiated business model.”

Business Highlights

* Maintained non-GAAP gross margin of 40 percent (38 percent on a GAAP basis)
* Reduced operating expenses by more than $25 million on an annualized basis
* Partnered with Itron, a leading energy technology provider, to meet increasing demand for smart meter technology
* Captured key design wins at Huawei and ZTE for 3G and 4G base station solutions
* Unveiled a suite of low noise amplifiers targeting ultra-high performance infrastructure, GPS and satellite radio applications
* Supported an increasingly popular e-book reading platform developed by one of the world’s largest online retailers
* Expanded Qualcomm baseband partnership leveraging higher value front-end modules and encompassing a growing number of 2G, 3G and HSDPA reference designs
* Named Supplier of the Year for the second consecutive time by LG Electronics

Third Fiscal Quarter 2009 Outlook

“Although we remain cautious on the macro-economy, Skyworks intends to resume top and bottom line growth in the current quarter through share gains and participation in new markets,” said Donald W. Palette, vice president and chief financial officer of Skyworks. “Specifically, we expect June quarterly revenue to be up 5 percent sequentially with expanding margins driving non-GAAP diluted earnings per share of $0.14 - - - a 15 percent sequential improvement in profitability.”

TriQuint Reports Q1 2009 earnings

As expected, Q1 2009 revenue was seasonally down, compared to Q4, in a challenging economic environment of inventory correction and reduced short term demand. Still, total revenue was up 7% as compared to Q1 2008. These results were led by Handset growth of 24% and Defense / Aerospace growth of 23%. The reduction of both channel and TriQuint inventory drove Oregon fab’s utilization to 35% and pushed gross margin down, resulting in a Non-GAAP net loss of ($0.07) per share on revenue of $118.9 million, both on the favorable end of our expectations. Fortunately, an inflection point of increasing demand occurred late in the quarter as Handset inventory normalized.

Highlights from the quarter included:

* Revenue for the first quarter was $118.9 million, up 7% from Q1’08
* Inventory was reduced $19.8 million from the fourth quarter of 2008
* Book to bill ratio for the quarter was 1.14
* Honored by Intel Corporation with its 2008 Preferred Quality Supplier award
* Achieved cumulative shipments of more than a half billion total RF modules
* Introduced the market’s first SMT device for 40Gb/s optical communications
* Unveiled TRIUMF™, 3G/4G converged mobile solution
* First design win for TriPower™ – Next generation infrastructure RF power solution
* Fulfilled initial production orders of GaAs and BAW devices for multi-nation F-35 Joint Strike Fighter

Commenting on the results for the quarter ended March 31, 2009, Ralph Quinsey, President and Chief Executive Officer, stated “The global economic downturn prompted lower inventory at our customers and very low factory utilization in Q1. We are now seeing signs of inventory normalization in some of our markets which should translate into stronger demand in the coming months."

Quinsey also commented that, "Market strength in smart-phones, the acquisition of WJ Communications and positive momentum in major military programs contributed to our year over year growth.”

AWR Reports Good Results

On Monday (April 20th) high-frequency EDA supplier AWR® announced record annual revenues for its 2009 fiscal year that ended March 31, as well as for the year’s fourth quarter, and record backlog as it enters the 2010 fiscal year. This achievement marks the twelfth consecutive year of revenue growth for the company and was broad-based, with strong bookings throughout Europe, North America and the Asia Pacific region from both new and existing customers. It is an impressive streak for the software innovator - especially in light of the worldwide recession.

AWR executives attribute the performance to several factors. The company acknowledged that it had received two of its largest orders in company history, both from top-tier manufacturers of third-generation (3G) wireless transceiver modules for smart phones. The company also claimed to have experienced strong growth within existing aerospace and defense accounts as well as from new customers that switched to AWR products from competing tools.

I’ve always believed that tough times calls for digging in and doubling your efforts to do what has made one successful in the past. This effort needs to also be balanced with flexibility in order to change to changing times. Based on this latest fiscal report, AWR seems to being doing both of these quite well. How is your company weathering the storm? Is the performance of your company better than expected? Are we turning a corner in this recession? Tell us about your success.

Oracle to Acquire Sun Microsystems

Back in the mid-80s, do you remember sign-up sheets for workstations, which were extremely expensive and in short supply. Design software such as MDS (HP), Libra (EEsof) and Harmonica (Compact Software) required the high performance computing only available on these machines and EM simulation software such as HFSS was not yet widely available. Many of us (junior) engineers had to work later in the evening waiting for a workstation to became available. Do you remember the Unix wars between the proponents of BSD from Univerity of California, Berkeley and System V from AT&T? BSD Unix vendor Sun Microsytems and AT&T would start working together on a unified system in 1987. Eventually a workstation for every design engineer would become a reality. Workstations and PCs have certainly come a long way since then, and today's simulators often utilize compute farms to address ever-larger problems, broad parameteric sweeps and optimization, yet hearing that Oracle Corp. plans to acquire Sun Microsystems Inc. for $7.4billion, brought back memories of those days many years ago.

In the deal, Oracle trumped IBM by picking up what might prove to be a software treasure trove that includes the popular MySQL open-source database as well as Java.
Oracle said it will pay $9.50 per share in cash for Sun, or $5.6 billion net of Sun's cash and debt. The move follows Oracle's purchases of a raft of companies in the past few years, including Siebel Systems, PeopleSoft and BEA Systems.

Sun shares rose by $2.41 to $9.10 in trading about an hour after the market opened, while Oracle shares declined by $1.03 to $18.03. Shares of the buying company in big mergers and acquisitions often sink at first as investors debate the relative merits of laying out large amounts of cash for the acquisition.

On a conference call Monday, Oracle CEO Larry Ellison said Java and Solaris were the two main reasons Oracle purchased Sun, a move that is in line with Oracle's acquisition strategy to buy companies with "market-leading products."

Calling Java "the single most important software asset we have ever acquired," he said Oracle's Java-based middleware business, bolstered first by the BEA acquisition and now by the purchase of Sun, is on track to become as large as Oracle's flagship database business. Oracle's Fusion middleware is based on Java.

Oracle also considers Solaris "by far the best Unix technology available in the market," which is why more Oracle databases run on that OS than any other, Ellison said. He said Oracle's enterprise customers running both products will be able to experience new benefits by technical integration of the products.

Anyone else care to share some old Sun Solaris SPARC memories?

WCAI Wireless Policy Summit is Approaching

It was announced this week that Sean Maloney, executive vice president and chief sales and marketing officer at Intel Corporation will give the opening keynote address at the WCAI’s Wireless Policy Summit on May 5 in Washington, DC. The Summit, being held at the Grand Hyatt Hotel, will gather key officials from government and industry in an open forum for the exchange of ideas between attendees. This event is an ideal opportunity to meet face-to-face with top decision-makers who are shaping the future of the industry in 2009 and beyond. As the new Administration is acting on its commitment to bring broadband access to all Americans, the Summit will examine the role of wireless in the broadband stimulus package, universal service, open access, net neutrality, and more. WCAI web site

In light of the current economy, the summit seems well timed. On April 8th, the FCC adopted a notice of inquiry seeking public comment on the national broadband plan that the Commission is required to prepare under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA). Fred Campbell of the WCAI commmented on his blog stating - "Wireless broadband platforms should play a leading role in the Commission’s plan to ensure that every American has access to broadband capability. Wireless technology is the most cost-effective way to provide affordable broadband both to sparsely populated rural areas and urban centers. Moreover, as the only broadband platform that is capable of providing access everywhere, all the time, wireless broadband offers mobility – a connection to every person whether at home or on the go. These capabilities make wireless broadband essential to achieving the FCC’s goal of universal broadband connectivity.”

Microwave Journal and its sister publication Telecommunications will be keeping a close eye on the lobbying efforts to develop wireless broadband platforms to address the ARRA of 2009. Stay tuned as we will be working with all parties with a stake in this area. Meanwhile - are you heading to this forum? We'd love to hear from you.

MWJ April Issue is Out - Let the Battle Begin

Our April issue themed "Amplifiers and Oscillators" just came out with the lead story about the advantages and disadvantages of Si versus GaAs based semiconductor technologies for power amplifier applications (the discussion is contained to lower power levels, <1 W where they both have good performance). It discusses how Si has made many strides in this arena and could be the preferred technology for many applications.

There is no doubt that GaAs is usually better suited for higher power applications but in the high power realm, LDMOS (at lower frequencies) and GaN have made significant inroads into the market. So it seems GaAs is always getting squeezed in the market with competition on both ends. We will address this high power market in our June issue lead story as LDMOS and GaN face off. Please read the article and let us know your feedback - I am sure the GaAs proponents will have something to say!

GaAs Downturn Predicted to Not Be as Severe as 2001

Strategy Analytics issued a report “GaAs Industry Downturns 2001 vs. 2009," where the Strategy Analytics GaAs and Compound Technologies service reiterated previous projections of a 5% - 6% drop in GaAs industry revenues for 2009, and explains why the current downturn will not be as extreme for the GaAs industry as in 2001.

As SA said previously, the GaAs industry hit a wall in the last quarter of 2008. The effects of a global economic slowdown finally caught up with the handset market—and other end markets—in which GaAs technology is used. However, Strategy Analytics believes that the expanding demand for bandwidth coupled with better managed inventory corrections will save the industry from seeing the precipitous 25% drop suffered in 2001.

Broadband Stimulus Funds

One hot topic at CTIA and certainly in the broadband market is the pending stimulus money that will become available from the federal government by Sept 2010. The amount to be allocated to broadband projects is $7.2 billion which is a large sum but after it is broken down in projects, it might not look so large. There has to be at least one grant per state (plus DC and some territories) and 75% must go to rural projects so that is where the emphasis will be for providers. They are encouraging people to team up to take a more holistic view of projects but there will certainly be barriers to doing this. There are also incentives for providing services to unserved and underserved areas.

The legislation is still being worked and public inputs are still being taken but it could be very good for the wireless market providing the funds make it into the hands of the manufacturers. Does anyone has any insights or additional information about the stimulus funding?

CTIA Keynote Close Out

Steve Largent kicked off the final keynote with some highlights of the show such as Blackberry launching their apps store, the merging of wireless and medical applications and a few new product launches from the big carriers. He showed a video of how the industry is recycling and leading in "green" efforts. Largent then introduced the final speaker, the honorable Al Gore.

Gore reviewed the history of information distribution and how it has affected the balance of power from the few to the many. He stated there were only 50 web sites online about the time Clinton and he took office compared to today where there are billions. He drove the concept that we have a climate change, security and economic crisis. The common thread in these is our reliance on carbon based energy so we must act quickly to move away from that situation. He stated that wireless is a key tool to solving these problems and challenged everyone to contribute and lead the effort. He said we should have more than a financial incentive as it will improve mankind!

Many people at the show enjoyed the previous day's keynote on how advanced wireless medical applications were being developed. They showed how you could monitor your vital signs on your smart phone and send them to your doctor.

The other subject that was discussed on the floor was the government incentives for the expansion of broadband services around the country. It seems like the funding is still not completely defined but everyone is looking forward to them being released. However, if it is like most government programs, it could be some time before we see any release of those funds.

Did you see anything interesting at the show or have any comments?

Having Some Fun at CTIA

The PowerWave booth is always huge stretching across the middle of the main exhibition hall. This year they have a formula one race car simulator that is very realistic. You provide them with a little information and then get your ride. I have not come across any other interactive displays yet other than presentations and music.

After a long day at the show, we decided to stay in the Mirage and have a "little" sandwich at Carnegie's. Then came the turkey club that was about a foot high and the pastrami that has a full 2 pounds of meat. We did our best to finish them but we were not very successful. Our publisher, Carl, always poses for the food pictures.

A-GPS Big at CTIA

GPS is being commonly added to smart phones for location based information and services. However, GPS in these phones is not always that accurate and can have slow response times. Assisted GPS (A-GPS) will solve these problems with help from the cell towers to complement the internal GPS information being gathered by the phone. It is a hot topic at CTIA and companies are releasing test solutions to meet the needs of deploying them.


Agilent Technologies Inc. introduced GS-9000 A-GPS Design Verification Test systems designed around the 8960 wireless communications test set's new A-GPS assistance data messaging test capabilities. The capabilities support A-GPS validation, Total Isotropic Sensitivity testing and A-GPS pre-conformance testing for mobile devices. With this introduction, Agilent's 8960 test set offers the industry's best price/performance one-box tester for use in A-GPS base station emulation applications across the entire R&D lifecycle.


Spirent Communications, a mobile device, application, and wireless network testing company, has partnered with ETS-Lindgen, a provider of RF chambers and antenna measurement solutions, to integrate Spirent's UMTS Location Test System (ULTS) with ETS-Lindgren's EMQuest Antenna Measurement Software. This will enable the ability to test product in compliance with the upcoming 3.0 release of the CTIA's Test Plan for Mobile Station Over the Air Performance, which will become mandatory on all CTIA authorized test labs.

CTIA Central Hall

So each year I like to give out my own best booth award to the glamorous handset companies that go all out for CTIA. I think it usually comes down to LG and Samsung. Last year I liked the LG booth the best and although it was great this year, Samsung gets the award for the intriguing display pictured here. It is made up of individual cell phone images which constantly change.

The central hall was very busy in the afternoon and I enjoy going to the Asian country pavilions which each have several microwave component companies. They typically make some very good isolators, diplexers, duplexers and integrated assemblies. One that stood out was Admotech which makes components and was featuring their integrated front end WiMAX assembly.

I will be spending more time in this hall later since it is so large.

RF/Microwave Pavilion Opens at CTIA

The RF and Microwave Pavilion opened at CTIA today and the reception was strong. The Pavilion is located in the South hall toward the front on the main isle so traffic was good.

I visited all of the booths today in the pavilion and will have a complete wrap up in a few days after I return. But the most interesting product so far is the Peregrine UltraCMOS products. They are making products that are solving many of the high power, high linearity and fast switching times needed for multi-throw switches, digital attenuators and tunable circuits. Included is a photo of one of their patterned Si on Sapphire wafers. See the previous entry describing their release of new digital step attenuators and they have more products coming.

Another very interesting meeting I had was with Spirent who I was not very familiar with until today. They make testing solutions for real world testing of more types of wireless systems and announced that ETS-Lindgren now supports Spirent's UMTS Location Test System. This will allow wireless device manufacturers to quickly and easily add Spirent's A-GPS instrumentation to ETS-Lindgren's over the air wireless test solutions.

The Testing Solutions Pavilion is right beside the RF and microwave Pavilion so I was able to visit Anritsu and others there. Anritsu has some new USB power meters available that I will also describe in the wrap up after the show. The central hall has all of the large booths and country pavilions. I will have follow up on details about my visits to central hall next.

CTIA Kicks Off

I got in last night and Vegas seems as busy as ever - there are several trade shows in town besides CTIA which by itself is very large. I will be going over to the exhibition soon as it opens at 11 but the news is already pouring in. It looks like femtocells are hot while high capacity microwave backhaul and LTE continue to get a lot of attention.

Peregrine Semiconductor Corporation released three new UltraCMOS(TM) Digital Step Attenuators (DSAs) in the expansion of its popular 50 Ohm DSA line. Building on their high-performance predecessors, along with flexible serial and parallel interface logic these new HaRP(TM)- enhanced devices also offer highly flexible attenuation options by covering a 31.5dB attenuation range in 0.5 dB or 1.0 dB steps. They have really expanded their portfolio from basic switches a while back.

Agilent Technologies introduced its Signaling Analyzer Real Time (SART) for Femto. This first-to-market technology extends the test industry's most complete, end-to-end wireless analysis and troubleshooting solution to femtocells, which access wireless networks via consumer broadband connections. The platform supports both standards-based and proprietary femtocell implementations.

ETS-Lindgren announced an integrated solution that lets wireless device manufacturers test their products for compliance with the CTIA – The Wireless Association®’s new requirement for over the air performance testing of Assisted-GPS (A-GPS) enabled mobile devices. With the upcoming release of the Version 3.0 of the CTIA’s Test Plan for Mobile Station Over the Air Performance, this requirement will become mandatory for certification testing at all CTIA authorized test laboratories (CATLs).

Rogers Corporation is featuring a variety of its high-performance materials and is participating for the first time as part of the RF Zone. Visitors can discuss their design challenges with Rogers' applications engineers, and learn more about Rogers' state-of-the-art circuit-board materials.

Cobham sells M/A-COM Technology Solutions

It must have been very difficult in this market but Cobham pulled it off and sold the commercial components portion of M/A-COM, M/A-COM Technology Solutions (MTS), to John Ocampo for $30 million in cash, $30 million in senior loan notes secured on the MTS assets and $30 million dependent on future revenue in the period 2010 to 2012. John is a very experienced RF/microwave person in the industry having been on the board at Sirenza and started Vari-L many years ago. MTS is exhibiting in the RF/microwave Pavilion at CTIA.

At the time of the acquisition of M/A-COM on May 13, 2008, Cobham said it planned to divest the commercial business segment MTS, as it was not core to the Group's strategy (Excluded from the sale are cash and the freehold of the Walker Building in Lowell, Massachusetts valued at $10 million). MTS recorded revenue of some $275 million and operating profit of less than $10 million.

I think this is a good transaction for MTS and its employees to be purchased by an experienced entrepreneur and leader like John Ocampo. This leaves the original M/A-COM in 5 places (see if you can get all of the correct). Tyco Electronics maintains the private radio group, Cobham has the defense products, Micronetics has the RFID products, John Ocampo has the commercial products and Autoliv has the automotive products!