This year the Embedded Systems Conference (ESC) moved to Farnborough & seemed much better for it. Conference rooms & trade stands were juxtaposed at the show making it easy to view exhibits in between the various presentations held throughout the event.

ESC was held over 3 days with representatives from all sectors of the industry present, from semiconductor manufacturers & distributors to software houses & government support agencies.

The usual array of design/test tools & development boards were on show together with PCB & other manufacturing services. Interestingly however, were the developments in display technology - particularly OLED's (Organic Light Emitting Diode) with a number of companies presenting different offerings on their stands' at the show.

ANDs view of the show was that ESC seemed to have benefited from the move with a genuine buzz being felt & high quality visitors in attendance. The keynote Q&A session on 'State & Trends' in embedded software was a full & lively with debate - we already we understand, the 2010 show is in the advanced planning achieved."

Useful links
Embedded Systems Conference [esc-uk.techinsightsevents.com]

AND at the China 60 Celebrations

Lance Jiang represented AND at a celebration for the 60th anniversary of the People's Republic of China.

Held in Central Hall Westminster, London, the 'black-tie' celebration consisted of a reception, a display of Chinese culture, plus speeches from Chinese leaders.

AND has developed a number of important ties with the Chinese business community in recent years & in 2007 saw AND exhibiting in China. Steven Kear, AND's Programmes Director, has been developing these links with help from the UK Trade & Investment (UKTI) organisation.

Steven said, "AND's offerings in Digital Broadcasting & Energy monitoring are both areas of significant interest to the Chinese. As a small company China seems rather daunting, but we take the view the business is about people so we're keen to see what can be achieved."

Useful links
China 60 [www.china60.org.uk]
Chinese Students Scholars Association UK (CSS@UK) [www.cssauk.org.uk]
China-Britain Business Council (CBBC) [www.cccme.org.cn]
UK Trade & Investment (UKTI) [www.uktradeinvest.gov.uk]

National Electronics Week 2009

June saw the return of National Electronics Week (NEW) to London's Earls Court 2. In only its second year of operation this year's show hosted a more diverse cross-section of companies & organisations from the electronics industry than last - covering R&D, design all the way through to test & manufacturing.

The change in format saw the main hall shared with Electronics Weekly live, which in addition to providing an additional show conference (EW Live) also attracted businesses to fill the stands from its own extensive reader list.

Without doubt attendance to the show was low over the three days (16th - 18th). However, given the very difficult economic climate the numbers that did attend were encouraging.

Highlights of the three-day event included the Bloodhound SSC team; designed to travel at 1,000mph, Bloodhound SSC is Richard Nobel's next adventure into the world of land speed record breaking. With a 600bhp Menard V12 racing engine simply acting as a pump to the Flacon Project hybrid rocket that provides ½ the vehicle's thrust, you start to gain some idea on how incredibly powerful this car will be. The remainder of the trust will come from a Eurojet EJ200 turbofan, normally found in a Eurofighter Typhoon, which was on display at the show.

However, this project is not just about going fast as Richard, Project Director explains:" Our primary objective is to ignite young peoples' interest in maths, science and engineering in the most exciting way possible".

Another high-spot of the show was the panel discussion to debate 'Are there too many constraints on modern electronics design?' part of the UK Design Innovation Conference organised by Premier EDA Solutions.

Harry Tee, Chairman of the Electronics Leadership Council, chaired the panel of hand-picked UK electronics industry champions consisting of: Huvin Thompson from ABB, Nick Kings from Ericsson, David Brooks formally from Snell & Wilcox, Richard Hollinshead from Meridian Audio & AND's CEO & Consultant Valerie Thorn.

While the debate covered many areas ranging from standards & regulations, through to economic pressures & overseas competition, inevitably the discussion turned to skills shortages & encouraging young people to choose engineering as a career.

It was highlighted that while indeed there has been a reduction in industry training, compounded in part by the demise of huge electronics corporations offering a large number of apprenticeships as Kings noted, one of the key problems facing the industry today is the negative perception of engineering. "Innovation has lost its value" Valerie warned.

The panel discussed how it was important to re-ignite interest in innovation & engineering & how the industry itself also needs to engage with young people in order to survive.

Although only in its 2nd year, National Electronics Week is a clear indication that the UK industry has much to be proud of even in what feels like the most difficult of economic times. Stands are already being reserved for next year's show & during these tough periods innovation thrives, so NEW 2010 is certainly something to note down in your diary.

Useful links
National Electronic Week [www.nationalelectronicsweek.co.uk]
Electronics Weekly Live [www.electronicsweeklylive.co.uk]
Bloodhound SSC [www.bloodhoundssc.com]
Premier EDA Solutions [www.eda.co.uk]

Small business of the year finalist

On the 27th April it emerged that NEC Electronics Corporation (NEC Electronics), Renesas Technology Corp. (Renesas), NEC Corporation (NEC), Hitachi, Ltd. (Hitachi)For over 13 years Newsquest Essex, publishers of the regional Gazette & Weekly News newspapers, have been organising Business Awards across the county.

Designed to project Essex as progressive area with developing businesses, organisations & individuals, each year the awards are open to the nomination of companies & business men/women who have demonstrated their commitment to hard work in making their companies a success.

The Awards are sub-divided into various categories ranging from 'Environmental Awareness' & 'Staff Training/Development' to 'Young Entrepreneur of the Year'. This year AND Technology Research were proud to be nominated for the prestigious 'Small Business of the Year' award - sponsored by the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB).

Having completed an extensive appraisal form & then subsequent visit assessment by the judges, AND were honoured to be selected as a finalist in this category.

The recognition continues on from past success in Essex Countrywide Business Awards, with a win for the company in the Technology Category back in 2002.

On receiving the news Steven Kear, Programmes Director at AND commented "I'm delighted that that the judges have recognised the hard work & dedication all the team at AND apply on a day-to-day basis" adding that "it's great to see even during these tough economic times, AND continues to build on its award winning success".

Finalists from all 12 award categories were invited to the Cliffs Pavilion in Southend for an 'Oscars-style' Black-tie dinner dance to receive their awards.

Useful links
Newsquest Essex [www.nqe.info]
Federation of Small Businesses [www.fsb.org.uk]

UK & China: Partners in business

Late February saw AND Technology Research (AND) invited to the Park Plaza Riverbank hotel on the South Embankment of the River Thames for a unique symposium; 'UK & China: Partners in Business'.

Minister of Commerce, H.E. Mr Chen Deming, lead a large delegation of over 150 Chinese companies to the UK on the 27th February 2009. In conjunction with this visit, UK Trade & Investment (UKTI), the China-Britain Business Council (CBBC) & the China Chamber of Commerce for Import & Export of Machinery & Electronic Products (CCCME), hosted the afternoon event where AND was one of 500 business selected from the UK to attend the special meeting occasion.

In addition to business networking & sector-themed exhibits there were keynote speeches from Rt. Hon. Lord Mandelson, Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise & Regulatory Reform & H.E. Mr Chen Deming, Minister of Commerce.

A key theme of the event was the illustration of the strong ties that already exist between the two countries, indeed Lord Mandelson in his speech reaffirmed this, highlighting how "UK-China trade has grown at double figure rates for most of a decade. In terms of value, British businesses are now the biggest European investors in China, with projects worth over $15 billion"

Lord Mandelson also handed over a memory stick containing details of some 1000 British companies (including AND) to Minister Chen that are ready to sell quality goods & services to China now as "an aide memoire" so that the minister & his staff could continue to build the relationships with UK companies.

Steven Kear, AND's representative at the symposium met not only with business leaders from a range of Chinese companies that had travelled to the UK as part of the visiting delegation, but also spoke with contacts in key UK/China business sectors from both the CBBC & UKTI. Steven commented "it truly has been unique occasion, not only have I been provided with assistance & some useful contacts with actually doing business in China, but I have been given the opportunity to speak with leaders from some fascinating Chinese companies - I hope this could be the start of a very interesting new chapter for AND".

Useful links
UKTI [www.uktradeinvest.gov.uk]
CBBC [www.cbbc.org]
CCCME [www.cccme.org.cn]

3rd largest semi. company?

On the 27th April it emerged that NEC Electronics Corporation (NEC Electronics), Renesas Technology Corp. (Renesas), NEC Corporation (NEC), Hitachi, Ltd. (Hitachi), & Mitsubishi Electric Corporation (Mitsubishi Electric) announced that they had agreed to enter into talks to discuss the merger of NEC Electronics & Renesas.

If it goes ahead the fusion of Renesas & NEC electronics will create the world's third-largest semiconductor business with combined revenues of $14bn.

The Japanese government has been urging consolidation of their semiconductor industry for many years, as they see this is the way to provide the most competitive offerings in the world marketplace. The rapidly-expanding system-on-chip (SoC) arena where NEC Electronics & Renesas have both focused in recent years is a driver. NEC is leading producer of SoCs for digital consumer electronics, while Renesas is a well established manufacturer of SoCs for mobile phones & automotive applications.

In addition to the SoC business, MCU & discrete products streams will make up the three main product groups of the newly formed organisation. In order for this merger to succeed, in terms of the discrete semiconductor business the company will need to develop new strategies & innovations that generate synergies with MCUs, while the definition of new initiatives & areas of focus that will engage a diverse range of technological fields will be required in order to maximise the potential of the new semiconductor product line-up.

If everything goes to schedule it will see the new company formed on 1st April 2010.

AND is a Renesas Platinum partner & has worked for many years with both organisations feel that this will help to enforce stability for both companies, which have found their sector to be far from immune to the global credit crisis.

Useful links
Renesas Technology Europe [eu.renesas.com]
NEC Electronics Europe [eu.necel.com]

Viva Las Vegas! CES 2009

Despite the economic gloom that looked set to put a dampener on proceedings, the 42nd annual Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas can be thought of as a great success.

Although both exhibitor & visitor numbers were down on previous years, there was still a 'buzz' around the exhibition halls as exhibitors unveiled their latest cutting-edge innovations for 2009…& beyond.

As usual there were plenty of clever gadgets & innovative ideas on display, unfortunately far too many to justifiably detail here, but here are some of the key trends AND noted from the show.

Netbooks - cheap, light, ultra-portable computers again drew the crowds. A massive hit with consumers in 2008, this year saw a new raft of netbooks make their debut. Of these the Asus T91 with its swivel touchscreen transforming it from ordinary mini laptop to tablet-style PC & the Sony Vaio P-series with its 8in screen, plenty of power & dual boot facility allowing rapid boot up to type out a quick email, or normal Windows Vista boot, proved the most popular.

Wireless home - with home audio systems & televisions that could communicate wirelessly to one another, & Blu-ray DVD players & games consoles that could connect wire-free to giant wall-mounted photo frames, manufacturers are keen to tap into the fact that no one really likes the tangle of cables associated with many of today's hi-tech audio visual equipment offerings. This leaves only the power cord…for the time being. While still in the experimental stages, a number of exhibitors showed off charging devices that could recharge mobile phones & iPods without the use of plugs.

3DTV - it remains to be seen whether consumers will ever be prepared to sit on their sofa's wearing 3D glasses to enjoy the "next big thing". However, as is always the case with gadget shows, TV's dominated again this year, but with a twist - almost every major manufacturer including Sony, LG & Samsung had a 3D television to offer consumers.

While the automotive sector has felt the full force of the economic slowdown, key innovations & developments were on show at CES ready & waiting to be integrated into tomorrow's cars. Indeed with the run up to Christmas '08 AND was very busy preparing for one of these showcases which debut at the '09 show. An infotainment system project that commenced at AND mid 2007 for one of our large automotive customers was launched at CES 2009 to much public & trade interest (want to know more…details to follow next month).

With rapidly diminishing budgets many businesses may question ploughing money into development projects & research, really the whole essence of CES. Indeed it has cause some commentators to question whether the show will be able to remain with its current format & as large as it is, but as Microsoft's Steve Ballmer summed up "It's the power of ideas and innovation that drive us forward, regardless of the economic environment," commenting "Companies and industries that continue to pursue innovation will deliver significant competitive advantages."

In order for the tech sector to ride out this storm it is important that entrepreneurs, business & 'Blue Chip' companies alike remain bullish about the industry's prospects. Continuing to invest in innovation & research will not only create gadgets to secure the success of future CES exhibitions, but the products that will eventually encourage businesses & importantly the public to spend - damming the R&D investment stream may save money now, but when your competitors have continued to invest & develop their offerings & the economy picks up, can you afford to compete in tomorrow's marketplace with yesterday's products?

Useful links
2009 International CES [www.cesweb.org]