Saturday 08th May saw Thorn, Ashwell & Keeley meet at Wembley Stadium for the 2010 FA Carlsberg Trophy Final.

Don't recognise the players…not surprising really. Valerie & David from ANDtr & Darren Keeley from Jaltek IDMS went to Wembley to watch (& not play unfortunately) Barrow & Stevenage Borough battle it out to lift the FA Trophy.

The day, kindly organised by Jaltek, celebrated Jaltek joining AND's approved partner programme - a growing network of companies offering specialist services & skills to AND's clients.

With locations in Luton & Bracknell Jaltek offers specialist design, manufacturing & testing services with expertise in the manufacture & testing of complex surface mount assemblies & embedded systems.

The day kicked-off with lunch at a restaurant close to the stadium. Following the banquet, the group settled in the corporate box at Wembley to watch the game.

While both ANDtr & Jaltek were backing the local team, it was to be Barrow's day with 2-1 win over Stevenage Borough - a somewhat fitting result as the only Barrow-born player in the squad scored the winner in the second period of extra time.

Useful links
Jaltek [www.jaltek.com]
Wembley Stadium [www.wemblystadium]

The beginning of March saw the Institution of Engineering & Technology (IET) host it's 2010 Smart Metering event.

Following the announcement back in December '09 by DECC (the Department of Energy & Climate Change, formerly Department of Trade & Industry) that gas & electricity smart meters would be rolled out by energy suppliers to every home in Britain by the end of 2020 - the aim of the conference was to bring leading minds in the industry together with government, regulators, key innovators as well as the energy networks to discuss the key issues of setting standards & hardware supply.

The event was a lively mixture of presentations & panel discussions, with guest speakers from Centrica, DECC, EDF Energy, Energy Savings Trust, E.ON, Google, IBM, National Grid & Ofgem (…to name a few). Complementing the presentations & panel sessions was a small exhibition featuring stands from a handful of selected companies.

AND Technology Research was invited to the event by semiconductor partner Renesas, who was exhibiting at the show. From its extensive portfolio of communication, interface & security products Renesas featured its Power Line Communication (PLC) & Zigbee solutions in addition to embedded security technology, while part of the stand was dedicated to AND's Zigbee module (based on Renesas silicon) & profile test suite in addition to AMiHo's (another of Renesas's Alliance Partners) Wireless M-Bus solution.
The exhibition provided not only a platform to showcase technology but a forum to promote discussion between attendees & the exhibiting companies. AND were on hand with the Renesas team & AMiHO to discuss with delegates various aspects of smart metering, the challenges the energy industry are facing along with the technology available today that will help to drive the initiative & industry forward.

Useful links
IET Smart Metering 2010 [conferences.theiet.org]
Renesas [www.renesas.eu]
AMiHo [www.amiho.co.uk]

AND joins Cambridge Wireless
LONDON/THEYDON BOIS, UK - 05th February 2010

The start of 2010, saw AND join Cambridge Wireless.

A leading & vibrant Wireless community, Cambridge Wireless is a network of companies interested in the application of wireless technologies. Through a mixture of high profile VIP networking activities & over 13 Special Interest Groups (SIGs), each focussed on a specific technology &/or market area, the mission of Cambridge Wireless is to enable like-minded companies in the wireless sector to network & debate the latest developments in the industry & find commercial opportunities for mutual collaboration.

With members including: Alcatel-Lucent, ARM, BT, Google Mobile, Microsoft Research, Motorola, Nokia, Northrop Grumman, Ofcom, Orange, Philips & T-Mobile (to name a few) the community provides a diverse range of companies & individuals to discuss new ideas & wireless technology solutions with.

AND itself has been actively involved in wireless sector since the early 90's, working on development projects in wireless security & door entry systems back then, through to wireless remote controls & game controllers for entertainment systems in recent years. Today in 2010 with the number of wireless enable development projects undertaken by the company rising & also ANDs recognised expertise in Zigbee, joining Cambridge Wireless was a logical choice, as Steven Kear, Programmes Director explained: "Over the past few years not only we have seen the number of customer projects requiring wireless communication double, but the expertise we have gained in this arena will see us launching some exciting new wireless products of our own this year" he added "joining Cambridge Wireless is a natural step for AND & we look forward to the collaboration opportunities this will surely bring".

Useful links
Cambridge Wireless [www.cambridgewireless.co.uk]