August 4, 2005 Newsletter

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Microwaves & RF UPDATE
PlanetEE - www.planetee.com
MWRF - www.mwrf.com
August 4, 2005
==============================

Greetings and welcome to your personal copy of PlanetEE's Microwaves 
and RF UPDATE e-newsletter. Please see below for address-change or 
subscribe/unsubscribe instructions.

Today's Table of Contents:
1. More Consolidation in CAE 
2. Agilent To Acquire Eagleware
3. CSR To Acquire UbiNetics' Software Business 
4. Amateur Radio Deployed On Space Station 
5. Cascade Enters Microfluidics Metrology Field 
6. FWT Venture Group Earns Antenna Patent 
7. Terabeam Completes Proxim Acquisition
8. RelComm Expands On-Line Relay Store 
9. Happenings - Conferences 


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1.  Viewpoint 
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More Consolidation in CAE

Consumer software companies constantly consolidate. Microsoft's 
track record speaks for itself, allowing the firm to assume a 
near-monopolistic position in the computer world. In the engineering 
world, however, software company takeovers can often become 
traumatic for users who must adapt to changes in technical support 
and sometimes even changes in operating systems.

This week's major computer-aided-engineering (CAE) news is Agilent's 
"absorption" of Eagleware, which itself had recently merged with 
Elanix. The move is certainly a testimony to the fine work and 
persistence of vision of Eagleware founder Randy Rhea as well as the 
management skills of current Eagleware president Todd Cutler. 
Eagleware has built a strong reputation on the accuracy and 
accessibility of its tools--one of the "little" CAE companies that 
truly understood its customers needs and responded quickly to them.

These low-cost but effective tools now become part of the much 
larger Agilent-EEsof, perhaps best known for their Advanced Design 
System (ADS) suite of software tools. As most engineers will tell 
you, if ADS can't model it, it can't be modeled. They will also tell 
you that ADS can take years to learn (let alone master). It should 
be interesting to see how Eagleware's user-friendly products will 
evolve as part of the Agilent-EEsof portfolio.


JACK BROWNE
Technical Director


*************
2. News
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Agilent To Acquire Eagleware

Agilent Technologies (Palo Alto, CA) has signed a definitive 
agreement with privately held Eagleware Corp. (Norcross, GA) to 
acquire the software business Eagleware-Elanix. The move would 
combine mostly complementary lines of high-frequency software 
modeling tools under the Agilent EEsof name. Agilent EEsof plans to 
offer jobs to the majority of Eagleware-Elanix employees. For one of 
those Eagleware-Elanix employees, CEO Todd Cutler, the move 
represents a homecoming of sorts since he was with 
Hewlett-Packard/Agilent EEsof prior to taking the helm of Eagleware 
from founder Randy Rhea.

For Agilent, this move adds a line of relatively easy-to-use and 
versatile engineering tools to its family of high-level circuit and 
system design tools, such as the Advanced Design System (ADS) suite 
of software programs. For Eagleware-Elanix, the transaction marks 
the culmination of steady growth since its inception in 1989, 
including the recent acquisition of Elanix (Westlake Village, CA), 
best known for its system-level and digital-signal-processing (DSP) 
tools. 
Agilent Technologies ---> http://nls.planetee.com/t?ctl=1015F:FFCBF
Eagleware-Elanix ---> http://nls.planetee.com/t?ctl=1015C:FFCBF

*********
3. News
*********
CSR To Acquire UbiNetics' Software Business

Cambridge Silicon Radio (CSR) has entered into an agreement with 
UbiNetics Holdings Limited (Cambridge, England) to acquire UbiNetics' 
software business. The acquisition, for $48 million US, will be 
financed entirely from CSR's existing cash resources. UbiNetics specializes 
in communication protocol software for mobile telephone manufacturers. 
The move provides CSR with a strong design team to accelerate its 
existing software developments in Bluetooth, Wi-Fi and ultrawideband 
(UWB) technologies. UbiNetics, which has developed protocol stacks 
for GSM, GPRS, EDGE, WCDMA/UMTS, and HSDPA since 1999, has 170 
engineers in Bangalore, India and Shenzhen, China, in addition to 
its Cambridge UK headquarters. John Hodgson, CEO of CSR, noted that 
"In acquiring UbiNetics, we are exploiting our distinctive 
capabilities by extending CSR's capacity for sustainable innovation 
and by improving our ability to be flexible to market needs."
Cambridge Silicon Radio ---> http://nls.planetee.com/t?ctl=10165:FFCBF
UbiNetics ---> http://nls.planetee.com/t?ctl=10161:FFCBF


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4. News
*********
Amateur Radio Deployed On Space Station

Yesterday's walk in space in the vicinity of the International Space 
Station (ISS) accomplished more than just repairing insulation. 
Astronaut Soichi Noguchi unfolded a Passive Experiment Container 
(PEC) to activate a PCSat2 amateur radio package mounted on the 
exterior of the ISS. Noguchi, on the space walk with Astronaut Steve 
Robinson pulled a couple of mylar strips to deploy the radio's 
antennas. The PCSat2 radio, which was built by US Naval Academy 
students, will operate in cooperation with the amateur radio on the 
ISS, providing a 10-m PSK31 multiple-use transponder, FM voice 
repeater, and AX.25 packet system. The station should be fully 
operational in a few days, with early telemetry available on the 
alternate downlink frequency of 437.975 MHz during the first few 
days of activation.
American Radio Relay League ---> http://nls.planetee.com/t?ctl=10163:FFCBF
US Naval Academy ---> http://nls.planetee.com/t?ctl=10164:FFCBF


**********
5. News
**********
Cascade Enters Microfluidics Metrology Field

Best known for its microwave wafer probes and on-wafer measurement 
systems, Cascade Microtech (Beaverton, OR) is entering a new field: 
microfluidics metrology. Hoping to accelerate life science research 
in microfluidics, the firm has announced its L-Series Microfluidics 
Metrology Systems for testing microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) 
devices that control microliter amounts of fluid. By reducing the 
time and cost per test, microfluidic-based devices are becoming more 
practical for pharmaceutical drug discovery and bioscience 
research. The L-Series Microfluidics Metrology Systems incorporate 
patent-pending microports that enable faster and more efficient 
microfluidics measurements. The L-Series is available in four system 
bundles (L100, L200, L300, L400) that offer a full range of pricing and 
functionality to meet the specific needs of the researcher. 
Cascade Microtech ---> http://nls.planetee.com/t?ctl=10156:FFCBF


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*********
6. News
*********
FWT Venture Group Earns Antenna Patent

The Focused Wave Technology (FWT) Venture Group (Las Vegas, NV) was 
awarded US Patent 6,914,588 last month for its innovative FWT 
approach to antenna design. The method yields half-wave performance 
in a fraction of the size of conventional half-wave antennas. The 
technique encapsulates three-dimensional antenna elements in a 
spatially configured dielectric material to effectively achieve the 
electromagnetic (EM) fields of a much larger structure. The 
miniature antennas are also conformal in nature, making them ideal 
for installation in military airframes. The FWT Venture Group is a 
joint venture between FWT developer Marc Popek and the University of 
Nevada at Las Vegas. The group was formed in October 2002 to 
commercialize new technology.
FWT Venture Group ---> http://nls.planetee.com/t?ctl=1015E:FFCBF


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7. News
*********
Terabeam Completes Proxim Acquisition

Terabeam Wireless has completed its acquisition of nearly all of the 
assets of Proxim Corporation. The combined company provides a wide 
range of broadband communications technologies and products, 
including turnkey Wi-Fi indoor and outdoor systems, WiMAX systems, 
and wireless Gigabit Ethernet systems. Most of Proxim's employees 
have joined Terabeam, with Kevin Duffy, formerly Proxim's President 
and CEO, becoming Terabeam's President and COO. In addition, David 
Olson, former Proxim senior Vice-President of Global Sales and 
Operations, will retain that title at Terabeam. According to Duffy, 
"this union creates a new force with a powerhouse of talent and 
technology." 
Terabeam Wireless ---> http://nls.planetee.com/t?ctl=1015D:FFCBF


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8. News
***************
RelComm Expands On-Line Relay Store

RelComm Technologies has announced the expansion of its on-line 
store for RF relays, The RF Relay Store. Visits to the on-line store 
can purchase from one to ten components per line item using a credit 
card. Relays include single-pole, single-throw (SPST) through 
single-pole, ten-throw (SP10T) units. A variety of configurations 
are available, with connectors for printed-circuit-board (PCB) 
mounting. Relays operate from DC to 18 GHz with a starting price of 
$45.00.
The RF Relay Store ---> http://nls.planetee.com/t?ctl=10159:FFCBF


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9.  Happenings - Conferences
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RF and Wireless Communications Summit
August 17, 2005
Austin, TX
http://nls.planetee.com/t?ctl=10154:FFCBF

Bipolar Circuits and Technology Meeting (BCTM)
October 10-11, 2005
Santa Barbara, CA
http://nls.planetee.com/t?ctl=1015A:FFCBF

IEEE Compound Semiconductor IC Symposium 
(formerly the GaAs IC Symposium)
October 30 - November 2, 2005
Palm Springs, CA
http://nls.planetee.com/t?ctl=10160:FFCBF

Wireless Congress 2005: Systems and Applications
November 9-10, 2005
Munich, Germany
http://nls.planetee.com/t?ctl=10155:FFCBF

Automatic RF Techniques Group (ARFTG)
66th Microwave Measurements Conference
December 1-2, 2005
Marriot Hotel, Washington, DC
http://nls.planetee.com/t?ctl=10162:FFCBF


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