News briefs

Several manufacturers of test and measurement equipment have banded together to form the 2004 Automated Test Summit, a series of full-day events that will tour North America between March and June. These complimentary sessions will include technical presentations, demonstrations, product training, and case studies. Presenters will discuss various topics, including ways to minimize cycle times, redeploy test equipment, and optimize throughput.

The sessions are being presented by National Instruments along with Flextronics Test, JTAG Technologies, SigmaQuest, Tektronix, Thermotron, and Virginia Panel. They will be held in 12 locations throughout the US, Canada, and Mexico. You can find the locations—and register for a session—by visiting the NI Web site. www.ni.com/testsummit.

In its new PXI 2.1 specifications, the PXI Systems Alliance (PXISA) has separated the hardware and software specifications so each can evolve as needed. The recently revised specs include enhanced power requirements, which allow designers to add more functionality to their designs; provisions for a dual-stack 3U/6U architecture, which lets a chassis support more instruments; geographic addressing, which improves slot and chassis identification for PXI modules; and an improved hardware description framework, which improves PXI resource management. The new specs are available on the PXISA Web site. www.pxisa.org.

Inovys, a manufacturer of test systems for system-on-chip (SOC) designs, has raised $16.3 million in a recent round of financing. The company will use the funds to expand its worldwide marketing and sales programs and to drive R&D. Inovys has now raised a total of $38.8 million in three rounds. www.inovys.com.

The online technical-spec search engine GlobalSpec has announced plans to debut several additions to its SpecSearch Web tool. By Q2, engineers will be able to search through application notes, tutorials, technology briefs, and case histories—in addition to the current product database—to find the products and information they need.

SpecSearch has been in operation since 1996, helping engineers find products, services, and suppliers. Globalspec also runs a co-branded site for SpecSearch with Test & Measurement World, catering to the needs of test and measurement engineers. In addition, GlobalSpec has partnered with other companies such as eBay, Autodesk, and the American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE). These partnerships have helped expand the registered-user database, with the total number of online visitors growing 85%, to 910,000, in 2003. Currently, the site houses more than 10,000 supplier catalogs from which engineers can search for 50 million parts. www.globalspec.com.

Credence Systems (Milpitas, CA) has announced a new strategic marketing agreement between its Optonics division and Infrared Laboratories (Tucson, AZ; www.irlabs.com), a provider of design-verification and diagnostic tools for semiconductor designs. Optonics will become the exclusive distributor for Infrared Laboratories' infrared emission microscope (IREM) system. The agreement enables Optonics (which specializes in photon emission-based optical diagnostic technology) to offer both static and dynamic photon emission products for debug and failure analysis of advanced ICs.

In addition, Credence has reported that Micrel Semiconductor (San Jose, CA; www.micrel.com) has purchased multiple units of Credence's ASL 3000 and ASL 1000 mixed-signal testers. Micrel will use the test systems for high-volume production test of its linear and mixed-signal ICs. www.credence.com.

Communications. Acterna (Germantown, MD) has announced that it returned to profitability in its fiscal third quarter, which ended December 31. Following its debt restructuring on October 14, 2003, the provider of test and network management products for telecommunications and cable networks had a positive net income and generated a positive cash flow for the period of October 15 to December 31. www.acterna.com.

Test equipment. In announcing its financial results for Q1 2004 (ended January 31), Agilent Technologies reports that its orders of $1.73 billion for the quarter are 27% above the orders for Q1 2003. Revenues during the quarter were $1.64 billion, 16% ahead of last year. www.agilent.com.

ASICs. In-STAT/MDR, a high-tech market-research firms, has reported that Japan represents the largest consumer of ASICs, with an estimated market share of 37.4% in 2003. In-STAT forecasts, however, that Japan's market share will decline through 2008 as products will be transferred to other countries for semiconductor processing and installation. www.instat.com.