Electronics Automation

Brooks Automation Stock To Go Ex-dividend Tomorrow (BRKS)

2011-12-07T04:10:00.000-08:00

The ex-dividend date for Brooks Automation (Nasdaq:BRKS) is tomorrow, December 7, 2011. Owners of shares as of market close today will be eligible for a dividend of 8 cents per share. At a price of $10.09 as of 9:30 a.m. ET, the dividend yield is 3.2%.
The average volume for Brooks Automation has been 415,100 shares per day over the past 30 days. Brooks Automation has a market cap of $657.5 million and is part of the technology sector and electronics industry. Shares are up 11.2% year to date as of the close of trading on Monday.
Brooks Automation, Inc. provides automation, vacuum, and instrumentation solutions to semiconductor manufacturing industry worldwide. The company's Brooks Product Solutions segment provides a range of products critical to technology equipment productivity and availability. The company has a P/E ratio of five, equal to the average electronics industry P/E ratio and below the S&P 500 P/E ratio of 17.7.

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TheStreet Ratings rates Brooks Automation as a hold. The company's strengths can be seen in multiple areas, such as its largely solid financial position with reasonable debt levels by most measures, notable return on equity and attractive valuation levels. However, as a counter to these strengths, we also find weaknesses including unimpressive growth in net income and feeble growth in the company's earnings per share. You can view the full Brooks Automation Ratings Report.
http://www.thestreet.com/story/11334171/1/brooks-automation-stock-to-go-ex-dividend-tomorrow-brks.html

Design Automation at the Crossroads

2011-11-07T03:52:00.001-08:00

Embedded and electronic system design teams face the challenge of reducing development time and costs while improving quality, performance, and functionality. However, increased system complexity is raising the cost of verification, in some cases to as much as 70% of the overall project cost. As verification consumes more time, it eliminates opportunities for engineers to create product differentiation through design optimisation and to focus on innovation.

This problem manifests itself differently across industries:

Engineers at electronics OEMs and suppliers try every possible verification technology, hoping to avoid the re-spin that will halt their race-to-market with the next generation device.
Automotive and aerospace engineers conduct extensive design and code reviews to confirm software in dozens of embedded processors meets design requirements.
Industrial automation engineers struggle to design and integrate increasingly complex control and mechatronic systems with hardware prototypes in the lab.

These scenarios share two common problems: the difficulty of determining whether designs and implementations meet requirements; and the waste involved with manual testing and rework. These challenges stem from fundamental workflow gaps across stages of development and disconnected tools used by component design teams. Even if each component is designed well and tested extensively, issues related to requirements and integration are often found towards the end of the development process.

Anticipating an economic upturn following the current recession, industry-leading companies are looking for ways to seize an advantage over rivals by simultaneously reducing their costs of test and verification while strengthening their ability to develop innovative new products faster. They accomplish these seemingly contradictory goals by adopting early verification with Model-Based Design. Early verification starts with an executable system specification that can be used for virtual integration and testing prior to hardware/software design partitioning and component implementation. This approach enables multidomain system modelling and simulation across component boundaries, as well as reuse of system models as a test harness throughout the hardware and software development process.

Early verification can be approached from a variety of starting points that accommodate existing development flows. Leading companies in industries as varied as consumer electronics, automotive, industrial automation, and aerospace have adopted early verification, improving their development efficiency by reducing testing time and effort, and finding design flaws earlier. Testing is no longer performed only at the end of the design process, nor is verification limited to checking the result of implementation transformations. Rather, engineers at these companies use system models to verify that requirements are met throughout the development process. The end result is that engineers can cycle through design iterations faster, producing better designs and implementations that work the first time. This efficiency shortens development time, reduces verification costs, and brings new products to market faster.
http://www.electronicsnews.com.au/news/design-automation-at-the-crossroads

IMS says industrial automation electronics equipment market to exceed expectations in 2010

2010-05-21T02:15:00.001-07:00

Results from a new service published by IMS Research (Wellingborough, UK) indicate a strong first quarter performance for the industrial automation electronics equipment market in 2010, after a revenue decline of more than 14% in 2009. The second half of 2009 showed substantial quarter-on-quarter growth for automation specialists, thus beginning a gradual recovery for the market.

In spite of general negative sentiment among many vendors in this space, IMS Research predicts strong growth for most automation equipment in 2010 and 2011. First quarter 2010 growth will likely have been 25% over that of first quarter 2009, during which all regional markets experienced the highest declines. Robust order books developed through both restocking efforts and new orders are expected to lead to a similarly strong second quarter in 2010. Based on a healthy anticipated first half of 2010, even a flat second half will result in close to double-digit revenue growth for most product areas.

Adrian Lloyd, IMS Research Executive Vice President, a co-author of this report, said “This is the first time we’ve consolidated top-level findings from our entire automation portfolio into a single report. It’s quite astounding to see the size of collective revenues accounted for by this market. Not only have we consolidated key data from our own primary research, but also we have compared the results against indices generated from aggregates of quarterly filings of major, publicly-owned industrial electronic vendors. The two sets of data correlate very well, and have generated very interesting findings.”

After several years of rapid expansion accompanied by double-digit growth rates, the motors and motor controls markets were battered by the economic downturn. However, these markets are poised for a substantial recovery in 2010, with a return to double-digit growth in areas such as AC induction motors, DC brushless motors, motion control equipment, and AC & DC drives projected to help lift overall market growth to more than 8% in 2010.

Automation equipment markets, such as PLCs, IPCs, and I/O modules rely heavily on machinery production growth, unlike the motors and motor controls market, which also benefits from a large retrofit business. Following an unprecedented contraction of nearly 20% during 2009, IMS Research projects machinery production will enjoy moderate growth in 2010, providing the platform for automation equipment revenues to grow by 7.6% during the same period. The global automation equipment market was estimated to be worth $40.9 billion in 2009, nearly 55% of the total industrial automation electronics equipment market.

Although most product markets will experience positive growth in 2010, project-based equipment markets are anticipated to recover more slowly than the other equipment markets. Equipment dependent on Greenfield and Brownfield projects tend to have longer lead-times, and therefore lag the general economy. Most project-based business equipment, such as medium voltage motors and drives, and DCS enjoyed growth in 2009 while all other equipment markets contracted. Thus, in effect, the impact of the recent recession is projected to be felt more profoundly during 2010 in these areas.

Additional findings of the report include:

· During the economic downturn the market for industrial automation electronics equipment was estimated to have declined 14.3% in terms of revenues, from $87.4 billion in 2008 to $74.9 billion in 2009, a decrease of $12.5 billion.

· The low voltage AC and DC drives market, estimated to be worth $8.6 billion in 2009, managed to outperform the low voltage induction motors market, thanks in part to the energy efficiency benefits that drives provide through retrofitting.

· The market for PLCs and I/O modules are tied closely to new machinery and, as a result, experienced significant declines during 2009; however both are predicted to see double digit growth in 2010.

· Sales in Asia Pacific were buffered by China’s GDP, which remained positive during 2009. Following the region’s strong early recovery from the downturn, it is predicted to grow by 9.6% in 2010, and is forecast to become the largest regional market for industrial automation electronics equipment by 2011.

An emphasis in this study has been given to the structure of the industrial automation electronics equipment market. Market share estimates based on 2008 revenues include revenue for industrial automation electrical hardware only, excluding any additional revenues generated through software and services or by any mechanical solution. Additional estimates for both motors & controls and automation equipment by region were also produced as part of the study.
http://www.optoiq.com/index/machine-vision-imaging-processing/display/vsd-article-display/2067770420/articles/optoiq2/machine-vision___image/applications-__markets/factory-automation/2010/5/IMS-says-industrial-automation-electronics-equipment-market-to-exceed-expectations-in-2010.html

47th Design Automation Conference Announces DAC Pavilion Lineup

2010-05-07T21:16:00.001-07:00

LOUISVILLE, Colo., Apr 26, 2010 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- The 47th Design Automation Conference (DAC), the premier conference devoted to electronic design and design automation, today announced its DAC Pavilion program, featuring 17 sessions spanning a broad range of topics. Complementing the more in-depth DAC technical conference program, the DAC Pavilion program is comprised of 45- or 60-minute sessions hosted on the exhibit floor so that attendees can conveniently attend and gain a good understanding of key industry trends and issues.
This year's DAC Pavilion program kicks off on Monday, June 14th at 9:15am, with presentations and interviews by notables such as Gary Smith, GarysmithEDA ("Gary Smith on EDA: Trends and What's Hot at DAC"), Jim Hogan, Vista Ventures ("Hogan's Heroes: What Design and Lithography Nightmares will 22nm Bring?") and Lucio Lanza, Lanza Tech Ventures ("Lucio's Litmus Test: Is Your Start-Up Ready for the 21stCentury?"). Also featured are Peggy Aycinena's interview with the winner of the Marie R. Pistilli Women in Design Automation Award, a discussion with Phil Kaufman Award winners, Prof. Randy Bryant and Dr. Phil Moorby, about the impact of commercialization of their inventions, and Kathryn Kranen's interview with a group of high school students about their tech gadget preferences and what they expect to be using in two to three years. An expanded number of user panels have been added to the program. In addition, a new category -- "Everyone Loves Product Teardowns" -- has been added to the lineup. On Tuesday and Wednesday at 1:30pm, live teardowns, sponsored by semiconductor IP provider Virage Logic, will start the afternoon program.
Other highlights of the DAC Pavilion program include a panel on the industry's career and job market outlook in 2010; and panels on topics such as outsourcing challenges, analog interoperability, SoC verification, multi-core multi-OS applications, the latest SPICE flavors, IP commercialization, SoC design at 28nm and beyond, and FPGA business opportunities.
"The DAC Pavilion program offers attendees an informative overview of both the business trends and technology advances and developments that are shaping today's electronics design," said Yatin Trivedi, DAC Pavilion Panels Subcommittee Chair. "With an impressive lineup of panels, presentations, interviews, and product teardowns, I'm confident that attendees will walk away with new insights and valuable information that will help them in their quest to bring continuous innovation to the global electronics market."
The 47th DAC takes place from June 13-18, 2010, at the Anaheim Convention Center, Anaheim, CA. The DAC Pavilion program takes place in Booth #694 on the convention floor. See the full DAC Pavilion program schedule at www.dac.com.
About DAC
The Design Automation Conference (DAC) is recognized as the premier event for the design of electronic circuits and systems, and for Electronic Design Automation (EDA) and silicon solutions. A diverse worldwide community representing more than 1,000 organizations attends each year, represented by system designers and architects, logic and circuit designers, validation engineers, CAD managers, senior managers and executives to researchers and academicians from leading universities. Close to 60 technical sessions selected by a committee of electronic design experts offer information on recent developments and trends, management practices and new products, methodologies and technologies. A highlight of DAC is its Exhibition and Suite area with approximately 200 of the leading and emerging EDA, silicon, IP and design services providers. The conference is sponsored by the Association of Computing Machinery/Special Interest Group on Design Automation (ACM/SIGDA), the Electronic Design Automation Consortium (EDA Consortium), and the IEEE Council on Electronic Design Automation (CEDA).
The Design Automation Conference acknowledges trademarks or registered trademarks of other organizations for their respective products and services.
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/47th-design-automation-conference-announces-dac-pavilion-lineup-2010-04-26?reflink=MW_news_stmp

Magma Design Automation to hire more, 5 products in pipeline

2010-04-10T17:53:00.000-07:00

US headquartered Magma Design Automation, provider of chip deisgn software, said that it had five additional products in the pipeline and was looking at increasing its head count by hiring 40-50 persons globally next fiscal starting May.

"We will be hiring 40-50 persons next fiscal", Rajeev Madhavan, CEO and Chairman of the Board told PTI.

The firm currently has 700 headcount globally with 200 in India spread over three cities -- Bangalore, Mumbai, Delhi.

It has also recently announced appointment of Alok Mehrotra, as Managing Director, Magma India.

Magma Design Automation develops software for electronic design automation (EDA), enabling integrated circuit designers to meet critical time-to-market objectives, improve chip performance and handle multimillion-gate designs.

Magma's EDA software was used to create complex, high-performance integrated circuits (ICs) for cellular telephones, electronic games, WiFi, MP3 players, DVD/digital video, networking, automotive electronics and other electronic applications, he said.

Coming out of the recession, the firm was now looking at launching new products that would enable to do more with less people. "We are building in and getting confident about our technology", he said.

"The last three-four quarters have been good for us. We are bullish and we are keen in getting our differentiated tools out", he said.

With the changing scenario in India, he said it was now imperative not to have products just launched in the US but to have launches from here to ensure deployment and adoption.

"We are planning to have India as a launch pad for new things", he said.
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/news-by-industry/jobs/Magma-Design-Automation-to-hire-more-5-products-in-pipeline/articleshow/5773696.cms

NEC Electronics America Announces Sample Shipments of Four New Single-Chip IO-Link Solutions

2010-03-15T00:53:00.000-07:00

SANTA CLARA, Calif., Mar 12, 2010 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- NEC Electronics America, Inc. today announced the availability of four new single-chip IO-Link solutions for IO-Link slave applications. The new IO-Link solutions combine NEC Electronics' All Flash(TM) 78K0R 16-bit microcontroller (MCU) and an IO-Link transceiver with an integrated IO-Link slave protocol stack in a single package. The MCUs come in four flash memory sizes: the uPD78F8040 MCU with 32 kilobytes (KB), uPD78F8041 MCU with 64 KB, uPD78F8042 MCU with 96 KB, and uPD78F8043 MCU with 128 KB of flash memory.
IO-Link is an industrial standard ideal for industrial automation systems that enables intelligent communication between sensors/actuators and the host devices at the control level. By adopting NEC Electronics' new products, IO-Link system designers can easily implement communications and control of sensors/actuators to realize IO-Link slave applications. One key advantage of using the IO-Link slave protocol stack offered with NEC Electronics' solutions is that minor upgrades can be included if the IO-Link specification is enhanced, significantly reducing development time and effort. Alternatively, designers can opt to develop and maintain their own software stacks. The NEC Electronics IO-Link MCU/transceiver solution integrates significant analog components that enable system designers to eliminate additional external components and develop a complete IO-Link slave product at low cost.
NEC Electronics' IO-Link MCU/transceiver solution comes in an 8 millimeter (mm) x 8mm 56-pin QFN package making it easy to switch to a larger memory if more software is needed. The different memory sizes allow developers to use a common circuit-board layout for multiple designs even though different amounts of software may be required. For example, a 32KB device can easily be replaced by a 128KB device without having to redesign the PCB.
The IO-Link market is now beginning to show real promise, and NEC Electronics is working with several companies that are adopting IO-Link solutions, some of whom are already engaged in development projects. NEC Electronics is well placed to enable system designers to quickly and easily achieve differentiated designs using NEC Electronics' single-chip IO-Link solution.
Pricing and Availability
Samples of NEC Electronics' new single-chip IO-Link solutions are available now, and distribution suggested resale pricing begins at $6.70 in volumes of 10,000 for the 32KB flash version. Mass production of the new devices is slated to begin in April 2010. (Pricing and availability are subject to change without notice.)
More information about NEC Electronics' solutions for the industrial automation market can be found at http://www.am.necel.com/iolink.
About NEC Electronics America, Inc.
NEC Electronics America, Inc., headquartered in Santa Clara, California, is a wholly owned subsidiary of NEC Electronics Corporation (TOKYO:6723), a leading provider of semiconductor products encompassing advanced technology solutions for the broadband and communications markets; system solutions for the mobile, PC, automotive and digital consumer markets; and multi-market solutions for a wide range of consumer applications. NEC Electronics America offers local manufacturing in Roseville, California, and the global manufacturing capabilities of its parent company. In the Americas, NEC Electronics America markets and sells industrial-type active-matrix LCD modules from NEC LCD Technologies, Ltd., a global leader in innovative display technologies. More information about the products offered by NEC Electronics America can be found at http://www.am.necel.com.
All Flash is a trademark or registered trademark of NEC Electronics in Japan, United States, Singapore, Hong Kong, United Kingdom, Germany and China. NEC Electronics is a registered trademark or trademark of NEC Corporation. All other marks are property of their respective owners.
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/nec-electronics-america-announces-sample-shipments-of-four-new-single-chip-io-link-solutions-2010-03-12?reflink=MW_news_stmp

UPDATE 2-IPTE to sell automation division and rename

2009-12-25T19:39:00.001-08:00

Sale for initial 2 mln euros
* To be left with just contract manufacturing business
* To rename itself Connect Group
(Adds details from company statement)
BRUSSELS, Dec 21 (Reuters) - Belgium electronics firm IPTE (IPTE.BR) will sell its loss-making automation division for an initial 2 million euros to two key shareholders in a total transformation of the company, which will be renamed Connect Group.
The sale, subject to shareholder approval in the first quarter of 2010, will be for an initial 2 million euros and further payments dependant on performance until December 2012, the company said in a statement issued on Monday.
IPTE said it would sell the business, which sets up and tests systems for printed circuit boards, to company founder Huub Baren, which currently holds 30.23 percent of IPTE, according to the company's website, and Vladimir Dobosch, which holds 3.71 percent.
The transfer will lead to a one-off loss in the fourth quarter of this year of between 17 million and 18 million euros, IPTE said.
IPTE said last month it was looking at measures to improve its automation division, which had been thrown off course in its expansion plans by the global economic downturn.
IPTE as a whole made a net loss of 6.6 million euros ($9.5 million) in the first nine months of 2009.
The remainder of the company, which is in contract manufacturing, with such customers as Philips Electronics (PHG.AS) and Alstom (ALSO.PA), had 2008 turnover of 166 million euros and, apart from 2001, has been constantly profitable.
IPTE said it planned to change its name to Connect Group, which will remain listed on Euronext.
IPTE said banks had agreed to continue their support after the automation sale. The company plans to reinforce its balance sheet in early 2010 by issuing a subordinated convertible debenture of between 2 million and 5 million euros.
IPTE said it would have the right to share a capital gain if the automation division were sold to a third party within the next two years.
As a guarantee of payments, the acquirers had granted IPTE a call option on their shareholdings at 2.86 euros if the shares were trading at that level or above, or at the highest bid price for the share if the shares were trading below 2.86 euros.
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSLDE5BK0EQ20091221

CPMC and China high precision IPOs raise a combined USD 267 million

2009-11-13T21:18:00.000-08:00

It is reported that CPMC encounters high levels of demand as two smaller cap companies succeed in raising capital.

Two Chinese small cap companies priced their Hong Kong initial public offerings raising a combined HKD 2.07 billion. Metal packaging company CPMC Holdings raised HKD 1.07 billion and China High Precision Automation Group tapped the market for HKD 1 billion.

CPMC sold 200 million primary shares at HKD 5.39 apiece the top of an indicative range that started at HKD 3.85. Retail investors flocked to the deal with the Hong Kong public offer approximately 200 times covered. This triggered the largest possible clawback and left 50% of the total offering in the hands of individual investors, up from the initial 10%. There were also three cornerstone investors who together took 16.5% of the deal. They were China Resources Company, CCB International Asset Management and JDB, which is also the company main customer.

So there wasn't much left for institutions the remaining 33.5% of the deal, approximately USD 46 million worth of shares, was split between 130 accounts. The institutional tranche was 60 times covered leading to a situation where a number of investors had their orders scaled back. All geographical regions were well represented.

One source said the company was popular for a couple of reasons.

1. Investors saw its key product metal containers as a proxy for Chinese consumption; if people buy more packaged products, CPMC will need to produce more containers.
2. International investors were comfortable with the company main shareholder, Cofco Group one of China largest food businesses which has a reputation for strong corporate governance.

The final price values the company at 18.6 times 2010 projected earnings. There are no direct comparables listed in Hong Kong, although some research reports compared CPMC to Hong Kong listed Chinese companies in the food and beverage sector, such as Tingyi Holdings and Want Want China which are trading at price-to-earnings multiples of around 15 times and 18 times respectively. There is also a US company in the same industry, Ball Corporation, which trades at around 12 times 2010 projected earnings.

The other company to price CHP raised HKD 1 billion. It is in the business of producing high precision industrial automation instruments, with a focus on the middle and high end of the market. Its main products are detectors, indicators and controllers. It also has a horological division, making the parts used in quartz watches.

CHP sold 250 million shares at HKD 4 each, in the bottom half of its indicative range of HKD 3.50 to HKD 4.80 a share. The final price left the book multiply times covered with an international investor base consisting mostly of long-only funds.

One of CHP main selling points was that it is not particularly exposed to one particular sector it sells instruments used in optics, healthcare, vehicles, industrial automation and electronics. And if, as some analysts believe, China manufacturing sector is becoming more sophisticated, CHP should perform well, because it will supply manufacturers in need of precision parts.

Both of these IPOs are relatively small companies in niche industries that are taking advantage of the rebounding markets to raise capital. And when it comes to aftermarket performance, such companies have performed somewhat better than their larger competitors.
http://steelguru.com/news/index/2009/11/14/MTIwMzE3/CPMC_and_China_high_precision_IPOs_raise_a_combined_USD_267_million.html

Intelligent Living Appointed Distributor of Home Automation Inc. Energy Conservation and Automation Products in Turkey

2009-11-06T06:41:00.001-08:00

Intelligent Living Corp. ("ILVC"), (OTCBB: ILVC), a leading automation and technology solutions provider, utilizing green building practices, announced today that Home Automation Inc. (HAI) has appointed ILVC as their distributor for the Turkish market.
ILVC, through their Turkish partners, Kilia Teknoloji (www.akilliyasam.biz) is now distributing HAI products and providing technology know-how for energy conservation and automation projects in Turkey, including custom designed user interfaces.
"HAI's leading technology plus our capability to provide customized Turkish language display capability definitely give us a market leading solution," noted Murat Erbatur, P.Eng. COO of Intelligent Living. "HAI's Automation Studio software combined with the customizable user interface capability of their new 5.7 and 10 inch touchscreens, enables us to offer user interfaces in the Turkish and middle eastern languages. These features make us unique and greatly improve the appeal of our all-in-one automation control and entertainment systems in this very active market."
ILVC is also working with Smart Home Technologies Ltd. located in Israel which is developing Universal Power Buss light switches under license from PCS that are compatible with HAI controllers for use in 240v markets.
About ILVC (www.intelligent-living.us): Intelligent Living Corp, utilizing green building practices, specializes in designing, supplying, installing, upgrading and servicing home and commercial automation systems including: energy use monitoring and control, security, occupancy monitoring and access control, lighting and HVAC control, and distributed audio/video systems. The Company utilizes wire and wireless technology, and offers traditional component and Windows Media PC based architecture. ILVC, a member of the Canadian Green Building Council, has supplied custom IT solutions since 1994 and automation solutions since 2003. The Company has offices and demonstration suites in Phoenix and Vancouver.
About HAI (www.homeauto.com): HAI (Home Automation, Inc.) is a privately held manufacturer of integrated automation and security products for residential and commercial use based in New Orleans, LA. Incorporated in 1985, HAI has developed a full line of award-winning automation products, including home control systems, programmable communicating thermostats, smart light switches, Whole Home Audio systems, video surveillance equipment, touchscreen interfaces, and software that allow access and control of an automation system over the Internet. All products are sold through HAI's worldwide network of Distribution Partners and installed by trained dealers in over 80 countries.
About Kilia (www.kiliateknoloji.com.tr): Founded in 1988, Kilia Teknoloji is a leading supplier of state-of-the-art integrated security management systems, access control system and engineered EMI/EMC filter systems for secured telemetry to both Governments and industry. Kilia was responsible for the design, installation and commissioning of a high security remote monitoring and telemetry system at four of Turkey's international port facilities and recently completed installing access monitoring and home automation utilizing Moeller's Xcomfort system at the Gokturk Palm multi-unit residence development in Istanbul. Kilia is a member of ASIA International (www.asisonline.org) and is the exclusive agent for LCR Electronics in Turkey.
Safe Harbor Statement
This press release contains statements, which may constitute "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the Securities Act of 1933 and the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended by the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Those statements include statements regarding the intent, belief or current expectations of Intelligent Living, Inc., and members of their management as well as the assumptions on which such statements are based. Prospective investors are cautioned that any such forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and involve risks and uncertainties, and that actual results may differ materially from those contemplated by such forward-looking statements. Important factors currently known to management that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in forward-looking statements include fluctuation of operating results, the ability to compete successfully and the ability to complete before-mentioned transactions. The company undertakes no obligation to update or revise forward-looking statements to reflect changed assumptions, the statements to reflect changed assumptions, the occurrence of unanticipated events or changes to future operating results.
http://money.cnn.com/news/newsfeeds/articles/marketwire/0556008.htm

47th Design Automation Conference Announces Calls for Submissions to Technical Program

2009-10-23T03:03:00.001-07:00

Deadlines Begin on October 26, 2009
LOUISVILLE, Colo.--(Business Wire)--
The 47th Design Automation Conference (DAC), the premier conference devoted to
electronic design and design automation (EDA), has opened the first Call for
Contributions to the technical program. The 47th DAC will be held at the Anaheim
Convention Center, in Anaheim, California from June 13-18, 2010. IC designers,
application engineers, design flow developers, vendor-customer teams and
students are invited to submit proposals for eight different areas of the
technical program enumerated below. DAC is also accepting proposals for
workshops and co-located events. 

Special Session Suggestions:
DUE BEFORE 5:00pm MT, October 26, 2009
DAC invites suggestions for special sessions, which consist of technical
contributions devoted to a topic of strong contemporary or future interest. The
topic of a special session must represent an emerging area that does not yet
receive sufficient focus from research papers. Suggestions must include
descriptions of the proposed papers and speakers as well as the importance of
the special session to the DAC audience.
See Special Session submission guidelines at
http://www.dac.com/47th/PDFs/47th_DAC_SpecialSession_Guidelines.pdf

Panel and Tutorial Suggestions:
DUE BEFORE 5:00pm MT, October 26, 2009
Suggestions for panels and tutorials should not exceed two pages, should
describe the topic and intended audience, and should include a list of suggested
participants. Tutorial suggestions must include a bulleted outline of covered
topics.
See the Full-day Tutorial Submission guidelines at
http://www.dac.com/47th/PDFs/47th_DAC_FullDay_Tutorial_Submission_Guidelines.pdf

User Track Presentations:
Extended Abstracts DUE BEFORE 5:00pm MT, January 18, 2010
User Track Presentations address the real-life issues facing IC designers,
application engineers, and design flow developers, providing valuable insights
and experiences with in-house or commercial EDA tool flows. Presentations may
describe the application of EDA tools to the design of a novel electronic system
or the integration of EDA tools within a design flow or methodology to produce
such systems.
Initial submissions are in the form of a two-page extended abstract. Final
submissions will be in the form of a PowerPoint presentation and an optional
paper. User Track authors will not be required to sign a copyright release form.
See details and submission categories at http://www.dac.com/47th/UTinfo.html

Research Papers:
DUE BEFORE 5:00pm MT, November 19, 2009
Original research papers are solicited from industry and the research/academic
community. While submissions in all areas of design automation are welcome, DAC
specifically solicits research papers in the areas of multicore/many core
architectures, system prototyping technology and embedded software design and
debug.
Submissions must not identify the author(s) by their name(s) or affiliation(s)
anywhere on the manuscript or abstract, with all references to the author(s)`s
own previous work or affiliations in the bibliographic citations being in the
third person. All research papers will be reviewed as finished papers. Authors
of accepted papers must sign a copyright release form for their paper. See
submission topic categories at http://www.dac.com/47th/PDFs/47DAC_CFP.pdf
See format and submission guidelines at
http://www.dac.com/47th/PDFs/47th_DAC_Research_Paper_Guidelines.pdf

Wild and Crazy Ideas (WACI) Papers
DUE BEFORE 5:00pm MT, November 19, 2009
WACI Papers cover interesting activities on a wide variety of topics that do not
fit in the conventional mold. The WACI track features novel (and even
preliminary or unproven) technical ideas. The aim of WACI is to promote
revolutionary and "way-out" ideas that inspire discussion among conference
attendees, create a buzz, and get people talking. Submissions should not exceed
two pages, but must otherwise follow the rules and deadlines for the research
papers. Unlike a DAC research paper that explores a specific technology problem
and proposes a complete solution to it, with extensive experimental results, a
WACI paper could present less developed but highly innovative ideas related to
areas relevant to DAC. All WACI accepted papers will be required to post a
two-minute video describing the work as part of the acceptance process.
See submission details at
http://www.dac.com/47th/PDFs/47th_DAC_WACI_Submission_Guidelines.pdf

Student Design Contest Submissions:
DUE BEFORE 5:00pm MT, November 25, 2009
Jointly sponsored by ISSCC and DAC, the contest promotes excellence in the
design of electronic systems within an academic environment and provides a forum
in which undergraduate/graduate students` ingenuity can be shared with an
audience of academic/industrial technical experts. The winners will present
their designs through posters at ISSCC 2010 and DAC 2010. Designs may be
targeted towards analog, digital, MEMS, optics, biological, or programmable
circuits and embedded systems/platforms in any of the three categories:
operational, system level, or conceptual.
See submission details at
http://www.dac.com/47th/PDFs/47th_SDC_Submission_Guidelines.pdf

Workshops:
DUE BEFORE 5:00pm MT, January 29, 2010
Workshops focus on topics related to design, design methodologies, and design
automation.
See submission topic categories at http://www.dac.com/47th/PDFs/47DAC_CFP.pdf

For additional information on all submissions, please see
http://www.dac.com/47th/PDFs/47DAC_CFP.pdf

About DAC

The Design Automation Conference (DAC) is recognized as the premier event for
the design of electronic circuits and systems, and for Electronic Design
Automation (EDA) and silicon solutions. A diverse worldwide community
representing more than 1,000 organizations attends each year, represented by
system designers and architects, logic and circuit designers, validation
engineers, CAD managers, senior managers and executives to researchers and
academicians from leading universities. Close to 60 technical sessions selected
by a committee of electronic design experts offer information on recent
developments and trends, management practices and new products, methodologies
and technologies. A highlight of DAC is its Exhibition and Suite area with
approximately 200 of the leading and emerging EDA, silicon, IP and design
services providers. The conference is sponsored by the Association for Computing
Machinery (ACM), the Electronic Design Automation Consortium (EDA Consortium),
and the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), and is
supported by ACM's Special Interest Group on Design Automation (SIGDA) and
IEEE's Council on Electronic Design Automation (CEDA). More details are
available at: www.dac.com. 

Design Automation Conference acknowledges trademarks or registered trademarks of

other organizations for their respective products and services.

http://www.reuters.com/article/pressRelease/idUS183725+21-Oct-2009+BW20091021

Start-Up Electronics Marketplace Aims to Thwart Counterfeits

2009-10-07T00:52:00.001-07:00

An online marketplace for high-tech electronics will launch tomorrow with a strategy to filter out counterfeit parts and offer anonymous, secure transactions to buyers and sellers in the secondary market.

Verical, a start-up backed by venture capital firm Valhalla, qualifies the sellers in its network and audits the inventory in its Web-based catalog, assigning a rating to each part based on its chain of custody, or pedigree. This enables sellers to turn their excess inventories into cash, and buyers to know just what they’re getting, co-founder John Brown, vice president of marketing & strategy, told Managing Automation in a recent interview.

The online marketplace can help manufacturers deal with ever-changing forecasts and resulting parts shortages, Chris Cookson, vice president of supply chain and operations at the company, told MA in an interview. The primary supplier channel may not be able to react quickly enough, especially as the market starts to recover from the downturn. Generally, “about 40% of purchasing’s time is spent scouring 1% of parts,” he said. “We provide a safe source of parts, available on demand, and we execute transactions quickly through our automated system.”

The catalog is built on a so-called rich Internet application, Brown said. A buyer can find out “in a few seconds” what parts are available, along with date codes, lot codes, prices, and features. Verical can automatically upload data from Excel spreadsheets to the online catalog, company executives said.

Brown and co-founder Josef Ruef, CEO, came up with the idea for Verical in response to the threat to the supply chain by counterfeit parts that, more and more, were passing visual inspections and even initial testing.

“The secondary market is being exploited by fraudsters and profiteers,” Ruef said in a statement.

The founders reasoned that using chain of custody information and “allowing only first owners to sell would block out an entry point for counterfeiters and would give buyers confidence,” Brown said. “This is an extension of the primary market.”

Of the $600 billion annual market for electronic components, the time-critical segment is roughly $22 billion, of which about $12 billion is serviced by unauthorized distributors and 13% of which is counterfeit, according to Verical’s statement, citing figures from electronics industry trade association IPC.

Under Verical’s rating system, a product with four stars comes directly from or is traceable to the component manufacturer. A three-star rating indicates that a component comes directly from or is traceable to an authorized distributor. Two stars mean that the seller is a member of the Verical community and has a purchase order listing an authorized distributor or the original manufacturer. A product with one star comes from an OEM or electronics manufacturing service (EMS) member of the community.

Verical takes a commission on all sales. The company processes orders and passes them through to the sellers. Components are delivered by Verical’s third-party logistics partners to preserve both buyers’ and sellers’ anonymity.

For sellers, Cookson said in a statement, “writing off excess inventory equals lost revenue. Typically, sellers of excess inventory get 4% to 8% return. Today, in the Verical Marketplace, they’re getting eight to 10 times that, with the average seller recovering 60% of the historical cost.”

Before co-founding Verical, Brown worked at the Corporate Executive Board presenting management best practices to senior executive teams of Global 2000 companies. He also worked at the Department of Homeland Security on a data-sharing platform. Ruef was a member of the start-up executive team at Velocity Electronics, where he oversaw brand development, sales, and quality control. He also served as a consultant to Trading Hubs (later known as eHitex), the electronics industry’s first-generation HP-led B2B marketplace.
http://www.managingautomation.com/maonline/news/read/StartUp_Electronics_Marketplace_Aims_to_Thwart_Counterfeits_33087

Rockleigh electronics firm tapped to create high-end mobile office

2009-09-02T19:50:00.000-07:00

Customized Mercedes-Benz van equipped with office technology.

Creston Electronics, in Rockleigh, said Tuesday it partnered with Becker Automotive Design, in Oxnard, Calif., to develop a high-end mobile office for luxury transport vehicles. Creston is a maker of control and automation systems, including computer and Internet protocol systems. Becker customizes chauffeur-driven luxury vehicles.

The companies are upgrading Cadillac Escalade ESV sport utility vehicles and Mercedes-Benz Sprinter vans with high-speed wireless communications, satellite television reception, flat-panel screens, and other audio and video amenities.

When equipped, the vehicles offer mobile Web browsing, video conferencing and other options for business connectivity.

Other creature comforts include Blu-ray video players, iPods and a home theater style audio-video system.

http://www.njbiz.com/article.asp?aID=79076

Global site unites industrial automation

2009-08-18T02:50:00.000-07:00

Industrial automation web portal is designed to ensure that customers receive consistent information wherever their operations are based.

Omron has set up a new global portal website for its industrial automation business which has been designed to ensure that its customers receive consistent information wherever their operations are based, and to further enhance Omron's visibility on the Internet.

The portal reflects the global nature of Omron's industrial automation business, which has sales and service bases in locations throughout the world, with roughly half of its sales generated outside of its home base in Japan.

This global growth has been supported by highly localised service delivery, in which Omron's country-specific, local-language websites have played a crucial role.

As Omron supports some of the world's largest manufacturers, the company is committed to provide a standardised and uniform service to its global customers.

Designed as a "one-stop-shop" for the latest information in English, the portal provides details on Omron's full range of industrial automation products and services, and also their stock availability around the world.

A key feature of the portal is an intuitive search system designed to help customers easily navigate around the wealth of information available.

The site also connects potential and existing customers to Omron's regional websites via an easy-to-navigate map on its top page.

All UK enquiries received through the portal site will be immediately redirected to Omron Electronics in the UK and answered by UK staff.

To ensure the portal is useful and relevant to users, Omron's Industrial Automation Global Service Centre based in Japan will analyse local enquiries for valuable customer insights that can be reflected in future product design and customer.
http://www.engineeringtalk.com/news/omr/omr228.html

Automation controller

2009-07-31T08:38:00.000-07:00

The iPAC-5010 is powered by Artila's M-501 SoM, which is equipped with an Atmel AT91RM9200, 180MHz ARM9 RISC SoC, onboard 64Mbyte SDRAM, 16Mbyte Flash memory, and Linux 2.6 OS pre-installed.

Artila Electronics has released the iPAC-5010 ARM9-based, Linux-ready, programmable automation controller.

The iPAC-5010, featuring both a reliable ARM9 SoC and Linux operating system, is suitable for facility management, remote device monitoring, building automation, and machine control.

The iPAC-5010 is powered by Artila's M-501 SoM (System on Module) which is equipped with an Atmel AT91RM9200, 180MHz ARM9 RISC SoC, onboard 64Mbyte SDRAM, 16Mbyte Flash memory, and Linux 2.6 OS pre-installed.

Moreover, the iPAC-5010 provides 16 channels of isolated digital input to monitor the on/off status of external sensors and devices, eight channels of Darlington pair transistors to switch on/off external relays, one RS-485 to access industrial serial devices, an RS-232 for dial-up connection via a GSM/GPRS modem, two USB ports for Flash memory disks, both WiFi and Bluetooth connectivity, plus USB camera expansions and an SD socket are also available for mass storage expansion.

The dual 10/100Mbit/s Ethernet ports are ready for the user to implement flexible network functions such as redundant Ethernet, industrial protocols conversion, an internet gateway, and firewall/VPN.

In addition to its open Linux operating system, the iPAC-5010 also boasts a boa web server, busybox utility, and the Gnu C/C++ GLIBC tool chain.

Its DIN-RAIL mount design, wide range of 9 to 40V DC power input capability, and low power RISC SoC make the iPAC-5010 suitable for numerous industrial applications.

http://www.engineeringtalk.com/news/arz/arz103.html

German electronics automation builder revived

2009-07-10T22:26:00.000-07:00

ACI-ecotec of St Georgen, Germany, producer of automated soldering technologies and automated cells and production lines for the electronics industry, is enjoying new investment.

ACI-ecotec and Co KG of St Georgen, Germany (formerly 'ecotec ') has recently been re-launched with a new strength of German investment.

This new investment is providing a boost of re-development to an existing well understood product range to a substantial customer base including, Siemens, Papst, Sennheiser, Alcatel and many others.

In realising the strengths of the company, the existing skill base has been preserved by keeping 95% of its engineers and technicians, skilled and experienced in automated soldering technologies and automated cells and production lines for the electronics industry.

ACI-ecotec also specialise in bespoke 'micro-assembly' machines (for 1-2mm parts or less) and general assembly machines, offering a custom solution to a standard but modular and flexible cell for use as an isolated cell, or as a production line unit that can be configured to the application, or added to existing production lines.

ACI-ecotec have named this system, the 'Multiflex' offering modularity and flexibility.

The advantages include shorter delivery times from a standard cell whilst maintaining the bespoke flexibility to configure the cell to the application and the modularity required to add to existing lines.

An evaluation of the application then provides a concept.

Evaluation Process - How does it work? Define the application - provide samples and data.

Evaluate the application - from samples and data.

Offer solution to the customer using a standard Multiflex cell configured to the suit the application.

IF 3 = OK - GOTO 4.

ELSE GOTO 3 with revision.

Agree contract.

Configure the 'Multiflex' to the application.

ACI offer a standard cell which if required will adhere to the SMEMA 1.2 standards (SMEMA - Surface Mount Equipment Manufacturers Association (SMEMA 1.2 - Mechanical Equipment Interface Standards).

The base plate inside the cell is machined to suit either a semi-automatic or fully-automatic loading system and employs an OEM SCARA robot arm providing accurate positioning and repeatability of 0.020mm.

The 4-6 axis robotic arm is able to deal with all automated applications that the 'Multiflex' is offering to provide the following.

* Selective soldering.

* Selective cleaning (using a revolutionary two part carbon dioxide snow jet cleaning system, see CO2 Cleaning below).

* Dispensing of adhesives or other fluids that require a repeatable dosage.

* Mini-wave soldering.

* Bending.

* Assembly.

* Micro-assembly.

* Optical inspection.

You can configure an entire automated production line using Multiflex cells configured to each production step therefore ensuring integration and line support from a single provider, whilst maintaining the option of support direct from a number of agents and OEM suppliers.

Or the unit can be configured as a semi-automatic tool, with two manual I/O ports for maximum throughput.

The Multiflex can be the first building block in a new production line that can be added to later, or added to an existing production line.

* The essence of continued support - ACI-ecotec do not claim to be the lowest cost option that you will find, but they do aim to remain competitive and claim highly dependable continued support from experienced designers, engineers and technicians.

The existing customer base believes this to be the most important cost of all.

* Entrance into the UK - recently Gateway Design, a robotics and automation consultancy and design company based in Devon have signed up to an exclusive UK agency for ACI-ecotec.

Michael Gadd CEng of Gateway Design said: "We are always looking for new projects, this keeps engineering alive.

I am really looking forward to the future bringing ACI-ecotec and Co KG to the UK.

I have spent much time working with German engineers which in my opinion have some of the best in the world.

Just look around the next time you are driving.

I am looking forward with ACI-ecotec to new challenges, so if you have something that has not been done before, or perhaps you just need to chat about an idea, then I would like to talk to you.".
http://www.manufacturingtalk.com/news/gaw/gaw100.html

German electronics automation builder revived

2009-06-07T00:17:00.000-07:00

NEC Electronics, Gigle Semiconductor, Intellon and SPiDCOM Joins HomePlug Powerline Alliance Board

2009-05-23T09:35:00.000-07:00

http://www.tradingmarkets.com/.site/news/Stock%20News/2342137/-- The HomePlug Powerline Alliance, a trade association for powerline communications and promoter of global unification for powerline technologies, announced the addition of Gigle Semiconductor, Intellon, NEC Electronics and SPiDCOM Technologies to the organization's Board of Directors.

Additionally, all four companies have signed on as Sponsor Members to the Alliance, the highest level of membership available. The group has more than 70 member companies, an installed base with over 27 million units shipped, and a certification program.

"Gigle, Intellon, SPiDCOM and NEC truly understand the importance of HomePlug's standards-based approach to unifying the powerline communication industry," said Rob Ranck, president of the HomePlug Powerline Alliance. "Having these companies on our Board strengthens our drive to take the industry to the next level of adoption and broad consumer acceptance."

"Powerline technology is essential to the successful rollout of HD IPTV solutions to our customers," said Fabrice Amand, livebox inlife marketing manager for France Telecom-Orange, a member and contributor to the HomePlug Powerline Alliance, ITU G.hn and IEEE P1901. "We welcome the new Board members and the recent announcements of multiple silicon sources for HomePlug, a key element for operators."

"Reliable communication technologies are key for designers looking to develop smart-energy products, and standardization will be key to achieving mainstream adoption," said Kazu Yamada, VP, custom SOC solutions strategic business unit, NEC Electronics America. "By joining the HomePlug Powerline Alliance, NEC Electronics reaffirms its commitment to provide standardized connectivity solutions for applications in energy management such as smart metering, home area networks and building automation."

"Gigle wholly supports the global adoption of standards and the work the HomePlug Powerline Alliance has put forth to unify the industry to create market growth and provide benefits to consumers," said Mike Wilson, VP of corporate business development for Gigle Semiconductor. "As a member of HomePlug's Board of Directors, we are looking forward to taking on an expanded role within the Alliance and participating in the creation of HomePlug's next generation 1Gbps powerline standard."

"Intellon, a founding member of the Alliance, is a provider of powerline ICs for HomePlug 1.0 and AV-based products deployed into the IPTV/service provider, retail, consumer electronics and Smart Grid markets," said Christopher Henningsen, VP of marketing for Intellon. "We fully support interoperable HomePlug products for these segments as well as future standards that are interoperable with the installed base on HomePlug devices."

"Joining the Board, SPiDCOM strengthens its long time technology contributions to HomePlug standards," said Frederic Onado, COO of the Europe headquartered SPiDCOM Technologies and VP EMEA of the HomePlug Alliance. "We are glad our newly released HomePlug AV chip belongs to the only multi-silicon vendor powerline ecosystem in existence."

Gigle Semiconductor provides system-on-chip integrated circuits for multimedia home networking over any wire (including powerline, coax, and phone line) targeting applications such as IPTV, BBTV, VoD, and VoIP.

Intellon a developer and supplier of powerline communications.

NEC Electronics specializes in semiconductor products encompassing technology solutions in for computing and broadband networking markets; system solutions for the mobile handset, PC peripheral, automotive and digital consumer markets; and multi-market solutions for a range of customer applications.

SPiDCOM Technologies is a fabless semiconductor company specializing in integrated circuits and Linux-based software bundles for Multimedia Home Networking, EoC (Ethernet over coax), BPL Access, Smart Grid and other "any-wire" based applications (powerline, coax, phone line).

What Is Marketing Automation and Why Should You Care?

2009-05-17T05:03:00.000-07:00

The term "marketing automation" is perhaps one of the most widely used, ill-defined and ambiguous terms in the marketing and sales technology landscape. Ask 10 different people how they define marketing automation , and you'll probably get 10 different answers.

Are there marketing automation solutions? Is it a category? Is it a type of technology? Or is it just a bunch of hooey?

As an analyst, I thought it would be appropriate for me to dispel some of the myths and haziness that shroud the marketing technology landscape, particularly the use of the term "marketing automation." In my opinion, much of the uncertainty and ambiguity has stunted growth of technology that will be critical for every company to embrace in order to maintain a competitive foothold in the market. The research I have conducted has consistently shown that marketing automation technology has a direct impact on bottom-line cost reduction and top-line growth. However, before we tackle that, let's define "marketing automation."

First, a disclaimer: I do not seek to provide a new standard in the market for defining marketing automation. I wholeheartedly understand that there are other analysts, thought leaders and product marketing managers who may not agree with all the components of my definition. However, I believe the definition below will help clarify and provide structure around the concept of marketing automation and hopefully help conceptualize why automating marketing activities is of value for every organization.

Engagement Technology
I believe marketing automation is technology; it's technology that helps automate marketing management and customer engagement. In some cases marketing can be automated with formalized processes, but excluding technology, this is more marketing optimization and process. Technology can automate manual, repetitive, mundane tasks in the marketing function and therefore, in my opinion, exclusively provides the source of marketing automation.

Today, the marketing technology landscape is extremely fragmented, with hundreds of providers and an eclectic mix of solution offerings ranging from one-solution-fits-all to niche marketing channel-specific solutions. Technology providers typically automate internal marketing management processes and/or the execution of customer engagement across one or more channels. Let's look at the difference between automating marketing management and customer engagement:

* Marketing Management Automation. This encompasses automation of internal marketing processes. These might include things like budgeting and planning, workflow and approvals, the marketing calendar, internal collaboration, digital asset creation and management, and essentially everything that supports the operational efficiency of the internal marketing function.
* Customer Engagement Automation. This encompasses automation across one or more marketing channels: email, the Web site, microsites, direct mail, and dozens of marketing channels. In other words, the technology helps automate the process of engaging with customers across one or more channels. This might include setting up an email campaign, sending it out, and tracking performance; or creating a new landing page with a form capture element; or more importantly, managing communication with a prospect across multiple channels (email, the Web site, microsites), and tracking their behavior to identify the relative propensity to purchase.

The line between marketing management and customer engagement is a bit of a gray area, and technology providers that deliver marketing automation typically automate elements of each. However, the definition above leaves room for the email marketing vendor that delivers only basic email campaign capabilities. An automated email marketing solution with basic email automation would mostly fall under "customer engagement," which technically is marketing automation. While it can be difficult to see the term "marketing automation" smattered throughout vendor Web sites and collateral, I think splitting it between marketing management and customer engagement helps clarify exactly how each technology solution will be of value depending on the type of activities it automates for the marketing function.

At this point, it's pretty obvious that marketing automation is a category, not necessarily a uniquely defined technology with a specific set of features that are consistent across all technology providers. In much the same way as the word "transportation" broadly defines all types of vehicles, "marketing automation" defines the set of technologies that help automate internal processes and customer engagement.

Most companies search for technology to address a specific business pain: "need to improve internal productivity Save 50% on Microsoft Office for Mac 2008. Click here to learn more. and process"; "need to send more personalized emails"; "need a more engaging Web site"; etc. As a result, it's critical to understand the different solutions that fall under marketing automation to invest in the right technology for the organization's resources and culture.

There's one more undefined capability that the definition of marketing automation must embody. It's the notion that customer engagement (and, to a certain extent, marketing management) produces data that must be transformed into actionable insights that allow an organization to make better decisions over time.

Without a measurement and analytics component, all "automated" technology is of little more value than a car without a steering wheel. Thus, in order for any customer engagement component to be valuable, it must return actionable data that can be analyzed and benchmarked over time to consistently improve performance -- otherwise what's the point of automating in the first place? Data integration has become the foundation for extracting limitless value from marketing automation.
Why Invest in Marketing Automation?
The value of marketing automation is that it has the potential to impact the top and bottom lines of an organization. Marketing management capabilities address operational efficiency, productivity and cost savings -- the bottom line. Customer engagement helps maximize the demand for products and services -- the top line. Isn't that what every CMO wants -- some way to measurably quantify and justify the tangible impact marketing has on the top and bottom line in one easy-to-use solution? This is the driving force behind adoption of marketing technology.

However, 89 percent of organizations still struggle with automating the marketing function. In fact, only 23 percent of organizations in an April 2009 study from the Aberdeen Group, "Marketing Automation: A Strategic Guide for Optimizing End-To-End Marketing Activities", indicated they used an "integrated marketing platform" that centralized the marketing management and customer engagement capabilities in one solution. Research consistently demonstrates that marketing automation has a long way to go before it joins the ranks of CRM, sales force automation, and ERP More about enterprise resource planning (enterprise resource planning) in terms of widespread adoption.

Research from the customer management practice at Aberdeen Group helps define the measurable value in automating marketing activities. For example, companies that achieve the highest performance in annual revenue and return on marketing investment (also defined as "Best-in-Class" based purely on performance), were four times more likely than peers to automate customer engagement with a marketing automation solution.

Likewise, Best-in-Class were 4.7 times more likely than their peers to use an integrated solution that automated both marketing management and customer engagement. These trends suggest a discernible correlation between performance and the use of automated technology in the marketing function. However, it's important to note, Best-in-Class firms also display a unique set of organizational capabilities that allow them to extract more value from technology investments.

Despite the noted benefits, challenges abound when it comes to automating marketing activities. In the April study on marketing automation, 67 percent of the 130 respondents indicated they primarily relied on multiple siloed niche solutions for automating marketing activities. This is a huge problem for most organizations. Data silos, multiple interfaces and a general inability to holistically tie together performance and marketing leave many CMOs frustrated. Therefore, it's no surprise to see 58 percent of respondents planning on adopting an "integrated marketing solution" that delivers both marketing management and customer engagement capabilities. Only time will tell if these trends will actually translate to strategic action and purchase decisions.

For many organizations, the recession is a scary time. It hardly seems the time to make major purchase decisions about marketing automation technology investments. However, the recession might be the most forgiving time to work out new processes and add capabilities that automation will bring to the organization.

Marketing automation will be a critical component for every organization to grow market share after the recession lifts. Nobody expects stellar performance during a recession, so it's the best time to toss in a few speed bumps on top of the landslides. Again, companies that achieved the highest performance in key metrics like revenue, conversion and return on investments are more likely to use marketing automation technology. These are the organizations that are achieving the highest performance during the recession and, therefore, will be in a position to sustain a competitive advantage after the recession is over.

http://www.crmbuyer.com/story/What-Is-Marketing-Automation-and-Why-Should-You-Care-67061.html

German electronics automation builder revived

2009-04-24T22:49:00.000-07:00

Electronics Workbench design automation joins NI

2009-04-18T00:09:00.000-07:00

National Instruments today announced the acquisition of Toronto-based Electronics Workbench, a leading supplier of electronics design automation software

National Instruments today announced the acquisition of Toronto, Canada-based Electronics Workbench, a leading supplier of electronics design automation software.

The Electronics Workbench flagship product, Multisim circuit simulation software, is widely used for electronic circuit design, board layout and electrical engineering training programs by companies and academic institutions including Sony, Boeing, MIT and DeVry University.

The acquisition strengthens the integration between functional test and design tools and will advance graphical system design technology.

"Our customers are not satisfied with the integration of design, simulation and test tools in the industry today," said Ray Almgren, NI Vice President of Product Marketing and Academic Relations.

"A graphical system design platform that integrates these disparate tools will increase productivity and make testing throughout the design process more seamless.

Our acquisition of Electronics Workbench is a major step forward in making this vision a reality and satisfying the needs of the design engineering community in industry and academia." For several years, Electronics Workbench and National Instruments have collaborated to integrate Multisim with the NI LabVIEW graphical development environment through downloadable software and technical resources that have helped thousands of engineers quickly design, simulate and validate electronic circuits.

The Electronics Workbench acquisition adds graphical design and simulation software to the National Instruments platform of graphical development tools.

"We migrated to Multisim last year because it is a superior tool for teaching electronic circuits and because students can use it to easily integrate their simulations into LabVIEW," said Dr Archie Holmes, Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Texas at Austin, one of the leading institutions for engineering education in the U.S.

"The complex design of current and future systems demands a higher level of integration among design, simulation and test tools.

This acquisition provides a closer link among these tools, which helps us better prepare our students to serve the growing demands of the market." NI will retain all Electronics Workbench employees and continue to operate the company as a separate entity in Toronto, Canada.

National Instruments and Electronics Workbench development teams will work to further integrate the products and knowledge of the two companies.

As a wholly owned subsidiary of NI, Electronics Workbench plans to continue to develop and offer its complete line of design automation software and directly support educational initiatives with uninterrupted support to participating schools.

http://www.processingtalk.com/news/nti/nti110.html

German electronics automation builder revived

2009-04-08T00:41:00.000-07:00

Electronics automation developments to be shown

2009-04-04T00:05:00.000-07:00

Automation company will show equipment for small and medium volume manufacturers, from pick and place, through reflow and conveyoring to stencil printing and optical inspection at Nepcon.

Contax, the production automation specialist, will be exhibiting at the UK's Nepcon on May 9-11, at the NEC, Birmingham.

On its stand, number D20, Contax will be demonstrating 14 systems, six of which will be on show for the first time in the UK.

All of the equipment displayed is ideally suited to small and medium volume manufacturers, and offers excellent flexibility and price/performance.

The systems span the full range of production processes from pick and place, through reflow and conveyoring to stencil printing and optical inspection.

Whilst automation and wire preparation needs are also addressed with semi-automatic workstations and automatic wire crimping machines.

Furthermore, Contax will be announcing Q-UpNavi, new management analysis and SPC (Statistical Process Control) software from Omron, designed for use with its range of VT-RNS automatic optical inspection (AOI) systems.

Essemtec - Contax will be presenting three systems from Swiss manufacturer, Essemtec, covering pick and place, reflow and stencil printing.

These are: * Essemtec FLX2020.

On display for the first time in the UK, the FLX2020 is one in a series of FLX2000 SMT pick and place machines.

All are extremely flexible, being both modular and upgradeable, and available with a wide selection of feeders.

Other attributes include high production speeds and zero downtime during changeover.

* Essemtec RO400FC.

One of Essemtec's best selling systems, RO400FC is ideally suited to lead-free solders for small to mid-size volume productions.

It is a full convection reflow oven that heats the PCBs uniformly using vertical laminar flow convection technology, so providing efficient heat transfer with the lowest delta T values.

* Essemtec SP200 printer.

A flexible fine-pitch stencil printer with vision for automatic stencil alignment.

The SP200 is easy to program and operate, with a quick changeover and print size up to 360 x 400mm.

Omron - Omron's two AOI systems will be on Contax's stand, whilst the new Q-UpNavi software will be launched by Contax at the Show and available to view.

* Omron VT-RNS - n intelligent, high quality in-line AOI system, the VT-RNS is ideally suited for lead-free inspection.

Using its colour highlight system, LEDs emit coloured light and information is extracted through chromaticity.

This ensures that inspections are not affected by fluctuations in the brightness of the surface of the solder, as can happen with lead-free paste.

The system can be placed at varying points on the line - post-printing, post-placement and post-reflow - to prevent defects at any specific stage of production.

* Omron VT-RNS-ptH - n show for the first time, the VT-RNS-ptH is the first benchtop system available to offer true analysis rather than pattern recognition as the basis for its inspection.

A sophisticated system that uses the same analysis technology as the larger VT-RNS, but is available in a compact footprint, so making it ideally suited to a production environment where space is limited.

Other new products will include: phoenix x-ray microme x X-ray inspection system for PCB assemblies; ATF 23-33 wave soldering machine for leaded and lead-free solder; and Pillarhouse Orissa, a low cost, in-line or stand-alone system that can handle both small and large batch soldering.

The remaining systems on Contax's stand are all proven best-sellers.

These include: Speedline MPM AccuFlex stencil printer; Contact C5 pick and place; Shuttleworth conveyoring system; Sigma semi-automatic workstations and Komax Kappa range of automatic stripping machines.

"We are very happy to be exhibiting at Nepcon at its new venue in the NEC," said Mike Rapson, managing director at Contax.

"This new, larger site suits our needs very well and we are able to bring more equipment to the stand, and offer visitors even more choice.

We select only the best systems worldwide, and the equipment on our stand reflects this.

We will be showing a range of world-class products from leading suppliers such as Essemtec, Omron, phoenix x|ray and Speedline - some of these are new to the market - and others tried and tested solutions.

Small and medium sized manufacturers have very specific production needs.

They need equipment that is flexible and reliable, and offers high performance at a realistic cost.

We will be bringing a small selection of our recommended systems to Nepcon, so providing visitors with a sample of the most advanced systems available today," he said.

* About Contax - Contax is one of the UK and Ireland's most comprehensive suppliers of automation equipment.

Products range from PCB assembly, automatic optical and X-ray inspection, reflow solder, screen printing, precision liquid dispensing, cable preparation, robotic soldering and robotic assembly as well as cleaning systems.

All of this is backed up by Contax's unique support programme called 'hands-on' and an extensive second user department to fully support their installed base.
http://www.manufacturingtalk.com/news/cox/cox113.html

Beijer Electronics Automation AB establishes subsidiary in Denmark

2009-03-25T08:57:00.000-07:00

Swedish automation supplier Beijer Electronics AB said on Wednesday (10 January) that its subsidiary Beijer Electronics Automation AB has established operations in Denmark.

The new company, Beijer Electronics A/S, will distribute Mitsubishi Electric's products in the Danish market and is expected to achieve sales of approximately SEK50m in 2007.

Beijer Electronics took over the Danish distribution rights for Mitsubishi Electric's products on 1 January.

The company has initially five employees and is based in Ballerup outside Copenhagen.

"Our offensive in Denmark is a part of our new and increased investments on the Nordic and Baltic markets," said Goran Sigfridsson, president and CEO of Beijer Electronics.

"We estimate that business area Automation reaches sales of some SEK50m on the Danish market in 2007. In the long-term, we also see good opportunities for growth, as there is considerable scope for taking additional market shares," Sigfridsson added.

Beijer Electronics, headquartered in Malmo in Sweden, develops and distributes automation solutions and products. The company has operations in the Nordic countries, the Baltic countries, Taiwan, Germany and the US. Beijer Electronics is listed on the Nordic Exchange in Stockholm.

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0HXI/is_2007_Jan_10/ai_n24998768?tag=content;col1

German electronics automation builder revived

2009-03-17T08:37:00.000-07:00

Power & Signal Group and Omron Electronic Components Enter Design and Distribution Agreement

2009-02-27T17:24:00.000-08:00

CLEVELAND & SCHAUMBURG, Ill., Feb 27, 2009 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- Omron Electronic Components LLC has expanded its relationship with Arrow Electronics, Inc.
ARW, , ) to include Power & Signal Group, a strategic group within Arrow Electronics, Inc. dedicated to the unique design and distribution requirements of the transportation industry. Power & Signal Group is now authorized to distribute Omron's broad array of switches and relays for the transportation market.

With over 25 years experience in the transportation sector and a focus on off-the-board designs and applications, Power & Signal Group is uniquely qualified to design and distribute Omron's portfolio of switches and relays into the transportation market. Power & Signal Group's wiring harness customers will be able to utilize the company's extensive array of supply chain management and distribution services, reaping the productivity benefits of consolidating their purchasing requirements with a smaller number of vendors.

"In addition to our supply chain management strengths, our strong relationships at OEM Commercial Vehicle design centers and engineering teams will allow us to deepen those relationships as we broaden our portfolio to include solutions for their switch and relay application needs," said Don Akery, vice president of Power & Signal Group. "Our proven dedication and expertise allows us to provide our OEM clients with the application guidance they need to bring their products to market faster. The array and quality of the Omron product portfolio will serve to strengthen our position."

"For Omron, our challenge was to find a partner who both understands and responds to the unique distribution needs of transportation customers, as well as offers qualified technical advice and assistance to the industry's engineering and design teams," said Nigel Blakeway, chief operating officer and managing director of Omron Electronic Components LLC. "Our goal is to help and assist customers incorporate our new technologies into their equipment, giving them a competitive edge in the market. Power & Signal Group will help us to achieve that goal."

About Omron

Omron Electronic Components is a leading manufacturer and provider of advanced electronic components. Extensive product groups include relays, switches, connectors, MEMS flow sensors, pressure sensors, and optical components. Omron Electronic Components is the Americas subsidiary of Omron Corporation, a $7.5 billion global leading supplier of electronics and control system components and services. Their broad product offering can be found in applications for the communications, transportation, medical, HVAC, appliance, industrial automation, consumer electronics, and test and measurement markets around the world. Omron Electronic Components has an extensive sales network consisting of regional sales engineers, inside sales representatives, technical sales assistants, customer service staff, and an authorized distributor network.

ARW, , ) dedicated to the unique design and distribution requirements of the transportation industry, is a worldwide distributor of interconnection systems and components within the transportation industry. With its on-site technical engineers and sales offices located around the globe, Power & Signal Group is a clear leader in generating demand for its suppliers' products within the transportation industry.
http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/power--signal-group-omron/story.aspx?guid={580A39A1-700C-4781-A677-A0E5CA980BDA}&dist=msr_2

Buehler Motor, Inc., Targets U.S. Medical and Electronics Industries with Its Next-generation ec4more Brushless Motors

2009-02-10T03:44:00.000-08:00

Buehler Launches High-performance, Custom-Engineered BLDC Motor Line at MD&M West and Electronics West Expos

ANAHEIM, Calif., Feb. 9 /PRNewswire/ -- Buehler Motor, Inc. (BMI), a leading international provider of mechatronic drive solutions with a specialty in medical technology, electronics and automation industries, today unveiled its ec4more family of brushless DC (BLDC) motors at the MD&M West and Electronics West Expo and Conference, Feb. 9-12, 2009, Anaheim, Calif.

Buehler Motor developed the new line specifically to help U.S. medical technology, office equipment and building/industrial automation manufacturers and suppliers solve specific friction, durability, noise and other extreme engineering and product-development challenges.

"Leveraging the company's decades of engineering and manufacturing experience, the Buehler R&D team set out to create a family of next-generation BLDC motors that would deliver more efficient energy and a higher output than dimensionally comparable products in the market - and the result is the ec4more line," said Robert Riedford, president and general manager, Buehler Motor, Inc. "Our new BLDC motors are custom-engineered for a wide range of industry applications, including medical near-patient devices, surgical instruments, air and fluid pumps, paper handling and other applications that demand a high-performance, efficient and long-lasting drive solution."

According to Riedford, BMI is unique in that it specializes in providing customized drive solutions - and is the only international provider that can offer customers more than 50 years of German engineering, R&D and manufacturing expertise, local sales support and competitive pricing advantages that come from global production resources.

Buehler Motor ec4more BLDC

The Buehler Motor ec4more BLDC line is designed for maximum reliability and optimal control under extreme environmental conditions. The key feature of the ec4more line is its segmented stators capable of delivering high power density and efficient power with low noise, longer life cycle, abrasion resistance, electromagnetic compatibility and superior dynamics. The line includes cylindrical diameters of 30 to 60 mm with lengths of 50 to 119 mm, and output up to 400 watts:

Buehler EC Motor (1.25.027.2xx) - cylindrical diameter of 30 mm; length of 50 mm
Buehler EC Motor (1.25.027.4xx) - cylindrical diameter of 30 mm; length of 70 mm
Buehler EC Motor (1.25.037.2xx) - cylindrical diameter of 40 mm; length of 70 mm
Buehler EC Motor (1.25.037.4xx) - cylindrical diameter of 40 mm; length of 100 mm
Buehler EC Motor (1.25.047.2xx) - cylindrical diameter of 50 mm; length of 100 mm
Buehler EC Motor (1.25.056.2xx) - cylindrical diameter of 60 mm; length of 119 mm

Specifications and dimensions of the Buehler ec4more BLDC motors meet standard specifications of multiple industry applications, enabling engineers to replace current motors with higher performance Buehler motors.

The Buehler Motor ec4more BLDC motors meet the highest quality standards and production requirements demanded by the automotive and aviation industries (FMEA and/or APQP). These standards make the ec4more line ideal for all applications which require superior performance, reliability and safety requirements.

About Buehler Motor, Inc.

Buehler Motor is an independent, globally active company focused on the development, production and marketing of technically challenging mechatronic drive solutions for the world's leading manufacturers in the automotive, aerospace, business automation, medical device and other industries. Driven by innovation, Buehler Motor offers comprehensive in-house research and development with more than 140 engineers and 1,400 qualified employees delivering more than 22 million units worldwide. Buehler Motor's Product Implementation Process (PIP) ensures superior manufacturing processes and the highest quality product for all standard line and customized drive solutions.

As part of the worldwide Buehler Motor family, Buehler Motor, Inc. (BMI), based in Morrisville, N.C., offers its North American customers a combination of German engineering, research and development, manufacturing, and local sales and customer support - plus the competitive pricing advantages and on-time delivery that come from a global production footprint spanning three continents.

http://news.prnewswire.com/DisplayReleaseContent.aspx?ACCT=104&STORY=/www/story/02-09-2009/0004968415&EDATE=

Alps Electric Selects Berkeley Design Automation Analog FastSPICE(TM) and Noise Analysis Option(TM)

2009-01-24T20:20:00.000-08:00

SANTA CLARA, Calif., Jan 21, 2009 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- Berkeley Design Automation Inc., provider of Precision Circuit Analysis(TM) technology for advanced analog, mixed-signal, and RF integrated circuits (ICs), today announced that Alps Electric Co. Ltd., a leading global manufacturer of electronics devices and sensors for automobiles, PCs, cellular phones, audio, and home appliances, has selected the company's Analog FastSPICE(TM) circuit simulator and Noise Analysis Option(TM) for characterization and performance simulation of its advanced electronic devices.

"At Alps Electric we make careful decisions to upgrade our design flow with next-generation tools that extend our competitive advantage, compress our design cycle, and help us continue to deliver high quality designs to our customers," said Mr. Keisho Miyazaki, Group Manager, Alps Electric Co. Ltd. "Our products require true SPICE accuracy and accurate transistor-level noise analysis prior to fabrication. Analog FastSPICE easily delivered identical waveforms to our traditional SPICE simulator 5x-10x faster. The Noise Analysis Option enables us to accurately analyze the noise specifications of our circuits including the impact of device noise with excellent silicon correlation."

Berkeley Design Automation tools include Analog FastSPICE(TM) circuit simulation, Noise Analysis Option(TM) device noise analyzer, RF FastSPICE(TM) periodic analyzer, and PLL Noise Analyzer(TM). The company guarantees identical waveforms to the leading "golden" SPICE simulators down to noise floor (typically 0.1% or less) while delivering 5x-10x higher performance and 5x-10x higher capacity. It achieves this by using advanced algorithms and numerical analysis techniques to rapidly solve the full-circuit matrix and the original device equations without any shortcuts that could compromise accuracy.

Design teams from top-10 semiconductor companies to leading startups use Berkeley Design Automation tools to solve big analog/RF verification problems. Typical applications include complex-block characterization (e.g., PLLs, ADCs, DC:DC converters, PHYs, Tx/Rx chains) and full-circuit performance simulation (e.g., wireless transceivers, wireline transceivers, high-speed I/O macros, memories, microcontrollers, data converters, and power converters).

"We are delighted that Alps Electric, a leading global supplier of precision electronic devices and sensors, has selected Berkeley Design Automation," said Ravi Subramanian, president and CEO of Berkeley Design Automation. "Alps Electric's selection of both Analog FastSPICE and Noise Analysis Option further reinforces the unique, strong, and compelling advantage our technology provides over today's other SPICE solutions. We are proud to help Alps Electric extend their competitive advantage and continue to deliver innovative high-quality products."

About Berkeley Design Automation

Berkeley Design Automation, Inc. is the recognized leader in advanced analog/RF verification. Its Precision Circuit Analysis technology combines the accuracy, performance, and capacity needed to verify GHz designs in nanometer-scale silicon. Berkeley Design Automation has received numerous awards including EDN Magazine's 2006 Innovation of the Year, the 2006 Red Herring 100 North America, and the 2007 Red Herring Global 100 Finalist. Founded in 2003, the company is funded by Woodside Fund, Bessemer Venture Partners, Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. Ltd., and NTT Corporation. For more information, see http://www.berkeley-da.com.

Analog FastSPICE, Noise Analysis Option, RF FastSPICE, PLL Noise Analyzer, WaveCrave, and Precision Circuit Analysis are trademarks and Berkeley Design is a registered trademark of Berkeley Design Automation, Inc. Any other trademarks or trade names mentioned are the property of their respective owners.
http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/alps-electric-selects-berkeley-design/story.aspx?guid={C2D2314B-BC0F-43F5-891F-93A1AC84F286}&dist=msr_2

SMT connector family offers up to 54 pins

2009-01-11T23:54:00.000-08:00

ERNI Electronics has broadened its 0.8mm MicroStac SMT connector series to include a 10- (single row) and 54-pin (dual row) version.

The MicroStac advantage is based on a patented hermaphroditic design, a special design requiring only one part number which enables reduced logistic and inventory costs for board-to-board applications. The powerful combination of the MicroStac's miniature construction and its innovative design makes it suitable for extremely compact and demanding applications. The connectors can be used to a wide scope of applications including sensor technology, medical instruments, mobile communication, automotive electronics, automation engineering, measurement technology, test equipment and building automation. For medical applications, new antistatic versions are now available upon request.

The SMT construction and unique design of the MicroStac allow for economical and automatic assembly. The stability of the miniature connector is facilitated through a tilt-proof contact principle with dual side positioning of the contact on the PCB. In addition, with its corresponding features of minimal weight (just 0.18g for the 6-pin design), 100 percent SMT co-planarity of <0.1mm>The MicroStac advantage is based on a patented

Even with their compact construction, MicroStac products can achieve a high current-carrying capacity. The contact is formed through precision stamping, a process which offers the most reliable form of contact possible. As a result, the contacts offer an extensive cross-section for low ohmic resistance, while at the same time providing a large radiating surface that yields higher power carrying capabilities than similar competitors' products. With an ambient temperature of 20°C and current feed to all contacts, the MicroStac 50-pin connector can transfer 1.6A per contact (in acc. with IEC 60512, test 5b), or can safely and reliably carry 80A inside a very small footprint.

Within the MicroStac connector family, new versions are now available with 6, 9, 10, 12, and 14 pins (all single-row), and 50 and 54 pins (both two-row). Depending on the connector version, the board-to-board height ranges from 3mm to between 5mm to 6.5mm. Despite the subminiature design, the MicroStac is designed to be used in multiple mated pairs between two boards. Subsequently, when using the MicroStac, there is no need to fear 'negative tolerance stack up'. The permissible center offset, when connected, is ± 0.7mm in the longitudinal direction and ±0.5mm in the transversal direction. The permissible angular offset is ±4°.

In addition, the MicroStac connectors feature a high temperature-resistant insulating body (PA46), and 100 percent SMT coplanarity to ensure a secure soldering experience. The black isolating body allows simple visual recognition during automatic assembly and, when delivered in the antistatic packaging, the connectors are protected and ready for automatic assembly.

ERNI's MicroStac connectors are available immediately and pricing varies by pin count and volume.

http://www.eetasia.com/ART_8800559403_590626_NP_599d167d.HTM

Automation Engineering Services

2008-12-31T08:08:00.001-08:00

Automation engineering refers to the application of specialized knowledge in the field of automation control. It provides specialized services to the industries to facilitate the smooth functioning of automation control system. Automation engineering measures quality and improves quality of products in the manufacturing sector. It is the automation engineer who is capable of testing the motors of every types and sizes. He can manage both the big integral motors as well as DC motors. Both these types are used in the automation control system. Automation engineers can design and build test system and automated assembly for a number of applications in the industrial automation. These systems are very useful for the automation at cell level. Thus automation engineers are of great help in the field of manufacturing for the purpose of quality testing, computer control as well as productivity.

Engineers specialized in the field of automation control are capable in integrating the test and control hardware with software control to provide a dependable system in the industrial automation. Automation engineering makes factories capable to reach their efficiency and production goals regardless of its structure, size or system. It deals with large complicated assembly systems with various component parts, test requirements and assembly steps or even a small system. In both the cases it meets the requirements of a manufacturing unit. Automotive component testing one of the branches of automation engineering can deal with each application. It has the precise techniques and equipments to meet the demand of an industry. Under the automation engineering a tester is so designed to stand to all the required tests with accuracy and in a fixed cycle time.

In automation engineering industrial grade hardware and computers are used for testing which are efficient enough in measuring with fast data acquisitions and high precision. It thus reduces the testing time that goes in cycle. The software and control engineers in the automation engineering are highly qualified. They acquire expertise in programming languages, development platforms and different operating system platforms. They adhere to the safety guidelines while developing custom control system through concepts and documentation. Thus the automation engineering discipline has made possible the implementation of a variety of automation control and testing skills. It has helped built various building equipments for customers in various different industries.

Mechanical engineering team of automation engineering makes it sure the system of a manufacturing unit has the tools necessary to utilize fully the capabilities of the test system. Precision components and durable designs are the characteristic features of all automation engineering system.

Advanced Automation Associates, one of the leading automation control service provider in USA. It provides HMI design and industrial automation.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Robin_Brain

Avnet Electronics Marketing Brings Out New 'Convenience Kit'

2008-12-21T02:33:00.000-08:00

BALTIMORE, Dec 19, 2008 (ASCRIBE NEWS via COMTEX) -- AVT | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating -- Avnet Electronics Marketing, an operating group of Avnet, has released the Intel Desktop Board D945GCLF2-based Convenience Kit.

The new kit features a Dual-Core Intel Atom processor, which provides design and development support for use with embedded applications.

The Intel Desktop Board D945GCLF2-based Convenience Kit builds upon the capabilities offered by the Intel Desktop Board D945GCLF-based Convenience Kit -- the first board-level Intel architecture development tool released by Avnet in June 2008 -- and offers engineers the ability to rapidly write and test software around an Intel embedded architecture platform. Designed for use with embedded medical, factory automation, kiosk and instrumentation applications, the new kit allows designers to quickly implement a board-level Intel Atom processor-based design within their applications.

"Today's designers have expressed a need for board-level solutions that allow them to implement Dual-Core Intel Atom processor-based solutions into their designs without having to develop their own boards," said Marc Gsand, vice president of marketing for Avnet Electronics Marketing Americas. "The new Intel Desktop Board D945GCLF2-based Convenience Kit utilizes Microsoft Windows XP Embedded and a solid-state NAND drive from Micron Technologies, providing an easy to use solution for increased capabilities."

"Avnet has a proven track record of delivering Intel Atom processor-based, board-level development tools," said Eric Thompson, director, North American Channel Sales & Marketing, for Intel. "The new Intel Desktop Board D945GCLF2-based dual core kit provides increased capabilities for design engineers looking to migrate board level solutions and speed development time of their products."

Avnet is currently taking orders for the new Intel Desktop Board D945GCLF2-based Convenience Kit, with anticipated ship dates set for mid-January 2009.

((Comments on this story may be sent to newsdesk@closeupmedia.com))
http://www.tradingmarkets.com/.site/news/Stock%20News/2095005/

IBM Research and Samsung Electronics to Boost Automation in Consumer Electronics Industry

2008-12-11T07:33:00.000-08:00

HAIFA, ISRAEL, Dec 09, 2008 (MARKET WIRE via COMTEX) -- IBM's (IBM:
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IBM 82.34, -0.52, -0.6%) Research Department has partnered with Samsung Electronics to develop a cutting edge solution that facilitates the reuse of embedded software using a component-based development approach. With consumer electronics software becoming increasingly complex and new variations in product lines becoming the defacto, consumer electronics companies are urgently looking for better ways to reuse the software they produce. By introducing the use of modeling and standards for components and architectures of product lines, the new technology developed by IBM researchers and Samsung can enable consumer electronics manufacturers to boost productivity, lower software development costs, and reduce the total time to market.
"The best way to meet these demands for mass customization is through the introduction of software engineering methodologies and tools that will enable the industry to benefit from higher levels of automation and interoperability," explained Julia Rubin, Manager of Model Driven Engineering Technologies at the IBM Haifa Research Lab. "By creating a new component market, the consumer electronics industry can be transformed from a production arena to an integration discipline."
The collaboration between Samsung and IBM is part of IBM's First of a Kind program for new research innovations. The program brings IBM Researchers together with other companies to create industry-changing, first of a kind technologies. Samsung experts joined forces with IBM researchers to develop the component modeling technology. The two companies worked closely to improve the modeling language and tooling, and ultimately produce the new solution.
Printers are an example of a consumer electronics product line with a variety of models that could benefit from software reuse and simplified customization. A single printer model may have a number of variations, each with different combinations of features and functions. These variations in components include color or black and white printing, scanners, faxes, copiers, and more. Much of the software for each of these printer models is identical, while other individual component variations need to be developed and managed before manufacturing the different models.
"Incorporating smarter mechanisms such as model validation and code generation has the potential to significantly improve the development process," noted Dr. Jagun Kwon, Senior Engineer at Samsung Electronics Software Laboratories in Korea. "The new development environment provided obvious benefits and was relatively easy to learn for anyone already familiar with component modeling."
The new technology has a potential to reduce the cost of creating, modifying, and maintaining consumer electronics product lines by improving the productivity of consumer electronics software development and decreasing time to market. Much of this savings will come from the efficient re-use of existing components in new products, the integration of off-the-shelf components into new product lines, and the standardized interfaces available with model driven development.
Combining the composition of software components with product-line requirements, The new IBM technology works as a plugin to the familiar Rational development environment and is based on the UML standard modeling framework. Developers can automatically generate various product artifacts including build scripts and production-level code for each variation of a product. It also facilitates the move from legacy components and methodologies to model-driven development with the benefits of software development at a higher level of abstraction and with increased automation.
In addition to the new research collaboration, IBM recently took a detailed look at the electronics industry and has developed a report titled, "Rebooting the Electronics Industry," which illustrates ways electronic companies can operate efficiently in the new economic environment. The current economic environment is challenging global business leaders to aggressively rethink their strategies. Across the electronics industry, effects are likely to be quite different, reflecting the enormous diversity of the industry itself. From consumer electronics to medical devices, industry sub-segments will have to respond -- each in its own way -- to lower consumer spending and stricter access to capital while continuing to value the necessity to innovate. To view the complete study please visit http://www-935.ibm.com/services/us/index.wss/ibvstudy/gbs/a1030739?cntxt=a1000050

Tyco Electronics Introduces The Elo TouchSystems 2240L Touchmonitor

2008-12-02T21:34:00.001-08:00

With the release of the new Elo TouchSystems 2240L wide-aspect, high resolution LCD touchmonitor, Tyco Electronics' Elo TouchSystems, a global leader in touchscreen technology, introduces the latest addition to its successful portfolio of wide aspect ratio open-frame touchmonitor solutions.

The company unveiled the new touchmonitor at the annual Global Gaming Expo (G2E) in Las Vegas, Nevada, November 18-20, 2008. With a proven track record and industry leading product reliability, the gaming industry has come to rely on Elo TouchSystems touchmonitors to capture gamers' attention - and keep it.

Designed for use in high-traffic casino gaming, video-game entertainment and self-service kiosk environments, the 2240L offers the widest viewing angle of any 22" touchmonitor available today, and delivers clear, bright, and long-lasting performance. Colors remain sharp, vivid and true, and graphics retain their integrity.

"The 2240L truly represents a breakthrough in terms of design and performance in touchscreen technology," says James Witkowski, Elo TouchSystems product manager. "The 2240L offers exceptional visual performance in a wide variety of lighting environments, fully meeting the elevated consumer expectations in the age of high-definition television."

The innovative design of the open-frame 2240L provides a seamless fit for gaming applications, and can be deployed in both landscape and portrait orientations. With a front-facing, metal-hardened anodized bezel and L-mounting brackets and slim dimensional profile (500x332x80 mm), the 2240L offers installation flexibility in a variety of entertainment and retail environments. In addition, the integrated on-screen display control (OSD), as well as a remote OSD, allow for simplified management of the 2240L.

The 2240L is the latest addition to Elo's existing portfolio of open-frame touchmonitors, now available in 20-inch, 22-inch, 26-inch and 32-inch screen sizes. At launch, the 2240L is available with industry-leading touch technologies including IntelliTouch surface acoustic wave, and surface capacitive, as well as a no-touch version. The pure-glass and sealed-screen used with IntelliTouch technology helps prevent damage from spills, smoke and other potential hazards, while Elo's next-generation surface capacitive touchscreen controller offers robust performance and pin-point accuracy. The 2240L featuring acoustic pulse recognition (APR), the innovative technology from Elo TouchSystems that senses touch by recognizing unique patterns of acoustic waves, is scheduled for release in early 2009.

About Tyco Electronics
Tyco Electronics Ltd. is a leading global provider of engineered electronic components, network solutions, undersea telecommunication systems and wireless systems, with 2008 sales of $14.8B to customers in more than 150 countries. We design, manufacture and market products for customers in industries from automotive, appliance and aerospace and defense to telecommunications, computers and consumer electronics. With nearly 8,000 engineers and worldwide manufacturing, sales and customer service capabilities, Tyco Electronics' commitment is our customers' advantage. More information on Tyco Electronics can be found at http://www.tycoelectronics.com/.

About Elo Touchsystems
Tyco Electronics' Elo TouchSystems is the global leading brand in touch technology. The Elo TouchSystems' line encompasses the largest selection of touchscreen technologies, LCD and CRT touchmonitors, carefully designed for the demanding requirements of diverse applications, such as industrial, medical, POS, kiosks, retail, hospitality, transportation, office automation and gaming. Elo founders invented the touchscreen over 35 years ago. Since then, customers have used Elo touchscreens with one common, powerful result advanced computer technology simplified for all users. For more information on Elo products and services, visit www.elotouch.com.
http://www.retailsolutionsonline.com/article.mvc/Elo-TouchSystems-2240L-
Touchmonitor-0001?VNETCOOKIE=NO

Ariform form automation solution introduced by Selwyn Electronics

2008-11-12T04:20:00.000-08:00

TELECOMWORLDWIRE-26 June 2008-Ariform form automation solution introduced by Selwyn Electronics(C)1994-2008 M2 COMMUNICATIONS LTD http://www.m2.com

Selwyn Electronics, a supplier of connectors, cable assemblies, cooling products, rackmount systems and pen input computer equipment, has announced the launch of Ariform, the form automation solution that collects and digitally processes hand written data.

According to the company, Ariform's design module enables users to design their own form and print it on standard paper. By processing ink captured using a digital pad, the solution removes the need to re-type hand written data. Handwriting recognition software converts the information to digital text and data, which is then processed and exported to .CSV, .XML or Microsoft Access database files.

The solution has reportedly been designed to work with DigiMemo, a digital pad that captures and stores everything that is written or drawn on paper.

The product is available in two versions: Ariform Lite, priced at GBP29.38 (inc. VAT), which allows the recognition of tick-boxes and radio-buttons, while text fields can be stored graphically as bitmap images; and Ariform for Vista, priced at GBP96.94 (inc. VAT), which adds boxed fields, free-text fields and handwriting recognition.

((Comments on this story may be sent to tww.feedback@m2.com))
http://findarticles.com

You Can Get Free Expensive Electronics

2008-10-04T09:00:00.000-07:00

At first I couldn't believe that anyone could get free expensive electronics from real companies that want to give them away to you and me, until I did some simple research to find out what the catch

But I don't understand, why would these companies give away expensive electronics? What are they gaining form it?

These companies give away products like:

*Plasma TVs
*Laptops
*Digital Camera
*I-Pods

And many other amazing products.

Every single day companies and businesses spend thousands and even millions of dollars promoting their product or services to lure in more customers.

What this got to do with giving away free electronics?

When a business spends a lot of money on advertising they are trying to get noticed by as many people as humanly possible.

The concept of giving away FREE name brand expensive gifts obviously helps to bring in more consumers.,which is the plan.

These businesses hire a marketing company to advertise for them and bring in new paying customers and
to get more consumers to try a free trial of their products, it's good for the consumers because they can cancel anytime during the free trial so they won't be charge anything for the product.
Read More

Electronics & Instruments in Outdoor Activities

2008-09-19T02:33:00.000-07:00

The use of electronics and instruments in outdoor activities such as hunting, camping, hiking, and fishing have become as important to the hunter as his gun and to the camper as his sleeping bag. Electronics such as GPS units, atmospheric measuring instruments, compasses, radios, walkie-talkies, and game locating and surveillance cameras have become widely used.

GPS, or Global Positioning System, is a satellite navigational system orbiting the earth and their receivers on earth. The GPS satellites transmit digital radio signals that contain data to the receivers on earth. Based on this information the receivers can pinpoint a location on the earth. By using three satellites, GPS can calculate the longitude and latitude, and by using four satellites, GPS can also determine altitude. Any prepared outdoorsman will include a GPS unit as part of his gear, especially in unfamiliar locations.

The compass, as a navigational aid, has been around since the 11th century. Even with advancements in other electronics and instruments, the compass is still a valuable instrument to get your bearing with. Mostly, compasses are built as a sealed instrument with a magnetized needle on a pivot, or floating in a fluid, and is able to point north and south.

Other electronics and instruments include the game monitoring and surveillance camera. These cameras are set up in suspected game areas to confirm the movement and patterns of game. One camera can be used or they can be set up as a group. The game cameras mostly operate without a "clicking" sound or a flash.

Radios, walkie-talkies, and throat mics are important communication tools for a group of hunters to help prevent accidents by knowing everyones location, report game sighting or movement, or staying informed about changing weather conditions.

Portable and hand-held atmospheric measuring electronics & instruments are valuable to the outdoorsman to verify wind speed and direction, temperature and changing weather conditions.

Keith Grable is a sports enthusiast and outdoorsman and the owner of an outdoor sports and recreation website http://www.theoutdoorsportsshop.com where many electronics & instruments used in the outdoors can be seen.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Keith_Grable
http://ezinearticles.com/?Electronics-andamp;-Instruments-in-Outdoor-Activities&id=1095140

Ariform form automation solution introduced by Selwyn Electronics

2008-08-10T07:49:00.000-07:00

TELECOMWORLDWIRE-26 June 2008-Ariform form automation solution introduced by Selwyn Electronics(C)1994-2008 M2 COMMUNICATIONS LTD http://www.m2.com

Selwyn Electronics, a supplier of connectors, cable assemblies, cooling products, rackmount systems and pen input computer equipment, has announced the launch of Ariform, the form automation solution that collects and digitally processes hand written data.

According to the company, Ariform's design module enables users to design their own form and print it on standard paper. By processing ink captured using a digital pad, the solution removes the need to re-type hand written data. Handwriting recognition software converts the information to digital text and data, which is then processed and exported to .CSV, .XML or Microsoft Access database files.
The solution has reportedly been designed to work with DigiMemo, a digital pad that captures and stores everything that is written or drawn on paper.

The product is available in two versions: Ariform Lite, priced at GBP29.38 (inc. VAT), which allows the recognition of tick-boxes and radio-buttons, while text fields can be stored graphically as bitmap images; and Ariform for Vista, priced at GBP96.94 (inc. VAT), which adds boxed fields, free-text fields and handwriting recognition.
http://findarticles.com

LG Electronics and Honeywell Announce Strategic Partnership in Building Solution System

2008-08-01T20:07:00.000-07:00

LG Electronics and Honeywell Announce Strategic Partnership in Building Solution System

LG Electronics (LGE), a global leader and technology innovator in consumer electronics, today announced a strategic business partnership with Honeywell, a global manufacturer in automation and control solution. This agreement covers intelligent building systems, in which Honeywell possesses world’s leading technology.

LG Electronics and Honeywell Announce Strategic Partnership in Building Solution System

Posted: 22-07-2008 , 12:51 GMT

LG Electronics and Honeywell Announce Strategic Partnership in Building Solution System

LG Electronics (LGE), a global leader and technology innovator in consumer electronics, today announced a strategic business partnership with Honeywell, a global manufacturer in automation and control solution. This agreement covers intelligent building systems, in which Honeywell possesses world’s leading technology.

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The partnership agreement embraces comprehensive cooperation across sales, marketing, training, product development, and technology services for building solution systems. Through this collaboration with Honeywell, LG expects to establish an exclusive solution for spec-in sales activities, expand its capability in relevant technologies and improve its engineers’ skills through training.

LG marked this business partnership agreement with a ceremony held today at the Grand Hilton Hotel in Seoul, Korea. Executives attending from both companies included Young-Hwan Kim, Solution Business Team Leader at LG Electronics Digital Appliance Company and Ki-Soon Choi, ECC (Environmental and Combustion Controls) Division Leader from Honeywell.

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From his end, the General Manager of LGE Amman, Mr. Kevin Cha said, “This partnership with Honeywell will serve to strengthen our competitiveness, expanding our presence in the intelligent building system industry as well as the home network sector. We will concentrate on attracting new customers through our accumulated expertise in home networks, coupled with our competitive brand recognition.”

LG has began its home solution business in 2004, outfitting approximately 60,000 residences by end of this year in Korea and emerging markets including the Middle East and China. Overall, the building control system industry has grown substantially worldwide, expanding from USD 90 billion in 2007 to 94 billion in 2008. Energy conservation and environmental awareness have increased demand for integrated control solution including mutual assistance control, power supervision, light control and security. This partnership with Honeywell will help LG better respond to the needs of its customers in this area.

Established in 1984, Honeywell has dedicated its business to automatic control systems, controls, sensors, reaching gross sales of US$300 million in Korea last year.
http://www.albawaba.com/en/countries/Jordan/232555

Electronics Dropship - Your Number 1 Source For Electronics, Designer Clothing, And More!

2008-07-27T09:41:00.000-07:00

We're committed to offering you the best experience online and first-rate services:

• Access to a large inventory of items including Electronics, toys, computer equipment...

• Fast shipping

• All items are avalable (unless stated)

• No minimum purchase amount on your orders

With our unique selection of products and services, we have gained a reputation for offering unbeatable prices on branded items as well as outstanding customer service on all levels.

New product lines are continuously added to our offering and we continue to expand on the idea of providing you with the perfect online shopping experience.

Over 20,000 Products are currently available to you, at low, low prices. These products are leading brand names too.

Ordering is simple. To place an order, find a product you like, add it to your basket and when your done, fill in your address and payment details and thats it. Easy!

Electronics dropship is an online provider of a huge selection of electronics, giftware, home decor and much more. We have built a solid reputation as reliable, efficient and dependable business, offering our clients enormous variety of products at rock bottom prices.

We offer a truly unique range of branded items at great prices, our services are unsurpassed by other players who can simply not compete with us. We make it easy for you to browse our products, place orders and benefit from our quality services.

Our extensive inventory, superb customer service, unbeatable prices and unique experience, allow you to buy items at great prices and service.

Visit our site

http://www.electronics-dropship.weshiponline.co.uk

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Jake_King

Electronics Industry Giant Selects Esker to Automate SAP Inbound Sales Order Management

2008-07-19T03:06:00.000-07:00

Esker announced that it has signed a USD$1M enterprise agreement to implement Esker DeliveryWare for a Fortune 50 electronics manufacturer, enabling the company to automate the delivery of sales order documents into its SAP system.

“We are thrilled to be selected as the provider of document process automation solutions for such a significant international player. Esker DeliveryWare will enable faster information exchange among its business partners and customers, eliminate bottlenecks caused by manual entry for SAP applications, create a shorter and more streamlined sales process and decrease the time to cash by sending and receiving information faster and more accurately,” said Jean-Michel Berard, President and CEO of Esker. “We’re very proud to add this company to our roster of international SAP customers working with us to automate order processing, including Whirlpool, MEDRAD and Novar ED&S.”

Esker offers end-to-end document process automation software solutions and web services that enable organizations to receive and send business-critical documents, regardless of source or format, directly into and out of enterprise applications, such as those from SAP.

The customer will implement Esker DeliveryWare to streamline its current manual processing of more than one million sales orders annually in South Asia Pacific. With Esker DeliveryWare, these inbound orders will be processed automatically, eliminating the need to manually print and distribute. This automation will significantly reduce the use of millions of pieces of printed paper, as well as the time spent manually printing, sorting, approving, and posting each sales order into the SAP application. By automating inbound order processing, the customer is able to respond rapidly to every order placed and achieve a higher level of customer satisfaction and internal efficiency.

The new customer’s emphasis on process improvement around customer interaction in emerging markets indicates continued IT growth in Asia/Pacific, Latin America, the Middle East and Africa, and Eastern Europe. Recent research has shown that by 2011, IT spending for Asia/Pacific will reach $590 billion, up from $447 billion in 2007. Currently, the Asia/Pacific market makes up 40% of the world's population and 21% of global GDP.

By implementing Esker DeliveryWare on a global scale, the company will unify its approach to order management, speed the order-to-cash cycle, increase customer satisfaction and improve the company’s overall cash flow.

Esker DeliveryWare 4.0 – Esker’s Document Process Automation solution – recently achieved SAP Certified Integration for SAP’s new enterprise service-oriented architecture-based (enterprise SOA) interface, thus achieving “Powered by SAP NetWeaver” status. Esker is among the first few vendors to complete certification for this new interface, demonstrating and broadening its support of its Document Process Automation solutions for customers using SAP solutions worldwide.
http://virtualization.sys-con.com/read/610500.htm

killswtch's Home Automation and Media Projects

2008-07-13T05:52:00.000-07:00

This is the story of my attempts at integrating various technologies into a 3-bed semi, constructing as much of the hardware and electronics as possible myself.

SFF PCs

Posted by killswtch

The audio system that I’m building requires 2 low-power computers: 1 for the touchscreen controller (not using an iPod Touch for the moment) and 1 to act as a webserver and serial-console server.

Once again eBay has come to the rescue, and by searching for ‘geode’ - a low-power processor for Thin Clients & Small Form Factor (SFF) PCs - I found the 2 machines that I needed. These are the specs:

magnesium (the black one)

o 800 MHz Geode
o 256 MB RAM
o 6 GB CF drive
o Onboard graphics, audio, serial, parallel, USB & 10/100 ethernet

£70 + P&P

potassium (the grey one)

o 300 MHz Geode
o 256 MB RAM
o 6 GB 2.5″ IDE drive
o Onboard graphics, audio, serial x2, parallel, USB & 10/100 ethernet

£35 + P&P

Magnesium is used as the client machine, and potassium runs a custom-made webserver and the control software for the VAMS-0808 Matrix Switcher.

Both came pre-installed with Puppy Linux, a lightweight distribution designed for low-power machines such as these. It runs surprisingly quickly, but to make it easier for me to maintain I decided to install Ubuntu.

On such slow computers it took many hours to get Ubuntu installed on magnesium alone. I initially installed to the CF drive that came with the machine. However I found it to be quite slow, so I followed a guide for running Ubuntu via network boot and removed the CF disk. I did the same for potassium. Both booted off of the fileserver, boron.

Unfortunately during installation, I found that the slower of the machines has a tendancy to overheat causing the machine to hang. To get Ubuntu installed I had to remove the case. This has now been rectified by installing a blower to get at least some air circulating. This is the only fan in either of the machines. Magnesium gets quite hot but has never crashed because of it. It also sits in a cooler environment, and is much better engineered.

Sadly I’ve been forced to install Windows XP on magnesium purely because I couldn’t get the touchscreen to work under linux despite spending more than a day trying to. While it was detected, and it detected touches, the calibration was completely off and there was no way to configure it. Rather than waste any more time I decided to switch to Windows and everything has worked beautifuly since then. To accomplish this I’ve had to reinstall the CF disk since as far as I know XP Pro can’t do diskless booting.

Shots of these computers in use and more information on their roles to come soon.

http://community.zdnet.co.uk/blog/0,1000000567,10008683o-2000501561b,00.htm

Business Automation - Automate or Suffocate

2008-06-29T06:35:00.000-07:00

Lack of business automation really can lead to suffocation. The word suffocate comes from the Latin fauces meaning neck or throat. Hence the meaning: "to choke or put one's hand under the throat".

As small internet business owners pick up speed they run the risk of being overwhelmed by daily routine tasks which consume so much time they can choke the life out of future business development.

Business owners need time to plan, develop new strategies, advertising campaigns and products. This time is as essential as air for life.

Why Automate?

But how can the small business person develop future business and at the same time cope with the growing work load increased business generates? Answer: AUTOMATE!

Michael Gerber in his excellent seminar "The E-Myth" describes a trap many fall into which highlights the need for business automation.

They are so wrapped up with DOING IT, DOING IT, DOING IT, they never have time to step back and see just where they are going.

He draws a lesson from McDonalds. Can you imagine? A multi-billion dollar enterprise staffed by a bunch of fresh-faced teenagers!

It's All In The System

How do they do it? They have a system. It's the system that makes billions. Everything, literally everything, is automated. McDonalds is a model of business automation!

Can we learn a lesson from this in small business? Definitely!

Take a look at your average work day.

What do you spend most of your time doing?

Answering email?
Processing orders?
Handling customer complaints?
Sending follow up letters?
Tinkering with your web site design?

Honestly, what consumes your time? More importantly, what can you automate?

For customer queries and questions, autoresponders are essential. (See resource box below for a free tutorial)

Put common answers or FAQ sheets in a standard message and put it on auto!

Create templates by writing standard paragraphs to cover frequent questions and cut and paste them into personalized replies.

What is your time worth?

If you researched a new product, or target market, what could that new campaign make for you? Can you estimate the minimum?

Divide that by the hours you spend in a day doing routine work.

What if on your present income level your time is worth $20, $50, $100 an hour.

Would you pay someone that much to process orders? To answer email?

Yes, business automation will cost money, but when you run through the numbers you may find it is costing you more NOT to automate.

Give this matter serious thought!

Business Automation - Self-Analysis

Ask yourself, "Is my business suffocating under a blanket of routine tasks which I am DOING, DOING, DOING each day?"

Then perhaps you need to break the grip around the neck of your business and let it breathe through well planned business automation.

Stop suffocating and start automating!

Michael Anthony Jones is a writer and webmaster with over 10 years experience. Visit this page for an essential resource which can literally revolutionize your small business:

http://www.about-goal-setting.com/business-automation.html

My home automation and media centre projects

2008-06-15T01:08:00.000-07:00

Tips On Consumer Electronics

2008-05-31T00:21:00.000-07:00

Never has there been a time like the present, where the consumer electronics department is filled with rivalry and advancement. The evolution of consumer electronics, high definition displays, digital broadcasts, displays and media is happening at an increasingly rapid pace.

From analog to digital, consumer electronics are now evolving with (Wireless Fidelity) technology. Are you concerned about having the latest technology when you make your next purchase in consumer electronics? Fundamentally, the changes in the consumer electronics industry are not being driven by product evolution, but by fluctuations in the industries business models.

One of the biggest contributions to consumer electronics, from the Internet is that it has paved the way for the development of more convenient ways to communicate such as through e-mail, chat and video conferencing. Now for the fun part the consumer electronics that entertain us! Where to start? One of the most popular items found at a discount consumer electronics store these days is the LCD television.

As a result, the prices that you can expect to pay for electronics would be lower than what you would expect to pay if you went to an electronic store. When buying consumer electronics, its best to know what to expect before you buy. You may have stars in your eyes to think you can build a consumer electronics business like Amazon.

The small business that wants to sell consumer electronics needs to concentrate on selling the items with which they can capture a percentage of the market and make a decent profit margin. In other cases, warehouse wholesale stores that rely upon consumer memberships ask few if any questions, concerned that a bad returns experience will cause the consumer to cancel his membership. The newest trend is that an individual seller conducts consumer electronics auctions mostly online.

Portable consumer electronics are sufficiently compact, lightweight and easy mobility. Digitization, miniaturization and mobility are the key elements for modern consumer electronic products. Most of the electronics that fulfill a function of daily life are similar to the aforementioned products that you may use in the morning.

Some of the best sources of electronics products are wholesalers, who are individuals or businesses that sell products by bulk at discounted prices. As businesses see the benefits of putting up web sites that allow them to sell their products, putting up a web site became a necessity for businesses. When I was in the software industry and we were working on the next versions of software products, the programmers would sometimes come and say, "Hey I can add such and such feature with only 100 lines of code," or some such number.

Unfortunately, the reason so many electronic products are stuffed with features is that it is relatively cheap to add features to them! Do we consumers really want or need those functions? Another category of electronics that has helped push innovations forward is multimedia, as new technologies aimed at improving the viewing and listening experience continue to be developed. Most of us will start our day to the tune of an electric alarm clock.

These auctions may not proceed smoothly or to the satisfaction of the seller and the bidder. Did you ever think that perhaps it's not really your fault? It's the fault of the engineers who designed a lousy user interface to the product. Image: a 20 year old male sits in a black leather chair, looking out his panoramic view of the city through a window that touches the floor.

This pace of technology and battle for formats is racing even faster than the development of the display devices. The consumer electronic segment is ever changing. Both offline and online consumer electronic guides have been gaining in popularity in recent years.

Shopping for consumer electronics can be difficult because you have so many options. By following these simple steps you can make purchases that you can rely on. One of the best sources for products that you wish to sell is to get them from wholesalers.

When you decide: to live to dream, to die perchance to live – to grasp a single moment in perpetual exuberance. So take a final decision only once you have gone through quite a few digital camcorder reviews by both professionals and users.

http://www.ezinearticles.com/

Automation Controllers support electronic camming

2008-05-10T06:46:00.000-07:00

Designed for Model 5300 line of controllers, QuickBuilder(TM) software enables designers to replace mechanical cams with servo axes that provide flexible machine control. Program provides spreadsheet interface, graphical point editing, 10 tables of 2,000 point pairs each, irregular point spacing support, and on-the-fly table switching. Supporting up to 64 axes of servo control per Model 5300 CPU, software is suited for packaging, converting, material handling, and printing.
QuickBuilder(TM) software for Model 5300 provides high-precision, advanced motion control

HOPKINTON, MA - Control Technology Corp., a leading manufacturer of automation controllers that integrate motion control, I/O, user interfaces, and enterprise connectivity, has released a new version of QuickBuilder(TM) software for Control Technology's Model 5300 line of controllers. The new version of QuickBuilder supports precision electronic camming motion, enabling designers to replace mechanical cams with servo axes that provide more precise and flexible machine control. This new feature supports position-based cams as well as time-based splines on Model 5300 motion modules.

A cammed axis can be set up to follow an actual feedback source such as a master encoder, a virtual feedback source, or both. Cam tables can be generated within the QuickBuilder project, downloaded from a CAD system, or the table can be dragged and dropped into QuickBuilder directly from an Excel spreadsheet. Each axis can have up to ten tables with 2,000 point sets each. New statements allow on-the-fly table switching as well as table scaling and table iteration control. Cams can be configured for either linear, cubic, or quadratic interpolation. In the cubic and quadratic modes, the axis will automatically generate a smooth curve fit through the table point locations, resulting in smoother overall operation.

Camming is supported on the Model M3-40A and M3-40D servo motion modules for the Model 5300 controller. A firmware update is available for field upgrades of existing modules. Up to 64 axes of servo control per Model 5300 CPU are supported.

QuickBuilder's camming commands have the following features:

o Easy spreadsheet interface

o Graphical point editing

o Ten tables of 2000 point pairs each

o Irregular point spacing support

o On-the-fly table switching

o Independent x and/or y scaling

o Selectable number of table iterations

o Generate moves on top of running cams

o CAM tables execute directly on motion module processors

Applications for QuickBuilder's camming include packaging, converting, material handling, printing, mechanical line shaft replacement, and contouring.

http://findarticles.com

Workflow Automation Systems

2008-04-13T08:44:00.000-07:00

Data and information both usually use as alternatives to one and another but information is more active term as compared to data, which is more passive in nature. That is the reason why information is also termed as “processed data”. The same holds true for information and knowledge where knowledge is more active as compare to the term, information.

Beside the fact, which is more active and more passive, we are living in an age where these three terms have revolutionized the world. Organizations now a day has no survival if they really don’t understand and respect the three terms. Although for organizations to be remaining in the field of their respective game, the clear understanding of these terms is mandatory. Information Technology is what the outcome of human’s respect for the term, information. In any organization you will find an IT department, what is this?

Organizations need Information technology, which has proved itself as one of the must for them. The need of IT is increasing rapidly and more and more organizations are moving toward the serious deployment of it. Information technology staff is not cheap at all. They are costly, which shows that organizations now seriously thinking about getting the competitive advantage on others by using IT infrastructure.

Originations, those already have IT, now moving toward some other newly emerging technologies and paradigms coming out of it. Many are important and have proved themselves as the must for organizations and enterprises. Like Enterprise Resource planning Systems, Customer Relation Management Systems, Workflow Automation Systems and many more.

WAS (Workflow Automation System) is a new ingredient in IT infrastructure. Many vendors are now coming in the market of WAS. It is getting popularity and hope we will see some serious generic implementation in the near future. WAS, as implemented by many organizations, has proved itself as an excellent replacement of manual workflow systems of organization. Organization now moving toward WAS because many of them really don’t want paper full offices. In fact they want paperless offices. WAS has many advantage over manual workflow systems but before describing its advantages let me define the two terms, workflow and automation.

Workflow is defined as the flow of documents in any organization from one member of the organization to the other or from one member to group of peoples or may be between departments and usually it is.

For example if I am the manager of production and my company has two departments only. Suppose our company’s sales department got an order from customer. Sales department needs to forward this order to production department. Now sales department have a choice, they can forward the order to production department with out wasting of time or may be they wait for a whole day, collect all orders from different customers, complied them in a file format and at the end of the day forward them to production department.

Are you feeling that companies don’t like this? Yes you are right. This is a latency in the production. Company has got the order and why it is waiting to start the production. Now at this stage I, as the production manager really don’t want to waste my precious time. I want some thing automated. I want to start the production as soon as I get the order. Now at this stage we need the definition of second term, the Automation. Automation can be defined as the process of taking a manual process and applying technology to it. We take the process of organization ‘s workflow and try to apply technology to it. What is required? Yes you are right. Only a computer software which enables production department staff (in our example) to see that an order has been received with the following specification plus all the required information needed by the production department to start work on it and that’s it. Now u can fell how efficiency will improve by the company. Their production will increase which definitely will increase its revenue.

It is really a very small example of WAS capabilities. In actual WAS contains enormous capabilities which every organization wish to have. As mentioned before WAS generic implementations are coming in the market and vendors are taking serious interests in it but we hope organizations will realize the importance of time also take hurry to deploying this emerging and exciting technology.

http://www.ezinearticles.com/

Database Hosting and Automation

2008-04-02T23:32:00.000-07:00

In order to accomplish automation of your sales and service process, a database is generally needed so database hosting is something to be considered when selecting a web host for your internet business.

A database is nothing more than a collection of related information or data that is stored electronically in a computer for easy access. There are different types of database programs that can be used to integrate various computer applications and to create a central database that improves the efficiency and effectiveness of business operations and business management.

Some database programs are turn-key applications that you simply install and use, but for the purpose of automation, database options generally have to be customized. Since automated internet businesses usually integrate their database solutions with their websites to automate web-based business functions, database hosting becomes necessary.

When selecting a database hosting company, it is most important that you choose one that has technology and software available that meets your storage needs as well as your integration needs as they relate to automating your business processes.

Before you can effectively evaluate and select a database hosting option, you have to choose a database solution that will integrate with your existing business systems, or revamp your entire system to ensure compatibility and the ability to integrate and automate business functions effectively.

Some of the widely used database programming languages that provide automation capability include Oracle and SQL, though there are many more. The database host that you select should have the capability of supporting a database and automation functions for the programming languages that are used by your company's computer applications.

Since automation and database programming is pretty specialized and highly technical in nature, it is wise to seek consulting services from a database programming professional or an automation specialist.

Your computer applications, your database solution and your database hosting all have to work together to effectively automate your business processes for maximum efficiency.

Every business has its own unique business functions; however, some of the basic business functions and business systems that benefit from automation include point-of-sale systems, operations systems, marketing systems, bookkeeping systems, and information management systems.

Through the use of a database and database hosting, these systems can all be integrated so that data is shared between them. Automation through integration seriously improves business functions and processes such as data entry, filing and research which will empower your internet business to provide higher levels of service and productivity with quicker and more convenient access to the information you need when you need it.

Customer Relationship Management (CRM) is an example of a function that can benefit your business through the use of automation and database hosting. Effective CRM systems enable the management of a business to learn more about their customers and prospects so they can build strong, long-term relationships with them.

CRM brings together a plethora of information about customers, prospects and marketing trends which can be used to improve marketing and to build ongoing relationships with customers through follow-up service. CRM systems which are enabled by the process of automation and database hosting will empower you to deliver the products and services that your customers expect and deserve while facilitating cross-selling and referral building.

Information Management Systems are another example of a function that employs the use of automated information sharing through database hosting that gives management easier access to a greater variety of information that can be used for business building activities.

Without a doubt, automation benefits a business. Automation makes standard business functions easier, less time consuming and more efficient in terms of time and costs. The use of a database and effective database hosting options makes automation possible.

Selecting your database applications and database hosting provider is an important first step to accomplishing automation and unleashing the full potential of your internet business.

http://www.ezinearticles.com/

Looking For A Home Automation Company In Houston Texas?

2008-03-08T05:27:00.000-08:00

Home automation represents a rising and rapidly evolving industry. Home automation installers are highly trained professionals who are equally savvy as technical experts, licensed electrical contractors, and creative designers. Illuminations Lighting and Design, Houston's premier lighting design and electrical consulting firm, heads up the city's most impeccable home automation department, with installers trained and cross-trained in every nuance of equipment selection, installation, and project development strategy.

Home automation clients can be new homeowners or existing homeowners who decide to take their lifestyles to the next level. Often we encounter new clients who have already installed or had installed a measure of home automation from either a retail source or a competitive entity. The first thing these clients usually tell us is that their existing home automation network fails to deliver control over every element of life. A client with a state of the art home theatre system may suddenly realize he or she has to get up and walk across the room to close the shades or dim the lights. Clients hosting parties at home quickly realize that remote control of the air conditioner would not only add convenience to the event but help them save on energy costs as guests fan the doors all night and move back and forth between the home theatre, the garden, the patio, and the spa. Such integrated and centralized control is the difference that sets a custom home automation project by ILD apart from competitive entities specializing only in the equipment itself or limited home automation installation specific only to segments of the lifestyle rather than comprehensively accommodating the entire lifestyle.

When our home automation installers step into such an arena, they carefully evaluate existing technology and retrofit the very best in new technology for a home automation network that leaves room for future growth and evolution of technology. Since most home automation installation in today's market requires customizing or creating a home theatre system, we require all of our home automation installation consultants to train and certify in high-end home theatre systems by Sony, Boston, and Vienna Acoustics. This way, our clients are assured that every element of living is not only automated, but also fully optimized to manufacturer standards and equipment specifications.

ILD's home automation installers spend many years in training and continuing professional education programs to develop the knowledge base required to meet the high demands of this intense, technically demanding industry. Additionally, each ILD technician mentors as an apprentice under a veteran technician to learn the proprietary methodologies exclusive to Illuminations Lighting and Design. The result of our intensive training and apprenticeship programs is a knowledgeable, experienced team of home automation installers whose expertise in current and upcoming technologies enable us to install home automation networks that are completely unique and individualize to each specific client we service. The safety, reliability, and exceptional value of our work are backed up with tangibles every time at the end of the day. Our home automation installation specialists carry design certifications and undergo frequent cross-training with other industries such as architecture, construction, and landscaping as well to ensure that our solutions truly address every aspect of home build and home living.

Throughout Houston and now Greater Texas, our division of home automation installers is rapidly gaining not only notoriety, but also an outstanding reputation for being the single source of the most comprehensive home automation designs that apply only the very latest and advanced technology in a one of kind design. Best of all, our home automation installers are good communicators and even better listeners who know how to make a project not only a technology upgrade, but a lifestyle upgrade as well that exceeds the expectations of clients. Call today 713-863-1133 to see what our team can do for your world starting now.

Chinese Wholesale Electronics

2008-03-01T10:23:00.000-08:00

In my blog Wholesale Electronics, I have been mainly posting articles about Chinese wholesale electronics products. Chinese consumer electronics products are becoming increasingly popular not only because of the awesome best deals that they offer but also because of the quality of products and services that they offer. Many satisfied customers from around the world (myself included) can attest to the quality of services that Chinese suppliers are providing. They not only provide customers with complete details as to how to order their products, they also promptly respond to any questions any customer may have. Their services are absolutely excellent. Ordering products is simply almost effortless and very convenient.

Best of all, the products that most Chinese suppliers are offering come with a one-year warranty and some have even guaranteed longer period. You can also be assured of fast delivery (oh boy, are they fast!) and competitive wholesale prices. And, of course, if you don't find the product that you're looking for, simply drop them an email and they will be glad to include some items that you want in their inventory.

By the way, you can even purchase single item at a very low price. Things definitely get "cheaper by the dozen", needless to say.

When checking out Chinese wholesale electronics suppliers, I do strongly suggest you subscribe to their newsletter to keep yourself updated on their latest offering.

Home Automation Electronics

2008-01-19T02:14:00.000-08:00

An Online Electronics Store Provides You With Quality Products at Discount Prices

2008-01-16T22:06:00.001-08:00

When you make the decision to buy electronics, start by shopping online, where you'll find all the latest products at the best prices. The selections are unlimited, and you will be able to obtain almost anything you want or have need of.

Shopping online has become very popular because of the ease and convenience of finding products that you want. There is no need to fight traffic or spend time looking through stores to locate an item you are interested in. At your own leisure, you can browse sites and compare prices and brands.

Electronics Stores Online

The online electronics stores offer all the products you would find in department or discount stores. The selection is usually better and you can order everything you need at one site. These sites typically have a directory at the top with the categories listed. You can browse through the items in these categories to see what is available. Or you can type in a key word to go directly to the products you are interested in.

If you want to update or replace computer parts, you will be able to locate monitors, printers, modems, hard drives, and other accessories. Other electronics available are digital cameras, GPS units, computer software, Mp3/Mp4 players, video games and satellite radios. In home electronics, you will find everything you need for your home theater and sound system.

Shopping For Other Products

There are many sites that offer electronics as well as various other products. It is like a huge catalog with a user-friendly index. There are online malls that have different stores listed in their directory so you can do all your shopping at one site. You can type in keywords or use the directory to find electronics and other goods. Look for coupon sites that will give you information on special sales and promotions.

While you are shopping for electronics, you can also shop for personal needs for yourself and your family. You will find exceptional deals on fine clothing brands, such as Abercrombie & Fitch, Juicy Couture and Hollister. Find clothing - teen or adult - that will delight even the hardest to please.

As you shop an online electronics store, you can find other practical items for your use. Some sites offer wholesale prices to give you the best bargains. You will be able to buy luggage, tools, jewelry, home décor, and lingerie while you are shopping for electronics

Save By Shopping Online

When shopping at online electronics stores, compare shipping prices. Some sites offer discounts on shipping for large orders, and others offer free drop shipping for your convenience. Be sure to figure shipping into your over all expense. Even paying shipping can be cheaper and less of a bother than driving around and looking in separate stores.

Find the electronics and supplies that you want at the best prices online. You can save a lot of time and money by shopping at online electronics stores. And, you can find other merchandise for your needs during your visit. While sitting at your own home computer, you have the opportunity to choose what you want and have it delivered right to you. Without leaving your home or office, the best electronics products are available to you online.

Electronics: The Must-Have Accessory

2007-12-23T06:19:00.000-08:00

You might not see iPods on Paris runways, but electronics have undergone a transformation from a utilitarian necessity to a fashion accessory. While electronics aren't exactly replacing jewelry as a status symbol - bling is still the thing - the types of gadgets a person can't live without speaks volumes about his or her lifestyle.

Those in the halls of power can't live without a BlackBerry - nor can Hollywood celebrities, it seems. Keeping in touch - anywhere, anytime - makes everything from cell phones to Bluetooth to PDAs must-haves. The popularity of electronics hasn't escaped the notice of those in the automotive world, as microchips have migrated from those controlling the vehicle's on-board computer system to the automotive accessory of the year - the Global Positioning System (GPS).

There are, of course, the ubiquitous headsets, which are connected to cell phones, MP3 players, or - for the electronics fashionista - the iPod nano. On any give airline flight, passengers will have a mind-boggling array of electronics on board to entertain them or keep them otherwise occupied. Computers, music players, and portable gaming devices all appear once cruising altitude is reached. With the plethora of must-have electronics devices, it's a wonder that today's travelers have room to pack their clothes!

Electronics have also begun to accessorize the home. When the X-Box 360 sold out before Christmas 2005, eBay sellers raked in the cash for the must-have gaming console, which sold on the auction site for $1,000 or more. Plasma and LCD televisions are proudly displayed on walls, while microchips are finding their way into our kitchen appliances. While true wireless integration is still some time away, the stage is being set for complete interactivity among all our electronic devices.

Luckily for consumers, the cost of electronics goes down with the passage of time. The newest and greatest must-have is sure to be priced at a discount within eighteen months, and will grace the clearance aisle a year after that. In the meantime, those of us who don't have the cash or the desire to keep up with the trends on the fashion runways or the trends in the world of electronics can continue to observe how the other half lives.

Sales Forece Automation Case Study

2007-12-16T02:09:00.000-08:00

When one thinks of the benefits of sales force automation, nothing is more convincing that a case study of a client's success. The case study presented in this article is about a restaurant that was growing rapidly.

The restaurant was the biggest in the region but because of its unique cuisine, which included hundreds of dishes, it was famous beyond the boundaries of the neighborhood. Like many other restaurants, this one offered home deliveries and subscriptions with discounts. The business was growing and so were the problems.

The biggest challenge was to manage orders. Keeping in mind that food cannot wait, proper timing was crucial. On the other hand, managing inventory was also crucial because there were cases of accepting orders for food out of stock.

After having studied some of the available solutions, it was decided that a custom sales force automation solution was better. There was already accounting software in the restaurant, so one of the conditions was to integrate them together. Invoices were also issued electronically, but there was no way to calculate discounts for loyal customers, for quantity or for promotional dishes.

The software development took about half a year, although the first module "delivery scheduler" was deployed a month after the start. The next urgent module was the products inventory module, which was implemented second. Then support for PDAs and mobiles was made, as well as improvements to the invoicing module to allow calculation of different discounts. Finally, the new sales force automation solution was integrated with the existing accounting system.

The result of the implementation of the sales force automation system was that the work process went more smoothly. The introduction of discounts helped in keeping existing customers and in attracting new ones. The reports function in the new software was extremely useful to the managers to track how business was going and what could be improved further.

Using Home Automation to Improve Your Home

2007-12-08T23:00:00.000-08:00

Home automation sounds complicated; just the name just conjures up images of complex robot arms doing the dishes and robots scuttling around all over the place. In fact home automation is a lot simpler than this and it is very easy to install and use.

Home automation appliances can enhance the operation of your home and they fall into the following main categories:

Lighting control.
Heating control.
Wall switch control.
Radio control.
Infrared control.
Home security cameras.
Appliance modules.

Note: There are many more module types for other types of operation

How it works

There are two main ways that home automation works

1 Using the power line wiring 2 Using radio frequency

In either case there is no need to re-wire the house.

Note: There are some professional systems (read expensive) that use dedicated wiring that you need to re-wire the whole house to use.

Home automation brands

There are different brands of home automation products such as

X10
Insteon
Ziggby
UPB
Zwave
Marmitek

(These are explained in a bit more detail on the website)

The most popular home control brand is X10 and because of this it is very affordable and is probably a good choice when starting out. It's called X10 as it was the 10th experiment that worked reliably over the power line and you can buy many different affordable modules.

Lighting control

If you have not come across home automation before then this is probably where you will start as it is easy to install and gives the most immediate results.

To use it you need an RF control module, an RF receiver module and an X10 wall switch module. The wall switch module replaces your existing wall switch (it's a drop in replacement).

You just plug in the RF receiver to a wall plug outlet and set some switches and now you can control the light on or off and as well as set the dimming level (incandescent lamps only).

Controlling all the lights in the house

It does not sound too exiting at first but remember you can add to the system as you need to and since each X10 module is individually controllable you could control all the lights in the house.

Examples of home automation

Ensure all lights are off in the house without having to check each one.
Turn on the porch light at night when you come home (so you can see the path)
Turn off all the lights except the lounge lights.
Open the garage door.
Turn on the attic light.
Set dimming level for all lights e.g. when getting up at night.
View an external camera on your TV.

All of these could be achieved by one button press on a remote control pad.

Dimmable Fluorescent Lighting And Home Automation

2007-12-02T23:45:00.000-08:00

One of the first things you will want to do using home automation is to dim all your controlled lights to preset levels to set the so called scene. One problem is that you can't dim a fluorescent light fixture.

The main reason is that dimmable home automation modules work by sending signals through the bulb and in a fluorescent light there is a ballast resistor that prevents this also the fluorescent light is actually similar to a controlled lightning arc i.e. very high voltage and it will fry any digital (low voltage) electronics attached to it.

Some background on fluorescent lights

A fluorescent tube works by heating liquid mercury until it becomes a vapour and ionizing a gas (usually argon). The ballast device produces extremely high voltage to kick start the ionization process (and once started the voltage falls back to a low level).

Note: This is why the tube flickers on start up - the automatic switch within the tube electronics detects if current flows and re-tries the start process until it does.

Once started the tube settles at its own current level limited by the ballast device. This current level depends on the design of the ballast device and the AC current frequency 120Hz and the specifics of the tube - all these are fixed.

Since the tube contains mercury never break open a fluorescent lighting tube – mercury is poisonous (but there is only a very small amount inside).

One of the reasons the fluorescent tube is so popular is that it is extremely efficient since once the arc is created inside the tube (and it generates ultraviolet light) the white coating on the inside fluoresces due to the ultraviolet and radiates visible light. This process generates no heat so most of the electric energy is converted to light.

In comparison a normal light bulb (incandescent light) is designed to operate by burning a metal in an inert gas and this generates lots of heat as well as a little light.

Note: A fluorescent light is about 5 times as efficient as a normal bulb (this is also why you can buy a 15W flourescent that outputs the same light as a normal 60 watt bulb.

Dimmable fluorescent light

Because of the way the fluorescent lights work you can not dim them but you can use an appliance module to turn them on and off. An appliance module has a relay inside that switches the power to the fluorescent bulb independently from the home automation electronics so that the sensitive electronic circuit is protected.

Best Way To start A Home Automation Business

2007-11-23T00:59:00.000-08:00

Home automation business is a direct result of modern technological advances. People all over the country are able to live more leisurely lives. Less and less time must be devoted to the daily tasks of living, leaving more time for us to enjoy ourselves.

Home automation systems are a part of this process. They allow people to live their lives without worrying about watering the lawn, dimming their lights, or controlling their own electronics.

The new popularity of home automation businesses means that businesses targeted towards home automation are showing up all over. Many people would like to learn how to start their own home automation business. Americans want to pay money to make their lives easier, and home automation businesses can help them do that and turn a profit. People who don't want to spend their precious time watering the lawn can have their sprinklers set on an automatic timer. They can have the luxury of a watered lawn without even having to put in any effort, as long as they're willing to spend the money.

Home automation businesses owe their success to the rapidly advancing pace of technology. Businesses become easier to run with great efficiency because of these advances in technology. Home automation businesses can help their customers control all their tasks in life with the literal press of a button. These tasks are performed automatically, without additional human intervention.

When starting your own home automation business, be sure to hire and contract with reliable people. You want a good company to partner with for installation and to acquire equipment from. It's also important for your home automation business to be properly licensed. Advertising and exposure are another part of a successful home automation business.

With a good start, your home automation business can be a success. Be sure to research the field and your prospective customer base before you invest any capital. You must be sure to operate your business in a place where there is a good demand for home automation and the money to support it. It's good to maintain a loyal customer base, but also make sure that you try to expand to other consumers. Especially in the beginning stages, it's important to provide your services at competitive rates.