Green computing sector to reach $223.7bn in 2013: NextGen Research

OYSTER BAY, USA: A green computer/server is one that is built from eco-friendly materials, features low power consumption and Computer Power Management (CPM) capabilities, has fewer and smaller component parts and generates less heat than previous models, and ultimately is responsible for the emission of less C02 into the atmosphere.

A wholly green product will be packaged in recyclable materials and, at the end of its useful life cycle, will be traded in to the manufacturer or to another organization that will reuse and/or recycle the equipment, rather than dumping it into a landfill.

The goal of producing a 100 percent wholly-green-from-inception-to-production-to-end-of-lifecycle PC, notebook computer, monitor and server hardware is not fully realized, and will not be for years to come, according to the NextGen Research study “Green Computing: Reducing the Environmental Impact of PCs, Servers By Using Safer Materials, Slashing Power Needs”.

However, computer and server vendors are working to make their products increasingly energy-efficient and environmentally benign, in order to tap into a market for green computing equipment that will grow from about $47 billion in 2009 to $223.7 billion in 2013.

The study’s author, Laura DiDio, notes that all the hardware vendors competing in the computing equipment sectors share the common philosophy that “green desktop and server hardware is good for the planet, and what’s good for the planet is good for business.” They’re also motivated by a lengthening list of legislative initiatives that regulate everything from component materials, manufacturing guidelines, green building codes, and carbon emissions to disposal and recycling efforts.

As the recession ebbs and the economy strengthens, the burgeoning global green PC and server hardware market will be spurred by a number of key trends, which include growing electrical demand; constraints on corporate data space, power requirements and costs; and a lower cost of ownership for green computing products that can help cost-constrained corporations keep more green in their wallets over the long term.

Ms. DiDio also notes that governmental and utility incentives and mandates to curb power consumption and reduce carbon footprints will help spur demand for green computing equipment. However, she says, “It will take years beyond the forecast period before all computer and server hardware consists of electrically efficient devices made up of biodegradable, recyclable and/or reusable parts.”

Significant growth in nanotechnology during next decade

LONDON, USA: The global Nanotechnology market will burgeon as leading corporations, firms, research entities, government agencies and venture capitalists jump on the abundant commercial opportunities already germinating in a recovering economy.

Frost & Sullivan anticipates that renewed, if not reinforced, interest in the broad Nanotechnology landscape will go hand in hand with the gradual economic upswing, spearheaded by breakthrough developments in nanomaterials, nanocoatings, and nanodevices.

Fuelled by the constant stream of major players entering the market and by frequent technological breakthroughs, the global Nanotechnology market has been abuzz with activity. Thanks to substantial advances in nanotech-enabled products, the markets for nanomaterials including nanotubes and nanocomposites will flourish in the coming decade.

However, because the application needs of the various industries such as electronics, aerospace, transportation and automotive are so diverse, the metrology tools necessary for R&D will have to be improved in order to realise the true potential and benefits of nanotechnology.

The Second Nanotechnology International Forum RusnanoTech '09 taking place in Moscow on 6-8 October 2009 will offer fertile ground for exchanges between business and science.

"Given that the Rusnano Forum is a 'sui generis' event in the CEE & CIS regions, it presents a unique opportunity to observe first hand the developments and trends of the future. Anyone with vested interests in the Nanotechnology world will find the conference extremely useful", remarks Ankit A. Shukla, Industry Manager, Technical Insights -- Frost & Sullivan.

Avere Systems joins Storage Networking Industry Alliance (SNIA)

PITTSBURGH, USA: Avere Systems, an emerging company focused on delivering Demand-Driven Storage(TM) solutions, announced that it has joined the Storage Networking Industry Association (SNIA). SNIA is a global organization with more than 400 member companies that share the common goal of advancing the adoption of storage networks as complete and trusted solutions.

Tom Hicks, Principal Engineer at Avere Systems, will serve as the Avere SNIA representative to the Solid State Storage Technical Working Group (SSS TWG), a consortium of members responsible for creating a reference SNIA architecture and to facilitate industry-wide adoption of common requirements, methods and specifications in related standards organizations.

Hicks has extensive architectural and engineering experience for multiple storage and networking systems having served as Technical Director at NetApp, Lead Engineer and System Software Team Manager at Spinnaker Networks; and Lead Engineer at FORE Systems.

"We are pleased to be a part of the SNIA and the SSD working group as we prepare to unveil our Demand Driven Storage products," said Mike Kazar, Avere Systems CTO. "We are looking forward to working with other SNIA members to further new and advanced storage solutions based on industry standards."

"We are pleased that Avere Systems has joined the SNIA and know their contributions will advance storage technologies and standards that will impact how end users will handle the significant volume of business information," said Wayne M. Adams, Chairman of the SNIA. "We know that Avere Systems will be a proactive member of the association and help to support and expand the industry. We look forward to their contributions within our organization."

STEC, LSI add enterprise SSD to flagship Engenio 7900 storage system

SANTA ANA, USA: STEC Inc. announced that STEC's enterprise-class ZeusIOPS solid state drives (SSDs) are now available for the LSI(TM) Engenio 7900 Storage System.

The integration of STEC's SSDs with the Engenio 7900 is designed to provide midrange storage customers facing unprecedented data growth, rising energy costs and tighter budgets with a new tier of performance, reduced power consumption and increased overall system efficiency.

"Our vision of bringing high-performance technology to the forefront of midrange storage systems is greatly reflected within this shared endeavor with LSI," said Manouch Moshayedi, chairman and chief executive officer of STEC. "Through our close collaboration and integration efforts with LSI, we're able to bring the exceptional value of our SSD technology to the LSI storage platform."

The ZeusIOPS SSD offers much faster transactional performance (IOPS) response rates than that of traditional hard disk drives. The increased performance translates to fewer drives and lower power consumption for the Engenio 7900 system, which can result in as much as an 80 percent energy savings and significantly reduced system space on an equal IOPs basis.

"The integration of solid-state drive technology with the LSI Engenio 7900 system's streamlined firmware and large aggregate backend bandwidth will deliver new levels of storage performance and energy efficiency to customers," said Vic Mahadevan, vice president, product marketing and management, Engenio Storage Group, LSI.

"We selected STEC as our SSD provider based on their experience, knowledge and the proven track record of their enterprise SSD technology deployments."

The ZeusIOPS SSD product family offers a comprehensive array of options for enterprise system architects and is the world's most broadly deployed SSD technology. ZeusIOPS SSD provides a wide range of interface options, spanning Fibre Channel to SAS, as well as the widest range of capacity options, spanning 73GB to 750GB.

Fundamental to the ZeusIOPS product family is the proprietary SSD architecture which renders an enterprise-optimized storage device with an unprecedented combination of performance and energy efficiency.

Worldwide PC shipments on pace to decline 2 percent in 2009

STAMFORD, USA: The worst may be over for the PC industry, as worldwide PC shipments are on pace to reach 285 million units in 2009, a 2 percent decline from 2008 shipments of 291 million, according to the latest forecast by Gartner, Inc. The new forecast is more optimistic than Gartner’s June forecast, which anticipated a 6 percent unit decline in 2009.

"PC demand appears be running much stronger than we expected back in June, especially in the US and China," said George Shiffler, research director at Gartner. "Mobile PC shipments have regained substantial momentum, especially in emerging markets, and the decline in desk-based PC shipments is slowing down. We think shipments are likely to be growing again in the fourth quarter of 2009 compared to the fourth quarter of 2008."

Despite the increasingly positive outlook for the PC market, Gartner does not envision global shipments experiencing growth this year except as a very best-case scenario. PC units contracted 4.4 percent in the first half of 2009 compared to the first half of 2008.

For PC shipments to post growth for the year, shipments would have to grow at least 4 percent in the second half of 2009 compared with the second half of 2008. Gartner analysts said that scenario seems just a bit beyond the market's capability at this point, even assuming Windows 7 enjoys an enthusiastic reception when it is released October 22.

"We don't expect the release of Windows 7 to significantly influence PC demand at year-end," Shiffler said. "At best, Windows 7 may generate a modest bump in home demand and possibly some added demand among small businesses. However, we aren't expecting most larger businesses, governments and educational institutions to express strong demand for the new operating system until late 2010. We're actually more concerned that vendors will overestimate the initial demand for Windows 7 and end up carrying excess inventories into 2010."

Mini-notebooks continued to grow strongly in the second quarter of 2009 but faced increasing competition from lower-priced mainstream notebooks. They also continued to put tremendous downward pressure on PC prices in general and consumer mobile PC prices in particular.

Gartner has revised its mini-notebook forecast upward. Worldwide mini-notebook shipments are now forecast to reach 25 million units in 2009, up from Gartner's projection in May of 21 million shipments. Shipments are now forecast to reach 37 million units in 2010. Even so, mini-notebooks' share of the overall mobile PC market is now expected to level out a bit sooner than before.

"At least unit-wise, 2010 should be a considerably better year for the PC market," Shiffler noted. "We now expect units to grow 12.6 percent next year as mobile PC growth continues to gain momentum and desk-based PC growth turns positive, thanks to revived replacement activity. However, we don’t see the on-going declines in PC average selling prices slowing down significantly next year, so spending is likely to be more or less flat in 2010."

Honda develops new personal mobility device

TOKYO, JAPAN: Pursuing the concept of “harmony with people” Honda has developed a new personal mobility technology and unveiled U3-X, a compact experimental device that fits comfortably between the rider’s legs, to provide free movement in all directions just as in human walking –- forward, backward, side-to-side, and diagonally.

Honda will continue research and development of the device including experiments in a real-world environment to verify the practicality of the device.

This new personal mobility device makes it possible to adjust speed and move, turn and stop in all directions when the rider leans the upper body to shift body weight.

This was achieved through application of advanced technologies including Honda’s balance control technology, which was developed through the robotics research of ASIMO, Honda’s bipedal humanoid robot, and the world’'s first omni-directional driving wheel system (Honda Omni Traction Drive System, or HOT Drive System), which enables movement in all directions, including not only forward and backward, but also directly to the right and left and diagonally.

In addition, this compact size and one-wheel-drive personal mobility device was designed to be friendly to the user and people around it by making it easier for the rider to reach the ground from the footrest and placing the rider on roughly the same eye level as other people or pedestrians.

Honda is planning to showcase the U3-X at the 41st Tokyo Motor Show 2009 (sponsored by JAMA) which will begin on October 24, 2009 at Makuhari Messe in Chiba, Japan. Striving to propose the next-generation mobility which expands the joy and fun of mobility, Honda has been conducting robotics research since 1986, including ASIMO, walking assist devices and U3-X, at the Honda R&D Co., Ltd. Fundamental Technology Research Center in Wako, Saitama, Japan.

Worldwide PND shipments to reach 47 million units in 2009

BOSTON, USA: Worldwide personal navigation device (PND) shipments almost doubled in Q2-09 to 8.0M, in a market growth recovery which largely reflects the aftereffects of an extremely poor Q1-09, as PND vendors reduced inventory, according to the Strategy Analytics' Navigation and Location Opportunities service.

The current market share metrics show some optimism and are reported in the report “TomTom, Garmin, and PND Sales, Shares, and Financial Metrics”. Auxiliary to this report, “Garmin Gains Market Share as PND Market Shows Recovery Signs and Connected Devices Emerge,” addresses industry speculation that the PND market will be subsumed by navigation on smartphones.

Joanne Blight, Navigation Director at Strategy Analytics, said: "Certainly, we expect very strong growth for navigation-enabled smartphones, but we think there has been far too much hype around the PND market being dead. In the short term, PNDs still offer product advantages over smartphone solutions, particularly in the automotive market and in PND feature bundling.”

John Canali, Navigation Analyst at Strategy Analytics, added: "Connected PND and smartphone navigation apps are emerging quickly. Recent product launches include TomTom, Garmin, ALK and Navigon. Monetization of connected navigation presents major price model and product positioning challenges and this will result in segmented product opportunities.”

DVTel launches complete line of IP video security products with TI’s DM365 reference design

BANGALORE, INDIA: Designing cameras and end equipments for video surveillance systems is a complex and challenging task that has historically required many man months of development effort.

The landscape is changing, as evidenced by DVTel, who is announcing a complete line of Internet Protocol (IP) cameras and encoders that were developed in just under six months with the TMS320DM365 IP camera reference design from Texas Instruments (TI).

Announced on March 31, 2009, the DM365 IP camera reference design from TI provides high-definition (HD) H.264 in high, main or base profile with tri-streaming support. DVTel, a market leader in end-to-end IP physical security solutions, utilized the DM365 IP camera reference design to create their new line of more than a dozen Altitude cameras in less than six months.

The Altitude cameras are powered by TI’s DM365 digital media processor based on DaVinci technology and the DM365 will serve as their flagship media engine supporting more than 40 professional security IP products. DVTel selected the DM365 for its ability to process video at a high frame rate, multi-format codec support and multi-channel streaming functionality, all available on a cost-effective, open platform.

“We have utilized TI’s digital media processors in several previous versions of our cameras and encoders, which has allowed us to develop a scalable product line while protecting our code and IP investment. The DM365 digital media processor provided us with an excellent foundation on which to develop these new products in a very short time to market,” said Ed Thompson, CTO, DVTel.

"DVTel has experienced growth of more than 50 percent per year with its line of Altitude IP cameras. With the market now demanding HD quality video in addition to high-reliability and flexibility, the DM365 is an ideal processor due to the price/performance ratio and its flexibility on a cost-effective, open platform. DVTel has announced plans to use the DM365 as its flagship digital video processor in future professional security products."

DVTel specializes in state of the art IP cameras built on the real-world demands of customers who depend on enterprise security software solutions to guard the safety and security of their customers and employees worldwide.

DVTel introduced the first true security grade IP PTZs and IP Vandal Mini-domes five years before most of the major camera manufacturers and have tens of thousands of installations worldwide making them the leader in the development and delivery of end-to-end IP physical security solutions.

Seagate ships world's fastest desktop hard drive

NEW DELHI, INDIA: Seagate Technology began global shipments of the world’s fastest, largest-capacity mainstream desktop hard drive – Barracuda XT, a 7200RPM product featuring 2TB of storage capacity and a blazing fast Serial ATA (SATA) 6Gb/second interface.

The 3.5-inch desktop drive, the industry’s first to feature a SATA 6Gb/s interface, meets the capacity demands of gaming, digital video-environments and other storage-hungry desktop computing applications while delivering the highest performance in its class.

The introduction of the Barracuda XT drive marks the shift to the next generation of desktop computing speed as Seagate doubles the storage bandwidth of current computers.

“Capacity and performance remain the defining attributes of hard drives for PC gamers, digital multimedia content developers and many other customers requiring high-end systems at home and in the office,” said Dave Mosley, executive vice president of Sales and Marketing at Seagate. “Seagate is meeting these requirements with the first 7200RPM desktop hard drive to combine 2TB of storage capacity with the fastest Serial ATA interface to date.”

The Barracuda XT product, a four-platter drive featuring an areal density of 368 Gigabits per square inch, delivers the highest performance –- burst speeds of up to 6 Gigabits per second –- for all PC applications, maintains backward compatibility with the SATA 3Gb/second and SATA 1.5Gb/second interfaces, and uses the same cables and connectors as previous SATA generations to ease integration.

The hard drive’s SATA 6Gb/s interface enables system builders using SATA 6Gb/s drive controllers to build high-performance desktop PCs, full-tilt gaming rigs, and home and small business servers, and its 64MB cache optimizes burst performance and data transfer speeds.

Robust growth projected for Indian CCTV surveillance market

NOIDA, INDIA: The Indian safety and security market had been growing at a modest rate over the past few decades. But, the growing terrorist activities, coupled with increasing crime rates have driven up the domestic demand for effective security systems across the country.

In this regard, use of closed circuit TV (CCTV) or video surveillance, in particular, has emerged as the most viable solution that has gained significant momentum in the country. As per our latest research report, “Indian CCTV Market Analysis”, the CCTV market in Indian, which is currently estimated at over Rs 750 crore, is projected to grow at a CAGR of more than 34 percent during 2010-2012.

Having seen the dire consequences of the 26/11 terror attacks on Mumbai, both the governments as well as the private sector have substantially increased their spending on security surveillance. For instance, Delhi Police has recently decided to set up a cyber highway to connect all its monitoring systems, traffic systems, police stations and police headquarters with each other by means of CCTV cameras.

They are also installing CCTV systems across various market places and border check posts connecting to the capital. The move is aimed at tightening the security arrangements, particularly for the Commonwealth Games scheduled in 2010.

Our research also indicates that demand for IP-based or digital or network video surveillance technology will emerge as fast growing in comparison of analog technology.

RNCOS’ report “Indian CCTV Market Analysis” provides extensive research and rational analysis of the CCTV market in India. It offers comprehensive view of the factors which are driving the demand for CCTV surveillance in the country coupled with an insight of factors critical to this growth.

The report briefly explains the electronic security market demand across various end-user segments and how is it important for the CCTV players. Besides this, the report also briefs out key geographical markets where demand for surveillance systems will boom in near future. It also gives analysis of the key players in Indian CCTV market.

India remains bright spot for flat panel TV market growth

AUSTIN, USA: According to results from the DisplaySearch India's TV Market: The Final Frontier of FPD, the India flat panel TV market outlook is promising, with the region accounting for more than 30 percent of forecast Asia Pacific flat panel TV shipments in 2013.

FPD TV shipment growth in India slowed to 80 percent from 100 percent growth in the last four years, but in comparison to other regions, the slowed growth is still impressive, with the exception of the China flat panel TV market.

Fig. 1: India's FPD TV Share in Asian Pacific RegionSource: DisplaySearch’s India's TV Market: The Final Frontier of FPD

A growing middle class, coupled with a low penetration of flat panel TVs, will fuel the transition from CRT to LCD TVs with LCD TVs overtaking CRTs in 2012. India has 230 million households and only 115 million of them have TVs—mainly CRT TVs—providing significant opportunities for market expansion.

“With a booming economy, rising discretionary income and government purchase incentives, the India flat panel TV market remains a bright spot for continued flat panel TV growth over the next five years,” noted Indrajit Ghosh, DisplaySearch Director of India and South Asia Research.

"In a global economy where some regions are saturated, India represents one of the biggest populations with the biggest potential for ensuring continued growth in the flat panel TV industry.”

India aims to position itself as the next TV assembly and manufacturing destination. The India government also has reduced panel import duty by 50 percent in an effort to help attract TV manufacturing and assembly within the country. As a result, large global OEMs are already considering this region, based on success stories in mobile handset manufacturing in India.

It’s “Game On” for GNi and Dolby

AUSTIN, USA: GNi, a leading provider of IaaS hosting solutions, announced it is aligning with Dolby Laboratories Inc. to integrate Dolby Axon™ In-Game Communication technology into GNi’s platform for Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS).

Dolby Axon technology enables a realistic 3D voice experience that matches the game environment and greatly expands game-play possibilities. GNi’s infrastructure is now Dolby-approved and the two companies worked closely to ensure that gaming and virtual worlds developers can rapidly access and deploy games incorporating the Dolby Axon technology.

“Dolby Axon represents a new benchmark for online voice communications by enabling users to understand their in-game environment through audio. The reliability and scalability of GNi’s IaaS ensures a consistently immersive experience of our enhanced voice technology, which is vital to both the developers of virtual worlds and the people who inhabit them,” said Matt Tullis, Senior Marketing Manager for Games at Dolby Laboratories.

Online gaming and virtual worlds are increasingly sophisticated, and users constantly look to enhance the immersive experience. By mapping users’ voices to the game environment, Dolby Axon adds unprecedented realism and immediacy.

For example, players can now follow the movements of teammates and enemies simply by listening to their voices or footsteps. Objects, such as a wall or a closed door, affect sound volume, and sounds can even appear to becoming from around the corner of a building.

“Voice chat is a critical feature for Jumpgate Evolution,” said Hermann Peterscheck, Lead Producer on NetDevil’s upcoming space combat MMO. “After evaluating other products and considering building it ourselves, we determined Dolby Axon is the best solution in terms of value, ease of integration and audio quality.”

“Online businesses require infrastructure that delivers cost-effective application availability, performance, and scalability,” said Lydia Leong, Research Director at Gartner.

“Next-generation gaming places even greater demands on infrastructure, requiring persistent session continuity, the ability to scale flexibly and dynamically to serve changing audiences, and high reliability, all of which must be delivered within tight cost parameters.”

GNi IaaS satisfies the strictest demands for network connectivity, resiliency, and redundancy, and provides pre-built state-of-the-art hosting environments with the highest level of technical specifications, delivering an unprecedented level of reliability and scalability.

Dolby Axon In-Game Communication enables true-to-life voice communication in 3D surround sound, mapping voices to the game environment and allowing players to alter their voices to match their in-game personas.

“The interoperability, reliability and high performance of Dolby Axon on GNi IaaS enable online gaming and virtual worlds developers to quickly launch on one of the most exciting and advanced technologies available today,” said Arun Gowda, Vice President of Business Development for GNi. “Our partnership with Dolby clearly makes it easier than ever for developers to launch on the Dolby Axon technology while continuing to broaden GNi’s appeal to the gaming industry.”

MPEG LA and ULDAGE reach historic agreement

DENVER, USA: World's leading patent pool licensing administrator MPEG LA, LLC, and Japanese patent pool administrator ULDAGE Inc. announced a cooperation under which ULDAGE will offer MPEG LA’s MPEG-2 Systems License along with ULDAGE’s ARIB license to companies based in Japan that sell mobile TV handsets for Japan’s One-Seg mobile terrestrial broadcasting service.

One-Seg mobile TV handsets use both the Transport Layer of the MPEG-2 Systems Standard covered by MPEG LA’s MPEG-2 Systems License and the ARIB One-Seg digital broadcast standard covered by ULDAGE’s ARIB License. Therefore, One-Seg handset manufacturers need coverage under patents essential to both standards and would benefit from both licenses.

"This collaboration marks two firsts," said MPEG LA President and CEO Larry Horn. "It is the first time that two joint licensing administrators have joined forces. It is also the first time that a joint license has been offered covering patents essential to multiple standards utilized in a single product.

"We are especially thrilled to be able to do this with ULDAGE, whom we hold in the highest regard for its successful licensing of the Japanese market. We share a rich history and common values serving our customers and the market with licensing products of increasing convenience.”

"Doing this venture with MPEG LA holds special significance for us," said ULDAGE President and CEO Yoshihide Nakamura. "MPEG LA ushered in the age of patent pool licensing bringing new efficiencies to the patent licensing market. Now together we usher in the age of product licensing. In response to market demand, through the co-operative effort of our companies each representing the gold standard in joint licensing, we are bringing new licensing products to market that will benefit the industry and its consumers."

One-Seg is a mobile terrestrial digital audio, video and data broadcasting service used in Japan. ULDAGE’s ARIB Essential Patent License provides a license under Japanese Digital Broadcasting Standards including One-Seg that were developed by the Association of Radio Industries and Businesses (“ARIB”).

The MPEG-2 Systems Standard defines how to format the various components of multiplexer programs and combine them into a single program or transport stream. Where the standard is used without licensed MPEG-2 video encoders or decoders, such as in One-Seg handset and other mobile television and audio receivers and certain set-top boxes and cameras, MPEG LA’s MPEG-2 Systems Patent Portfolio License provides coverage under essential patents.

WirelessHD Consortium experiences significant growth

CEDIA EXPO 2009, SUNNYVALE & ATLANTA, USA: The WirelessHD Consortium, currently comprised of leaders in the consumer electronics and personal computing industries, today announced that several WirelessHD consumer products have successfully passed the rigorous compliance tests and are now available in Asia, North America and Europe.

Adding to this momentum, Philips, Best Buy and others have also joined the Consortium bringing membership to over 40 companies. These key achievements highlight the rapid growth in membership and products, application development and interest in the Consortium.

Products from Panasonic, LG Electronics, Gefen and Monster Cable Products, Inc. with WirelessHD technology will be showcased at CEDIA Expo in Atlanta, Georgia through September 13, 2009.

WirelessHD Certified and Compliant Products Available Worldwide
Compliance Certification Services (CCS), the first WirelessHD Authorized Test Center (ATC), recently conducted the first of many product tests under the WirelessHD Compliance Test Program using Agilent’s WirelessHD electronics measurement and test equipment.

The following companies, many of whom had previously considered other technologies, have rallied around WirelessHD and are showcasing their products at this year’s CEDIA Expo in Atlanta, Georgia

Panasonic: Panasonic’s Z1 plasma TV series with WirelessHD technology is available now for sale in North America, Asia and Europe (Booth #2836).
LG Electronics: LG Electronics’ LH85 and LHX LCD TVs are also available in North America and Asia (Booth #2623).
Gefen: GefenTV Wireless for HDMI 60GHz Extender can be seen in their booth (Booth #1219).
Monster Cable Products Inc.: Monster is demonstrating their WirelessHD transmitter/receiver adapter pair (Booth #609).

Additional products from several manufacturers are expected to roll out later this year, including a WirelessHD Adapter set from Rocketfish, a Best Buy private label brand.

“The availability of the WirelessHD compliance test and test equipment is a key enabler in accelerating the availability and adoption of WirelessHD technology,” said John Marshall, President and Chairman of WirelessHD, LLC.

“Adopters can easily take advantage of leading-edge testing tools from Agilent and CCS, the world’s first WirelessHD 60GHz test center, to verify compliance of their designs to the WirelessHD specification. This is essential in bringing to life the promise of interoperable WirelessHD technology as the best wireless home entertainment experience.”

AMAX releases series of servers with Intel’'s Xeon 3400 processors

FREMONT, USA: AMAX, the leading provider of custom servers, storage and HPC solutions launches a new series of Foxhollow based servers utilizing Intel’s latest Xeon 3400 Series (Lynnfield) processors.

AMAX ServMax Lynnfield Servers provide optimized cost and lower power consumption using 45 nm Nehalem microarchitecture with Integrated Memory Controller and PCI-Express 2.0 I/O.

With support for DDR3 ECC memory, AMAX ServMax Lynnfield based servers deliver 50 percent more performance, lower power consumption, and lower cost compared to the previous generation servers.

“We continuously work to expand our ServMax family,” explains Jean Shih, President of AMAX. “With Lynnfield based servers, AMAX is offering reliable, high performance solutions that are both cost effective and energy efficient.”

Laptop sales pave way for rumored Apple tablet

SUNNYVALE, USA: Laptop demand is enjoying strong growth this back to school season according to the Retrevo Pulse, a publicly-available index that maps daily price and demand trends in the consumer electronics industry across 40 categories and more than 4,000 products.

Despite a 20 percent decline in the average selling price of laptops, August demand in terms of dollars was up 40 percent from July. During last year’s back-to-school season demand was up only 20 percent.

“With the economy under stress and the growing popularity of netbooks, one could expect laptop sales to suffer but that does not appear to be the case,” says Vipin Jain, Retrevo CEO.

“The Pulse Report suggests that shoppers have an appetite for affordable laptops and that netbooks are fueling that appetite. Innovation from Apple could easily accelerate the adoption of portable computers if they decide to introduce a low-priced tablet-like computer.”

Retrevo’s Gadgetology study, released earlier this month, indicated 58 percent of students would spend less than $750 on their next laptop. Jain says, “An innovative product like the rumored Apple Tablet has the chance to hit a home run if Apple can find the right price point. Let’s just hope their market success goes the way of the iPhone, and not the Newton.”

“With the upcoming release of Windows 7 from Microsoft, many believe that netbook and lower-priced laptop sales will continue to increase,” says Jain. “Good technology at affordable prices is good news for consumers. Retrevo will be closely watching the Pulse demand index to report any market shifts resulting from these innovations.”

IMDA announces global certification standard for Internet radios

BERLIN, GERMANY: The Internet Media Device Alliance (IMDA) has announced a baseline certification standard for standalone internet radio players.

Called IMDA Profile 1, the standard aims to protect consumers by aligning competing technologies and future-proofing internet radio product design.

Major Internet radio manufacturers and broadcasters are backing the IMDA certification standard to ensure new products will access the majority of streamed audio broadcasts, available now and in the future. It is estimated that certified radios will today receive around 90 percent of the world’s radio stations currently broadcasting over the Internet.

For manufacturers of internet radios, the certification standard aims to reduce time to market and marketing risk by removing the prospect of rival technology wars. At the same time, online broadcasters adhering to IMDA Profile 1 will be able to reach target audiences using fewer audio codecs, cutting associated costs.

Mark Hopgood, an IMDA steering committee member and Frontier Silicon’s director of marketing, commented: "Audio data streaming over the internet is faced with a unique set of challenges, from codec design through to play list format, countless choices need to be made.

"If a universal standard isn’t specified now, when the market for internet radios is in its relative infancy, manufacturers risk entering a technology war, like the Betamax/VHS war of the ‘80s. If this happens, many early adopters will end up with obsolete products -- this needs to be avoided at all costs. Technology wars create market uncertainty, which hurts manufacturers, hurts broadcasters and, most importantly, hurts the consumer."

IMDA Profile 1 sets out to harmonise the technologies currently used by internet radio manufacturers and broadcasters. Specifically, the baseline standard stipulates devices must decode both WMA and MP3 codecs; use HTTP streaming with 301 and 302 redirection; accept play list formats M3U, ASX, PLS with new line separation for URLs in plain text; and receive stereo streams via two channels or by downloading a mix of both.

"More and more consumers are discovering great audio content from around the world over the internet on an increasing number of different devices," added John Ousby, an IMDA steering committee member, vTuner's director of broadcaster services and the BBC's former head of distribution technology for audio and music. "Aligning technologies for internet radio devices is an important step for continued rapid growth.”

Harry Johnson, chairman of the IMDA’s steering committee and president of vTuner, concluded, "Internet radios bearing the IMDA certified logo will be in the shops before Christmas, marking 2009 as a watershed moment for internet connected media devices.”

To speed the adoption of Profile 1, the IMDA is running a ‘fast track’ certification programme for a limited period. Information is available from www.imdalliance.org. Future IMDA Profiles will set standards for different types of internet connected media devices, for example video players.

The IMDA was launched in 2009 to develop and promote a set of open, interoperable standards and device profiles for internet connected media devices. Its steering committee comprises many of the world’s leading players in streaming media: Awox, BBC, Deutsche Welle, the European Broadcasting Union, Frontier Silicon, Global Radio, Pure, Reciva, SWR and vTuner.

Frontier Silicon module world’s first combined Internet radio, DAB and FM receiver to achieve IMDA profile 1 certification

IFA, BERLIN, GERMANY: Frontier Silicon, the leading supplier of connected audio technology, has announced that its Venice 6.2 module and Jupiter 6.2 reference platform are the first combined DAB, FM and Internet radio products to become IMDA (Internet Media Device Alliance) profile 1 certified.

This means that any radio products being developed by Frontier Silicon’s customers incorporating these modules or platforms also benefit from this approval, providing a faster time for achieving certification of their final end product to consumers.

The role of the IMDA is to define a series of end-to-end technical standards, functions and profiles, which will encourage the development of a wide range of compelling mainstream Internet media devices with a degree of consistency and interoperability for consumers, while enabling differentiation for manufacturers and broadcasters. Its certification program was rolled out yesterday at a half-day IMDA Summit at the IFA conference in Berlin.

IMDA profile 1 certification defines an IP radio receiver specification that maximises interoperability between broadcasters and content providers. Hence manufacturers that develop their products to this specification can be confident that the maximum number of services will be able to run on their products.

Frontier Silicon is the first to have a certified receiver product that combines internet radio, connected home audio streaming, DAB/DAB+ digital radio and FM radio – in a single device. This in turn provides radio manufacturers with a turnkey IMDA profile 1 certified internet radio product for fast-track certification of their own end products offering these features.

A number of lead customers already benefiting from Frontier Silicon’s IMDA profile 1 certification – including Roberts Radio, Revo Technologies, and M3 (the leading internet radio manufacturer in Germany) –- also showed their certified end products at the IMDA Summit at IFA.

The cost-optimized Venice 6.2 hardware module and accompanying IR2.0 Software Development Kit (SDK) enable the industry’s most comprehensive and versatile Internet radio, DAB and FM solution available, offering a complete hardware and software package for consumer electronics manufacturers looking to deliver products enabling multiple content streams, Internet radio, DAB/DAB+, FM, home networked audio, USB and premium music services.

The Venice 6.2/IR2.0 solution provides one-stop shopping for consumer electronics (CE) brands and their ODM (original device manufacturer) partners wanting to offer digital music services on their home audio devices.

The feature-customizable software stack enables easy integration into CE home devices, and the module provides access to over 12,000 Internet radio stations via the Frontier Silicon web portal, together with the listener’s own digital music library using UPnP. Also available are a comprehensive choice of premium streaming music services, including Pandora, Last.fm and SiriusXM.

The Venice 6.2 module is also available as part of Jupiter 6.2, a fully-qualified reference platform that provides a complete Internet radio reference design, with DAB/DAB+ capability and an LCD graphic display supporting Frontier Silicon’s enhanced user interface.

The Jupiter 6.2 platform is fully tested to conform to wireless network connectivity and will include wireless certifications as well as interoperability certification programs. Comprehensive certification support enables customers wishing using the Venice 6.2 module to certify their products with minimal time-to-market and cost.

Oberthur Technologies and Comex Electronics sign partnership agreement

PARIS, FRANCE: Oberthur Technologies SA and Comex Electronics AB have agreed to a strategic partnership that will boost companies' business activities in the growing market of authentication and logon systems with smart card solutions.

Oberthur will provide world leading products and services in smart cards and Comex will include Oberthur Technologies products and services in their solutions with card readers and smart cards.

"We see this partnership as a very strategic channel for providing security for authentication and logon solutions up to the highest level of security criteria's in the world. For example, Comex is very excited about Oberthur Technologies validated fingerprint comparison technology embedded on smart card chip like the ID-ONE COSMO.

"It provides a very secure way of authenticating the card holder with exceptional performances in terms of interoperability, accuracy and speed, while maintaining an error rate lower than the defined thresholds. Oberthur is enthusiastic about integrating with the Comex BioSec Reader(TM)," says Curt Svinge, Business Manager of Oberthur Technologies Sweden.

"We see this partnership as a very important step to strengthen Comex position as a highly recognized supplier of data security at a level approved for national security. This will improve our joint marketing possibilities throughout the world within this segment of highly secured products." says Mikael Aronowitsch CEO of Comex Electronics AB.

The companies' first joint marketing effort will be at Defence Systems & Equipment International 2009 (DSEI) fair 8-11 of September in London, at booth 705.

Samsung maintains worldwide LCD-TV lead in Q2

EL SEGUNDO, USA: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. in the second quarter maintained its lead in the global LCD-TV market, partly due to a surge in shipments of its LED-backlit sets, according to iSuppli Corp.

Samsung’s worldwide LCD-TV shipments for the second quarter amounted to 5.7 million units, up 605,956 from 5.1 million in the first quarter, the largest unit increase of all LCD-TV brands during the quarter. The 12 percent growth gave Samsung a market share of 18.5 percent.

“Samsung in the second quarter was very aggressive in introducing and marketing LCD-TVs that featured LED backlights,” said Riddhi Patel, principal analyst, television, for iSuppli. “This put Samsung at the forefront of this fast-growing technology trend, helping to boost the company’s sales during the period.”

Unlike traditional Cathode Ray Tube (CRT) televisions that generate their own light, LCD-TVs require an additional illumination source—or backlight—in order to present a visible image. LCDs historically have employed Fluorescent Lamps (CCFLs) as backlights. However, because of price reductions, LEDs in recent years have become a viable alternative to CCFLs.

LEDs deliver multiple advantages compared to CCFLs, including greater power savings, thinner form factors and the elimination of toxic materials employed in CCFL manufacturing.

Worldwide shipments of LCD TVs with LED backlights rose to 604,000 units in the second quarter, up 75 percent from 345,000 in the first. Shipments of such sets are expected to rise by 170 percent in the third quarter and by another 20 percent in the fourth quarter.

For all of 2009, shipments of LCD-TVs with LED backlights are predicted to reach 4.5 million units, up by more than a factor of 10 from 438,000 in 2008. By 2013, shipments will rise to 98.8 million, accounting for 42.5 percent of the global LCD-TV market.

Sales rise for both high-end and low-end LCD-TVs
Global LCD-TVs shipments rose to 30.7 million units in the second quarter, up 14.1 percent from 26.9 million in the first.

“Consumers in the second quarter continued to buy more LCD TVs despite the economic downturn due to the introduction of more advanced models and because of price declines for older sets,” Patel observed.

Consumers in developed economies who already have purchased flat-panel sets now are buying replacement or additional LCD-TVs that have enhanced features. In addition to LCD-TVs with LED backlights, these consumers are purchasing larger televisions and sets with faster refresh rates, i.e., 120Hz and 240Hz, which yield higher-quality pictures and superior presentation of fast motion.

Meanwhile, retail prices for older models declined in the second quarter, despite a glass shortage that has driven up pricing for some LCD panels. The price drops attracted first-time LCD-TV buyers, as well those with lower incomes and consumers in developing economies.

Global average selling price for all LCD-TVs remained flat in the second quarter compared to the first. However, pricing for the most popular size range for LCD-TVs, i.e., 30- to 34-inches, decreased by 4 percent sequentially in the second quarter.

“While panel prices may have risen, LCD-TV makers have taken some reductions on their margins to reduce pricing and maintain sales momentum,” Patel said. “Furthermore, in some cases, retailers are willing to compromise on their mark-ups to ensure the ongoing uptake of these sets.”

On a percentage basis, the fastest growth in the second quarter was achieved by LG Electronics, whose shipments rose by 20 percent to reach 3.5 million units, up from 2.9 million in the first quarter.

“LG’s strong growth was due to the company’s increased shipments to the emerging markets, where consumers are now looking at buying their first LCD TVs,” Patel said.

The figure presents iSuppli’s ranking of the Top-5 LCD-TV brands in the second quarter.

iSuppli: Quarterly Global Ranking of the World's Top-Five LCD-TV Brands (Ranking by Percentage of Global Unit Shipments)Source: iSuppli, Sept. 2009

In-car GPS with TV market experiences huge growth despite auto crisis

PARIS, FRANCE: Faced with competition from smartphone applications, GPS manufacturers are offering added value by incorporating new functions such as TV.

DiBcom, the leading provider of multistandard mobile TV solutions, is proud to announce that its technology is now integrated into leading brands Mio and Garmin Navigation devices to enable the reception of digital television. The company has witnessed a significant increase in sales of components for these devices.

New generation Sat Navs offer multimedia functionality
Because drivers generally use their vehicle for familiar journeys, the navigation function of a GPS device in only used for approximately 6 percent of all trips. New Sat Nav devices must therefore offer additional feature to enable users to appreciate their utility during the remaining 94% of the time.

Sat Navs have now become veritable mobile multimedia devices which combine satellite navigation, digital television and other multimedia options.

By integrating DiBcom technology, the future looks bright for new GPS devices.

DiBcom's new DiB9090 chipset is built into the new Free-to-air televsion-enabled GPS receivers. Given the high volume of sales of these devices during 2008 and 2009, Yannick Levy, CEO of DiBcom is confident about their future.

He said: "The penetration rate for digital television and other multimedia functions built into GPS devices could reach 20 percent in Europe by 2011. Korea was the first country to witness an almost 100 percent penetration rate for mobile television integrated GPS devices.

"In Europe today, the rate is lower, partly due to the difficulty experienced in receiving free-to-air signals. We will however, soon witness a similar trend as free-to-air digital television is indeed 'free' and our technology offers solutions for reception difficulties," he concluded.

Consumer electronics market forecast to 2012

DUBLIN, IRELAND: Research and Markets has announced the addition of the "Consumer Electronics Market Forecast to 2012" report to its offering.

The consumer electronics industry has been witnessing a phenomenal growth globally over the past few years. This growth can be attributed to the revolutionary technological developments taking place in the consumer electronics industry.

The revolution brought by the digital technology has enabled the consumer electronics sector to profit from the growing interaction of digital applications, such as camcorders, DVD player/recorder, still camera, computer monitor, LCD TV, etc. In 2008, the global consumer electronics market was worth $335.2 billion.

According to our new research "Consumer Electronics Market Forecast to 2012", the global consumer electronics market is forecasted to grow at a CAGR of around 5 percent during 2009-2012. Also, during the same period, the global consumer electronics shipment will grow at a CAGR of around 5 percent. Various factors driving the future growth have been thoroughly studied in the report.

On the regional front, we found that the American region, mainly US, is driving the global consumer electronics industry, closely followed by Europe.

In future, Asia Pacific region will constitute the major portion of the consumer electronics industry, mainly due to the increase in demand from the developed countries in the region. Also, the American region alongwith the European region will see a decline in their market shares because the markets there have attained saturation and only the advent of new technology will boost the demand.

Our research foresees continuous development of digital technologies which are revolutionizing the consumer electronics industry worldwide. Moreover, the continuously falling prices of consumer electronics in several regions are also giving a reason to higher number of consumers to spend on consumer electronics.

These factors indicate that the consumer electronics industry has bright future ahead, particularly in countries like China and India where the economy is moving at a relatively fast pace.

Frontier Silicon launches world's first DMB-Radio profile one compliant tuner

BERLIN, GERMANY: Frontier Silicon, the leading supplier of connected audio technology, will be showing at IFA in Berlin this week the world’'s first mass production receiver module solution for DAB, DAB+ and DMB-Radio, which is fully compliant with the WorldDMB receiver profile 1 standard.

This provides a significant step forward in meeting the needs of manufacturers seeking to deliver a single mass market low power unified digital radio for Europe and Australia thus enabling countries to achieve their plans for digital radio switchover.

The availability of DMB-Radio on Venice 7 is especially significant for France, where the government has mandated that all radio receivers, including car radios, must be equipped with a DMB-Radio tuner by September 2013. As part of the digital radio switchover in France, broadcasters are planning to launch DMB-Radio this year in Paris, Nice and Marseille.

Anthony Sethill, CEO of Frontier Silicon, said: “France is the next major market to drive the switch to digital radio. It is anticipated the French market will represent a sizable opportunity for receiver manufacturers from 2010 with Frontier Silicon’s trusted digital tuner technology at the heart.”

Frontier Silicon was the first company to introduce a mass market solution for DAB+ and is still the only technology provider today shipping DAB+ in volume in Australia and Switzerland.

The Venice 7 module supports DAB, DAB+, DMB-Radio and FM without the additional cost of external SDRAM memory. It includes all interfaces necessary for a fully functional radio, needing only power supply, display, keypad, audio amplifier and speakers to complete a product.

The module is footprint compatible with the world’s best selling DAB/DAB+ solutions Venice 5 and Venice 5.1 – this means radio manufacturers have a fast-to-market upgrade path to offer all major digital radio standards without the need to redesign their product.

The software on Venice 7 provides full flexibility to allow radio manufacturers a high degree of product differentiation through UI customization. Software features include multi-language support, iPod docking with secondary display for artist and track name, power saving features, and an in-the-field firmware upgrade facility via USB.

A fully-qualified radio platform including iPod and iPhone docking support is also available with the Jupiter 7 production-ready reference platform. Compliant with WorldDMB’s Profile 1 specification and low power directives for European and the UK ‘Energy Saving Recommended’ scheme, Jupiter 7 is the leading reference design to drive switchover from FM to digital radio throughout Europe and Australia.

CSR’s high quality wireless audio in Sennheiser Communications’ Bluetooth stereo headsets

BANGALORE, INDIA: CSR today announced that its industry leading BlueCore5-Multimedia Bluetooth platform features in Sennheiser Communications’ two new Bluetooth stereo headsets, the MM400 and MM450 TRAVEL, as well as Sennheiser’s PX 210 BT and PXC 310 BT headphones that also feature apt-X coding.

The BlueCore5-Multimedia platform is an industry leading Bluetooth audio solution enabling flexible yet efficient multimedia devices; it will offer end-users of Sennheiser’s latest wireless headphones superior audio and voice quality over a Bluetooth connection.

Sennheiser and Sennheiser Communications selected CSR’s BlueCore5-Multimedia platform because of its high levels of integration, combining Bluetooth radio, stereo CODEC and battery charger in a single device, with advanced audio quality, versatility and low power consumption, which are key aspects in high performance Bluetooth stereo headsets.

Fully compliant with Bluetooth v2.1+EDR, CSR’s BlueCore5-Multimedia ensures a secure and robust Bluetooth connection and exceptional wireless audio performance for stereo headphones, boasting a signal to noise ratio of -95dB SNR.

Guido Karbautzki, Head of Sales and Marketing at Sennheiser Communications said: “Our customers want wireless headsets that are light and offer long battery life, without compromising on audio quality. By using CSR’s BlueCore technology we were able to offer all of this alongside industry leading Bluetooth connectivity.”

Karbautzki continued: “Thanks to CSR, our new range of stereo headsets will provide users with excellent audio quality for wireless music on the move following our campaign: ‘Enjoy music and never miss a call’."

CSR continues to strengthen its leadership in the headset market through new and innovative software features, and through the Company’s eXtension Partner Program that allows customers to further differentiate their products using third party technologies.

CSR delivers the only Bluetooth platforms on the market that feature an integrated, high performance Digital Signal Processor (DSP). BlueCore5-Multimedia’s flexible architecture allows customers to quickly and easily incorporate additional audio features to enhance the end-user experience and functionality of their designs.

This flexibility allows CSR’s customers to integrate additional features that make products that stand out from the crowd.

“Sennheiser and Sennheiser Communications are renowned for providing products with exceptionally high audio quality and the latest range of headphones and headsets is a great example of this,” said Anthony Murray, Vice President of CSR’s Audio and Consumer Business Unit.

“Sennheiser and Sennheiser Communications are one of the big names in the industry and we are very proud to have collaborated with them on their latest range of Bluetooth stereo headphones and headsets. CSR’s BlueCore platform provides both companies with industry leading wireless connectivity and ensures that the high audio quality is maintained across the wireless link.”

Sennheiser and Sennheiser Communications will be showing off their latest products including the MM400 and MM450 at IFA, the International Consumer Electronics Show, in Berlin, from 4-9 September 2009.

TomTom reveals powerful new TomTom GO x 50 series

BERLIN, GERMANY: TomTom has announced its new flagship series of portable navigation devices, the TomTom GO x50.

The three PNDs; TomTom GO 950, TomTom GO 750 and TomTom GO 550 combine TomTom’s leading IQ Routes technology, stylish design and powerful route calculation with a completely optimised user interface. Full attention has been paid to the integration of TomTom’s routing technologies into the user interface of the device, making it more intuitive and easier to operate.

“As the world’s leading provider of navigation solutions and digital maps, it is our duty to constantly break new ground, developing unique technologies with the sole purpose of making the driver’s journey more reliable, predictable and affordable,” says Corinne Vigreux, Managing Director of TomTom.

“All the models of the new TomTom GO x50 series have been designed to do exactly this. They are fast and easy to operate and take the stress out of any driver’s journey by providing the latest travel and delay times.”

The new TomTom GO x50 series calculates a route faster than ever before and ensures drivers are ready to go within seconds. It uses the world’s largest collection of historical speed profiles. This ever-growing database now includes over 800 billion historic speed measurements of 15 million road kilometres in 24 European countries.

Once on the road, the device is constantly checking if there is faster route, taking changing road conditions into account by using a combination of IQ Routes technology and RDS-TMC information.

Mini-note PC (netbook) shipments grow at twice the rate of notebooks in Q2’09

AUSTIN, USA: In Q2’09, the total notebook PC market posted strong Q/Q and Y/Y growth as units surged past the 38 million mark, as reported in the DisplaySearch Q3’09 Quarterly Notebook PC Shipment and Forecast Report.

The mini-note PC (netbook) market was particularly strong, growing 40 percent Q/Q, which was twice the impressive 22 percent Q/Q growth rate of larger notebook PCs. The strong growth of mini-note PCs drove their share of the portable computer markets to 22.2 percent in Q2’09, as shown in Table 1.

Asus, the pioneer in mini-note PCs, has been steadily losing share because Tier 1 brands like Acer, HP, Dell, Lenovo and Toshiba have become increasingly aggressive in this segment.

Table 1: Notebook and Mini-Note Share of Portable Computer ShipmentsSource: DisplaySearch Q3’09 Quarterly Notebook PC Shipment and Forecast Report.

Mini-note penetration in Latin America and Greater China is higher than notebook PC penetration, as shown in Table 2. The low prices of mini-note PCs make these products more affordable for these emerging markets, and these regions have many first-time PC buyers, who are less likely to require all the bells and whistles available on a larger mainstream notebook PC.

Table 2: Q2’09 Notebook and Mini-Note Shipment Share and Y/Y Growth by RegionSource: DisplaySearch Q3’09 Quarterly Notebook PC Shipment and Forecast Report.

In many regions, telecom providers have been offering subsidized mini-notes for several quarters, which helped propel growth. In Western European countries, a number of telecoms are subsidizing 100 percent of the price of the mini-note when the customer signs a two-year data plan contract.

In North America, telecom providers are aggressively marketing mini-notes with a two-year data plan contract, while some cable providers are offering heavily discounted mini-notes as an incentive to sign a contract for cable TV, Internet and phone service. The incentives have been quite successful in Europe.

In North America, these promotions were only test marketed in Q2’09, so there is insufficient data to determine if they will achieve the same measure of success.
Mini-notes have been a significant contributor to the growth in the portable PC market as their very attractive price points make owning a secondary computer viable for many consumers.

“Mini-note PC screen sizes have increased steadily, from 7.0" to 8.9” and then to 10.2". Some panel makers and brands are promoting 11.6" mini-note displays, leading to an overlap with ultraportable notebooks. However, the higher prices of these larger netbooks diminish their cost advantage.

In addition to many other key players in the supply chain, Microsoft indicated it is their desire to increase the ASP of mini-notes. A significant increase to the ASP of mini-notes may deter consumers that are predominantly using mini-notes as secondary PCs,” said John F. Jacobs, Director of Notebook Market Research.

Rangsons Electronics first to be awarded AS 9100 certification

MYSORE, INDIA: Rangsons Electronics pvt ltd, a leading EMS company in India has been awarded with AS 9100 instituted by the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE). This is a globally recognized aerospace industry standard. This defines the quality system requirements for suppliers to the industry.

Rangsons is the first Indian EMS company to implement a Quality Management System in accordance with ISO 9001:2008 and AS 9100 B. While the certification gives recognition to Rangsons Electronics as a quality supplier to the aerospace industry, it also provides its customers with the benefits of best-in-class solutions.

The certification ensures reduced cost of quality due and demonstrates Rangsons Electronics’ process oriented thinking along with commitment to provide value. The scope of the certificate includes contract manufacture of printed circuit board assemblies and cable harness for aerospace application.

S.T. Hebbar, President of Rangsons said: “Rangsons Electronics has achieved one of the highest ratings for the various audits conducted. The certification affirms Rangsons Electronics perseverance to provide greater value to its customers through top quality solutions in the aerospace segment. Aerospace products are intricate and complex with customer expectations for safety, reliability and consistency over extended periods of time."

"Our goal is to provide a superior product to our customers through value additions and continuous improvement of manufacturing processes and operational performances."

The aerospace industry is a strategic industry vertical for Rangsons Electronics and this certification is a testimony to quality of production and establishing itself as the Global partner to Aerospace OEMs.

Axis strengthens its position on global security market

BANGALORE, INDIA: Axis Communications has maintained its strong market leading position for network cameras and further improved its position in the category -- global vendors providing video surveillance equipment. This was published in a latest report from IMS Research.

The 2009 edition of the annual IMS Research report “The World Market for CCTV & Video Surveillance Equipment” is based on data compiled in 2008 and provides an overall view of the video surveillance market for both traditional analog manufacturers and the network video market where Axis is active.

In the report, Axis is ranked fourth in the world in the category -- vendors providing video surveillance equipment -- compared with sixth place last year. Axis retains as number three in the world in the security cameras category, which includes analog as well as network cameras. In the network cameras category, Axis is identified as clear market leader and retains its market leading position.

“The fact that Axis strengthened the company’s position in the overall security surveillance category and now ranks as one of the four largest vendors providing video surveillance equipment shows that the ongoing shift from analog to digital surveillance continued at a strong pace in 2008”, says Ray Mauritsson, President of Axis Communications.

"In just three short years Axis Communications has moved from being the 12th largest vendor of video surveillance equipment globally to the 4th spot in 2008 -- an impressive and noteworthy achievement by any standard. Axis Communications remains the largest provider of network video surveillance equipment by market share globally", says Alastair Hayfield, Senior Market Research Analyst, IMS Research.

Axis focuses on the professional segment of the network video market with customers in sectors including education, transportation and government. In the IMS report these customer segments are identified as the largest growth areas for network video in the coming years.