Who? What? Why? Where? When? and How?
Quality off the shelf H
Steve Rogerson’s round-up of last month’s news and events, including some that may have slipped under the radar
ow many things are “off the shelf” these days? We all know about COTS – which is commercial, consumer or custom off the shelf depending on with whom you are talking – but there are a lot more, according to delegates at the recent Vita Embedded Tech Trends conference in Florida. There are even the likes of GOTS (government off the shelf) and NOTS (Nato off the shelf). But apparently you can now get KAOTS, which is kinda off the shelf, and SHOTS, which is for products that are not very good, and you can probably work out what it stands for.
On one of the panels at the conference, Peter Cavill from GE Intelligent Platforms was sharing a platform with Paul Monticciollo from Mercury Computer Systems. The chair had already commented on the number of acquisitions
Mercury had done recently, so Cavill caused amusement when asked who GE was looking to buy and he replied: “Mercury.” Everyone assumed he was joking, especially when he laughed that he would probably get sacked for saying that, but interestingly he never actually denied that it was true. Watch this space. While in London recently, I spotted a flyer for The London Dungeon. It is a long time since I visited this establishment and I haven’t any burning desire to go back, though it was enjoyable. However, I might be tempted now given the flyer was advertising a “5D laser ride”. Five dimensions? I could understand four dimensions, as it is a sort of museum so you could argue that it was taking you back in time, but not five. Maybe I will have to go to find out exactly what the fifth dimension is.
On another trip to London in January, I felt a little sorry for Renesas who had hired a dining room at The Gherkin tower block to give an update on their recovery from last year’s earthquake in Japan. They obviously thought the venue, with its tremendous view over the city, was suitably prestigious, and the views were impressive. The problem was when it came to lunch. First, we were all asked to leave the room and wait in a corridor while they put out the cutlery. When they eventually brought us back in, we sat there twiddling our thumbs for ages before they eventually brought a starter that was so small the term “mouthful” is an exaggeration. After another 30 minutes plus wait for the main course, I left in search of sustenance elsewhere but I heard from a journalist who stayed that there was not much of a main course when it did finally arrive, and the mushroom cannelloni was literally one cannelloni. Obviously, this was not Renesas’ fault and I hope they didn’t pay too much or at least got a pretty decent discount for the poor service.
arting has made Anglia its 2011 Broadline Distributor of the Year. Based in Wisbech,
Cambridgeshire, Anglia is one of the UK's leading independent authorised distributors of semiconductors, optoelectronics, connectors, and passive and electromechanical components. A signatory of the ADS SC21 programme, the company holds AS9120, ISO9001 and ISO14001 accreditations and IECQ-CECC qualification.
Commenting on Anglia's success, Jane Bacon, Electronic Distribution
Manager for Harting, said: "This award is in recognition of the efforts of the whole team at Anglia. The UK electronics market in 2011 has offered strong growth opportunities coupled with lead-time challenges, and Anglia's focus on high levels of customer service, technical support and a willingness to commit to stock has enabled them to maximise the opportunities on offer." In a busy award giving month for Harting it also named Northern Connectors as its Specialist Distributor of the Year.
According to Bacon, "Northern Connectors have had another excellent year in developing their Harting business in the UK. Their commitment to offering customers the highest level of service and technical support has been a key factor in their success."
Meanwhile, let this serve as a warning to companies and their PR representatives to avoid The Gherkin for press conferences, unless they want to end up with a lot of bored and hungry journalists. My apologies to Green Hills Software. The nice calendar they sent me had pride of place in my office for just one and half days of 2012, that was until I spotted the new Doctor Who calendar going cheap in the January sales. There are some things I just can’t resist. Finally, do you have difficulty understanding what teenagers say? If yes, then there is probably an IPhone app just for you. It has been produced by the over-50s group Saga and will translate up to 500 words and phrases used by teens. The app is called Woteva, which means reluctant agreement, and includes gems such as “meaty” meaning “good” and “geekstress”, which is a female geek. Teenage boys apparently find geekstresses very intimidating. And it can of course be bought off the shelf, though whether it qualifies as SHOTS remains to be seen.
Anglia is Harting’s ‘Broadline Distributor of the Year’ for 2011 H
"Northern Connectors' continued
efforts at the design-in stage have increased their customer base and stand them in good stead for continued growth going forward", she added.
Andrea Bradford, Product Marketing, and Kerry Higham, Product Marketing Manager, Anglia accept the award from Harting
46 February 2012 Components in Electronics
It is not often I am called to be a judge, but this happened at Embedded Tech Trends in Florida. This is a pure conference with no exhibition, but the sponsors are allowed to promote themselves using display boards. And to make journalists look at all of them, Vita ran a competition asking for us to vote on which we thought was the best. Well, Emerson won hands down with this superhero guide to all things VME..
www.cieonline.co.uk
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48