Interconnect News for April 11, 2016
This week’s interconnect news features an executive hire, a multi-supplier agreement, Digital Ceiling updates, electric car racing, and a hand-soldering champion.
Interconnect News
Distributors
Phil Gallagher, corporate officer and Senior Vice President, TTI Inc.
TTI Inc. announced the hiring of Phil Gallagher to join the TTI management team, effective April 4. Gallagher joins TTI as a corporate officer, senior vice president, and member of CEO Paul Andrews’ executive staff where he will develop long-term strategies for the company. He also holds the functional title of president, sales and marketing, Americas, in which capacity he will report to Mike Morton, global president of sales and marketing. A past president of the Electronic Components Industry Association (ECIA) and a member of the Global 50, a forum of the world’s top global general management executives, Gallagher comes to TTI from Avnet, where he spent 32 years in sales, marketing, and strategy. He was vice president of global business development for three years before his promotion to president, Electronics Marketing Americas. Most recently he served as president of Avnet Technology Solutions.
Interconnect Manufacturers
Molex and Cisco announced their participation in a multi-supplier agreement (MSA) to create a high-speed, double-density quad small form factor pluggable (QSFP-DD) high-speed interface. Thirteen industry leaders have joined the MSA to collaborate on its development. Under the MSA, participating companies are developing new technology for the QSFP-DD interface to enable up to 10 times the range of bandwidth to be supported on the same port. The goal is to ensure mechanical, electrical, thermal, and signal-integrity interoperability for module components produced by different manufacturers. Members of the MSA are developing operating parameters, signal transmission speed goals, and protocols for QSFP-DD.
Additionally, Molex has confirmed its participation in the Cisco Digital Ceiling partner community, which debuted at Cisco Live! Berlin. Molex, developer of the Transcend Network Connected LED Lighting System, announced a solutions-technology collaboration with Cisco in November 2015. As a member of the Digital Ceiling partner community, Molex is involved in helping customers embrace digital transformation of their buildings by creating a Digital Ceiling. Cisco and its 15 inaugural Digital Ceiling partner companies are accelerating the deployment of a Digital Ceiling beginning with indoor lighting powered by Cisco’s highly secure network infrastructure. As part of the Digital Ceiling framework, Molex is offering the Transcend Network Connected LED Lighting System in collaboration with LED lighting partner companies. Transcend is an intelligent, low-voltage networking system that both powers and controls LED light fixtures and other devices.
Siemon also has been named an enabler partner in the Cisco Digital Ceiling partner community. Siemon’s ConvergeIT Cabling Solutions for Intelligent Buildings, which create a unified physical infrastructure for converging low-voltage building systems, will enable the convergence of the building networks. A key part of the Digital Ceiling includes systems and devices that are powered by network switches using Power-over-Ethernet (PoE), including PoE-powered LED lights with sensors that can help lower energy costs by up to 85%. Siemon’s ConvergeIT Cabling Solutions include advanced copper shielded cables and connectivity that provide superior support of PoE-enabled systems, and Siemon will be instrumental in supporting a Digital Ceiling deployment with Smartworld, an Etisalat and Dubai South joint venture company based in Dubai.
Esterline Connection Technologies – Souriau received the 2015 Airbus Award in Electrics for Industrial Excellence for its connectivity solutions. The award recognizes the daily dedication of Esterline – Souriau’s teams’ commitment to ensuring top quality and meeting promised delivery times, as well as product range, manufacturing quality, and an unyielding focus on zero defects, a core element of aircraft safety.
PROVERTHA CANbus connectors received UL approval, an essential prerequisite for global marketing and sales. Only products tested by the Underwriters Laboratories (UL) according to current US product safety requirements are allowed to show the UL sign. The CANbus connector portfolio includes a variety of solutions with different cable exits and terminations for a wide range of applications. One of the key features is the fully shielded zinc die-cast housing for high EMI/RFI robustness. PROVERTHA offers CANbus connectors in axial (180-degree to D-Sub mating), compact (90-degree), and special (35-degree) variants, and a solid switch lever activates the bus termination.
Harwin announced plans to sponsor the Purdue Electric Racing (PER) team’s 2016 electric race car, which will compete in next year’s Formula Student/SAE Electric championship. Formula SAE is designed to promote careers and excellence in engineering and encompasses all aspects of the automotive industry including research, design, manufacturing, testing, development, marketing, management, and finances. Each student team designs, builds, and tests a car that is then raced in a series of events across the globe. Harwin has sponsored the team from Purdue before, and previous cars have used parts from Harwin’s EZ-Boardware range of surface-mount solutions that address a range of industry challenges (e.g., EMC, cable management, test) in an innovative way that saves production costs and increases reliability. The PER race team has identified reliability as a key competitive edge, so it is evaluating Harwin’s hi-rel connectors, such as the company’s 2mm-pitch Datamate series, the 1.25mm Gecko family, and the M300 high-density power connectors that handle currents up to 10A.
Trade Shows
At IPC APEX EXPO in March, IPC’s 2-13 Shop Floor Communications Subcommittee brought together leading software developers, machine vendors, assembly equipment manufacturers, and their customers to work on development of a new IPC standard to meet the current and future needs of industry by providing uniformity of data protocols to facilitate machine-to-machine communication. The subcommittee is also working to provide an easy-to-understand definition of Industry 4.0 and its significance. Machine vendors want to engage quickly and all parties agree that a replacement for the current IPC-2541, Generic Requirements for Electronics Manufacturing Shop-Floor Equipment Communication Messages (CAMX), is needed. During the meeting two commercial initiatives were presented and, based on those two presentations, the subcommittee realized that several licensing and intellectual property issues need to be resolved before the new standard can progress.
Additionally at this year’s IPC APEX EXPO, the fifth annual IPC Hand Soldering World Championship drew 10 competitors from around the world. Victors from IPC hand soldering competitions in Indonesia, China, Europe, Korea, Japan, Vietnam, and India were challenged with building a functional electronics assembly within a one-hour time limit. Completing the championship round with a score of 534 points out of 550, Vu Thi Xuan, of UMC Electronics Vietnam Ltd., was crowned champion, earning her a $1,000 cash prize, a new soldering station from America Hakko Products, and bragging rights as the world’s best hand solderer. With a score of 531, Li Ying, of the East China Institute of Electronic Engineering, earned second place in the championship, while Hyo-Jung Back, of LIGNex1 Co. Ltd. (Korea), took third place with a score of 524.
CAMI Research Inc. will host seminar and training sessions at the Wire Processing Technology Expo in Milwaukee and offer opportunities to win $500 in CableEye accessories. The complimentary seminar entitled, “Making the Most of Your Cable and Harness Tester,” will take place on the morning of May 10 at the Wisconsin Center. On the afternoon of the 10th, CAMI will hold a customer training session at a special low rate. Visitors to the company’s booth will be able to try low-voltage and high-voltage (HiPot) testers and explore the CableEye interface, and the CAMI team will demonstrate how to electrically measure cable length to within two feet and determine wire twist relationships.
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