Friday, January 21, 2011 - Thief River Falls, Minnesota, and Santa Ana, California, USA – Electronic components distributor Digi-Key Corporation, recognized by design engineers as having the industry's broadest selection of electronic components available for immediate shipment, and ITT Cannon, a leading global manufacturer of reliable, innovative connectors, today announced the two companies have entered into an agreement in which Digi-Key will distribute ITT Cannon products to customers worldwide.Products from ITT Cannon are now available for purchase on Digi-Key's global websites and will be featured in future print and online catalogs. ITT Cannon connectors are defined by a legacy of nearly a century of interconnect science."Digi-Key is very pleased to announce this new partnership with ITT Cannon," said Jeff Shafer, Digi-Key vice president of interconnect, passive, and electromechanical products. "We support ITT Cannon's ability to add new product innovations and appreciate their commitment to quality. They are a good match for Digi-Key's goal of providing our customers with superior service, which includes product selection and availability, on-time delivery, and responsiveness.""Digi-Key is a valuable addition to ITT Cannon's sales channel, as we continue our strategy of providing innovative interconnect solutions into new and exciting applications. We look forward to supporting our customers through the comprehensive Digi-Key sales and marketing infrastructure," said James Herman, VP of Global Sales at ITT Interconnect Solutions.ITT Cannon's universal contacts are independent SMT contacts that provide electrical connections between devices and PCBs. Each contact is manufactured as a single piece stamped product with incorporated pre-load and anti-lift features. These contacts have been designed to replace traditional interfaces where contacts are custom designed into components. The universal contact can be used to connect a number of device components in any direction and configuration using the same interface.Universal contacts provide over 3,000 mating cycles and are packaged in 12mm wide tape and reels to the EIA-481 standard. Wear resistance is subject to mating surface finish and plating type. With less than 20mΩ of contact resistance, pure signal integrity or grounding may be achieved. When deflected, a universal contact provides 0.7N of force with the associated wipe at the specified working ranges ensuring the ultimate interconnect link. Specific models will function under a 40G loading.Additional information and access to Digi-Key's broad product offering is available at http://www.digikey.com/.ITT Cannon's universal SMT contactsPhoto: Company

Taipei, January 2011 -- While the 2011 Consumer Electronics Show has just brought in another round of animated discussions about cloud computing developments and relevant applications, Microsoft Taiwan hosted "2011 Cloud-Enabled Client Summit" on January 24 at the Taipei International Convention Center to help Taiwan hardware and software companies explore the global business opportunities resulting from the development of cloud applications and related system design. At the summit, Microsoft shared the progress of its Software and Services Excellence Center (SSEC) established in conjunction with the Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA) six months ago to show some success cases of innovative applications based on the company's smart cloud platform and fruitful cooperation with industry partners. The sharing of Microsoft's latest strategy for cloud platform development as well as newest hardware and software technologies aimed at creating even more cloud computing business opportunities together with hardware and software partners.Cross-platform hardware and software development and integration to create a new era of innovative smart devicesThe SSEC, established in June 2010, has been endeavoring to have software technologies and service resources integrated with Microsoft's cloud data center experience in order to develop new generation smart user-end devices and cloud data centers. The SSEC's cooperation with Taiwan IT partners targets cloud services and the data center market, leveraging Microsoft's newest platforms to help maximize business opportunities for Taiwan partners.In order to enrich the consumer experience in new generation smart cloud devices, Microsoft shared with summit attendees what the SECC had achieved over the past six months since its establishment. In the future, Microsoft will provide fully integrated platforms to hardware and software partners for them to develop Windows-based PCs and other devices that support multi-touch as well as an even wider variety of innovative applications and services. Microsoft will provide new momentum to the Taiwan ICT ecosystem by its cloud platform development cooperation with Taiwan partners to establish a complete cloud industry value chain encompassing applications, devices, platforms, and services."As mobile devices such as smartphones and slate PCs that have Internet access are becoming increasingly prevalent, we hope to make good use of our experience accumulated in commercial and enterprise applications to help develop enterprise touch-control and wind solutions based on Windows 7 and Windows Phone 7," said Nien-Chen Liu, Senior Director of Developer & Platform Evangelism at Microsoft Taiwan. "This will make smart devices effectively enhance business competitiveness while maximizing our software partners' return on their investment in application development."Slate PC with Windows 7 integrated to develop new scenarios of slate PC applicationsIn order to help strengthen the impression of the convenience of cloud services, the summit provided 30 ViewSonic ViewPad 10 running Windows 7 to attendees for them to experience various applications; for example, attendees were able to access summit handouts, fill in an online questionnaire, and experience a variety of innovative applications. "The 2011 Consumer Electronics Show has triggered off fierce competition in the market of slate PCs, and consumers tend to consider practical functionality and user friendliness increasingly important when shopping for slate PCs," said Alan Chang, General Manager of ViewSonic Asia Pacific and Europe. "Windows 7 not only features a simple interface and user friendliness but also provides many applications specifically developed for the enhancement of business efficiency and productivity. As a result, our ViewPad 10 that runs Windows 7 and comes with a multi-touch display now makes slate PCs go beyond a device merely for internet access and entertainment as ViewPad 10 really helps strengthen work efficiency."At the summit, attendees enjoyed a head start to experience various innovative applications for the Windows 7-based slate PC including:- Windows Phone 7 Emulator: Experience various functions of Windows Phone 7 on the Windows-based touchscreen slate PC.- Baby Card: Through the design of fun patterns and bright color, players can complete the game by a simple matching.- i.game 16 mahjong: Newly added rules for mahjong playing and sophistication levels of players that are automatically and smartly adjusted will make players never want to quit the game.- Time told by cute girls: Time is shown by 1,440 photos of cute Taiwan girls while exclusive time tellers can be designed with the photos taken by cell phone cameras.- KKBOX: Online music can be accessed via 3G/Wi-Fi and favorite music titles can be saved for enjoyment when there is no network access.

Taipei, January 24, 2011 -- Microsoft Taiwan and Sinyi Realty together announced the launch of House View 2.0 service, which combines Windows 7-based slate PCs with online video and is unprecedented in Taiwan. Assisted by Microsoft, the new service has realized Sinyi''s Open House vision and more customers will benefit from it.At present, many real estate agencies use the video taken by their salespeople to show their offerings, but the video can only show their houses to be sold and is unable to provide online real-time interaction with customers. House View 2.0, the first ever interactive house viewing service in Taiwan with real-time video integrated, helps salespeople directly introduce houses to customers and communicate with them online. In the future, Sinyi salespeople, with their Windows 7-based slate PCs and via online video, will be able to keep customers well informed of the latest statuses and prices of the houses in which they are interested, while customers will be able to ask salespeople immediately when they have any doubt or question."We are very optimistic of our Microsoft platform-based slate PCs and have great confidence in Microsoft Taiwan''s rich experience in developing enterprise and commercial applications. For a company like Sinyi, productivity and security are the top priority whenever we choose IT applications, and Windows 7 has many built-in security mechanisms that free us from any information vulnerability," said Rock Tsai, Chief Information Officer of Sinyi. "Moreover, the multi-touch function of Windows 7 helps our salespeople work more efficiently and effectively. As a result, we are able to have House View 2.0 developed rapidly and have realized our Open House vision much earlier than expected to enable not only online house viewing but also online real-time interaction between customers and our salespeople."House View 2.0 primarily helps the customers who are unable to personally view their houses. For example, increasingly frequent interaction between Mainland China and Taiwan now prompts many people to consider buying houses across Taiwan Strait but they are unable to always travel back and forth to view the houses in which they are interested. Now House View 2.0 resolves the space and time limits of conventional house viewing and saves much time and cost for customers."As many industries pay close attention to the applications for slate PCs, we have been discussing with customers in different industries the scenarios of Windows 7-based slate PCs used by business customers," said Cathy Yeh, Director of Business Marketing Organization, Microsoft Taiwan. "In term of real estate agencies, Sinyi Realty is very thoughtful of innovative IT applications and has been actively pursuing such applications. As a result, in the real estate industry the company has had a head start in launching its real-time interactive service for house viewing together with us."While House View 2.0 will be available at the end of January, the medium- and long-term cooperation between Microsoft and Taiwan will develop even more innovative applications to meet the needs and wants of Sinyi customers.About Sinyi RealtyEstablished in 1987, Sinyi Realty (Taiwan Stock Exchange: 9940) is the top real estate rental and sales agency in Taiwan. The company also has business presence with its own brand name in Tokyo as well as major cities in Mainland China, including Beijing, Hangzhou, Shanghai, and Suzhou in order to meet very diverse customer needs and wants.About MicrosoftFounded in 1975, Microsoft (Nasdaq "MSFT") is the worldwide leader in software, services and solutions that help people and businesses realize their full potential.

Taiwan-based Epic Communications (Epicom) has announced a series of WCDMA/HSDPA power amplifiers (PA) for 3G portable devices and mobile phones.Provided in 3×3mm packages, the new 3G PAs are designed specifically for UMTS/WCDMA frequency bands.Among the new Epicom PAs, the EPA8100A supports Band 1 (1,920-1,980MHz), EPA8200A for Band 2 (1,850-1,910MHz), EPA8500A for Band 5 (824-849 MHz) and EPA8800A for Band 8 (880-915MHz).Built using a BiFET manufacturing process, an integration of InGaP bipolar HBT and GaAs pHEMT technologies, all key features and functional blocks of Epicom's new 3G PA are integrated into a single cost-effective chip while delivering impressive performance.In comparison to 2G or 2.5G (GSM/GPRS/EDGE) PAs, 3G PAs require much higher linearity to support high data rate transmission and better power added efficiency (PAE) for longer battery life, Epicom said. The company noted its 3G PAs feature digitally controlled tri-power mode (high, medium, low) operation, and ultra-low quiescent current. The compact form factor includes the required directional coupler and all matching circuits.The new WCDMA/HSDPA PAs are designed to operate from a single DC supply voltage ranging from 3.2V to 4.2V. At 3.4V-and-above VCC, they achieve 35-40% power added efficiency at 28dBm when operating in high-power mode, 30% in medium-power mode at 18dBm, and greater than 10% power added efficiency in low-power modes at 8-10dBm. No external DC-DC converter is required since the built-in voltage regulators eliminate the need for any external reference voltage.The PAs also utilize Epicom's patent pending temperature compensation design which provides unprecedented temperature stability from -40-degrees C to +85-degrees C, allowing smartphones, wireless data cards, and other 3G-equipped MIDs such as tablet PCs and e-book readers to operate in extreme environmental conditions.In addition to 3mm × 3 mm packaged PAs, Epicom also provides these PAs as bare dies to volume SiP module makers for custom module design requirements. Epicom's latest 3G PA engineering samples and EVBs are immediately available per customers' request.Epicom said it also plans to roll out new PAs for other 3G standards such as TD-SCDMA and CDMA 2000/EV-DO, and 4G standards including LTE and TD-LTE.

Singapore & Tokyo, 21 January 2011 - Tera-Barrier Films Pte Ltd (Tera-Barrier Films) today announced that KISCO LTD. has made a strategic investment in the company's Series "A" Investment round and became the company's Exclusive Distributor for Asia Pacific. Tera-Barrier Films is a portfolio company of Exploit Technologies Pte Ltd (ETPL), the commercialization arm of Singapore's Agency for Science, Technology and Research (ASTAR) and Applied Ventures, LLC, the venture capital arm of Applied Materials, Inc."We have been working with Tera-Barrier Films since before it spun-off from ASTAR, and continued to monitor its progress in bringing its barrier technology to the market. We are very impressed by the achievements that Tera-Barrier Films has made in such a short time, and believe that it is a good time for us to invest in the company and be part of its growth," said Koichi Takeda, director of KISCO's Electronic Materials Division.The funds will allow the company to continue its efforts to commercialise its proprietary, moisture resistant films for extending the lifetime of devices such as organic solar cells and flexible displays."This investment and distribution agreement with KISCO is a testament of the confidence KISCO has in Tera-Barrier," commented Mark Auch, CEO of Tera-Barrier Films. "Our immediate goal is to deliver our products to customers so they can begin extensive testing and validation and eventually incorporate them in their production lines. We also expect to initiate large scale manufacturing in the near future as we project market demand to grow extensively in the next 3 to 5 years.""We have evaluated Tera-Barrier's products and we know they have a very interesting technology," noted Masayuki Nakazawa, Managing Director of KISCO (ASIA) PTE LTD "Based on our preliminary feedback from potential customers, there is keen interest in these products from high tech manufacturers in the Asia Pacific region, so the distribution agreement is a win-win for both KISCO and Tera-Barrier.""This is indeed an important milestone for Tera-Barrier Films. This investment from KISCO is significant and we are pleased in KISCO's participation as not only a financial but also a strategic partner in Tera-Barrier Films. This will no doubt propel the young company to the next stage of growth. This is yet another testimony of the quality of ASTAR spin-offs," said Philip Lim, CEO of Exploit Technologies Pte Ltd."Since its launch from IMRE in 2009, Tera-Barrier Films has grown steadily, with additional partners coming on board to endorse its unique technology. This is a testament to the exceptional research and entrepreneurial spirit of Singapore scientists," added Andy Hor, Executive Director of ASTAR's Institute of Materials Research and Engineering (IMRE) from where Tera-Barrier Films spun-off. The company is currently located in IMRE under a special lab-in-a-research institute arrangement, enabling Tera-Barrier Film's R&D work to continue unabated.J Christopher Moran, Vice President and General Manager of Applied Ventures, additionally commented, "We are pleased to have KISCO join us as investors in Tera-Barrier Films and look forward to the commercialisation of Tera-Barrier's high performance barrier films. As OLED displays, solar photovoltaics, and other flexible electronics gain in popularity, we believe that barrier and encapsulation technology will become increasingly critical. Applied Ventures is committed to investing in and furthering the development of breakthrough technologies that will enable these industries to improve device performance while reducing costs."Tera-Barrier Film's barrier technology, which was developed by one of the founders, Senthil Ramadas, protects the easily-degraded, moisture-sensitive, organic materials of plastic devices and targets the burgeoning flexible electronics industry. Applications of the film include the manufacturing of flexible, lightweight and inexpensive electronics such as disposable or wrap-around displays, identification tags, flexible solar cells and chemical- and optical sensors.

AMD has announced immediate availability of the new AMD G-series accelerated processing unit (APU) for embedded systems. The AMD G-series, based on AMD Fusion technology, delivers a complete, full-featured embedded platform and incorporates the new low-power, x86 CPU based on the Bobcat core with a DirectX 11-capable GPU and parallel processing engine on a single piece of silicon.Embedded systems based on the G-series are available today or expected to launch in the coming weeks from companies including Advansus, Compulab, Congatec, Fujitsu, Haier, iEi, Kontron, Mitec, Quixant, Sintrones, Starnet, WebDT and Wyse, the vendor said.Expected products include graphics-intensive solutions like digital signage, Internet-ready set top boxes (STBs), mobile and desktop thin clients, casino gaming machines, point-of-sale (POS) kiosks, and small form factor PCs, as well as single board computers (SBCs).The open development ecosystem for the G-series platform includes multiple BIOS options, support for various Microsoft Windows, Linux, and real-time operating systems, the integrated OpenCL programming environment, and source-level debug tools.AMD also provides a dedicated design support team to help customers create distinctive new products and bring them to market quickly as well as online resources include an embedded developer portal, AMD embedded product selection guide and customer-submitted details on available boards and complete systems, the company said. AMD G-series platform specifications Item Detail CPU 1 or 2 x86 Bobcat CPU cores with 1MB L2 cache, 64-bit floating point unit and 1.6GHz clock speed. TDP 9W and 18W Memory DDR3 800-1066 memory with support for 64-bit channel and 2 DIMM slots. Graphics output DirectX 11 capable graphics engine Source: Company, compiled by Digitimes, January 2011Applications based on AMD G-series platformPhoto: Company

Arbor technology has unveiled its new M1040, a portable medical tablet PC aiming for mobile clinical assistant applications.The M1040 is built with an Intel Atom N450 processor with ICH8M chipset, a 10.4-inch touch panel that supports both resistive touch and electromagnetic digitizer and supports DDR2 667 memory up to 2GB.The device also features slim appearance with only 1.3kg in weight and 26mm in thickness, and with its slip-free grip design, the M1040 is easy to carry for operation.The M1040 offers two options for storage - an 120GB SATA hard drive or a 32GB solid state drive (SSD), and is integrated with data retrieving devices such as 2D barcode scanner, smart card reader, RFID reader and 2 CMOS cameras. It features communication modules for Bluetooth, Ethernet, Wi-Fi and 3.75G HSUPA.Arbor M1040 medical tablet PCPhoto: Company

Micro-Star International (MSI) has launched its new GT680 gaming notebook with Intel's second-generation Core i7 quad-core processor and Nvidia's high-end DirectX 11-ready GeForce GTX 460M discrete graphics card with 1.5GB of GDDR5 memory. The machine also features four DDR3 memory slots, boosting memory capacity up to 16GB with accelerated dual SSD architecture.The GT680 also features MSI's Turbo Drive Engine (TDE) technology that enables the machine to instantly throttle up its performance with a click of a button, the vendor said. The notebook also includes MSI's Cooler Boost technology.The GT680 also features THX TruStudio Pro as well as Cinema Pro technologies to allow the notebook to present a cinema environment when playing multimedia files.MSI GT680 is equipped with a 15.6-inch 16:9 ratio LED display with support of resolution up to 1920x1080. The machine also features a HDMI port for outputing the image onto devices with bigger display. MSI GT680 notebook specifications Item Detail Processor Intel Core i7 2630QM OS Windows 7 Ultimate/Home Premium Memory DDR3 up to 16GB Display 15.6-inch LED backlight support up to 1920x1080 Graphics Nvidia GeForce GTX 460M with 1.5GB GDDR5 memory Video output One HDMI, one VGA Hard disk drive 640GB/1TB RAID 0, 120GB SSD + 500GB HDD Optical disk drive Blu-ray / DVD super multi Battery 9-cell Li-ion Dimension (WxDxH, mm) 395 x 267 x 55 Source: Company, compiled by Digitimes, January 2011MSI GT680 gaming notebookPhoto: Company

Smartphone vendor HTC has announced the appointment of Ray Yam as corporate vice president and head of HTC Communication in China. Reporting directly to Fred Liu, president of engineering and sales, Yam will be responsible for all sales, marketing and operations activities for HTC in China.Prior to joining HTC, Yam has held management positions in the mobile industry with LG Electronics, Motorola and Nokia.

Silicon Integrated Systems (SiS) has announced that TCL - China's largest TV brand - has adopted SiS9561 as the key SoC component of their first generation Internet smart TV. SiS9561 is based on the Android 2.2 Froyo platform, supporting an enhanced Internet browser with Adobe Flash Player 10.1, Skype video conference, and Quickboot. The proprietary Quickboot scheme sustains the SiS9561 Android Internet TV platform to boot up and activate the widget services/internet browser within 15 seconds.The SiS9561 Internet TV solution supports multi-language and various broadcasting television systems worldwide.In consideration of delivering more intuitive and convenient user experience to the web browsing and cloud entertainment, the SiS9561 Android Internet TV solution offers various customized and easy-to-use widgets including the most popular categories: Youtube for online video streaming; Facebook for social networking; eBay for auction; flicker for photo library; Pandora for online radio; weather; Google finance and US Traffic for daily life information; USA Today for news; and online film renting and online games, the company said. Moreover, the SiS9561 Android Internet TV platform allows users to communicate with embedded Skype Internet video conferencing.The SiS9561 Android Internet TV platform can be controlled by regular remote control switching the TV or Internet TV button to navigate the TV channel programs or Internet content to meet the expectation of keyboard-free usage. In addition, users can use their Android smartphone or tablet devices to control SiS9561 Android TV.The SiS9561 solution integrates a dual-core 32-bit 576MHz MIPS processors with 32KB/16KB cache, DDR3 1333 MHz memory controller, 2D graphic engine, 8-bit NAND flash controller, SD/MMC interfaces and 10/100 Ethernet controller. Engineering sample of the SiS9561 Android Internet TV solution has been under customers' verification now and it is scheduled to be mass-produced in the first quarter of 2011.SiS SiS9561 Android Internet TV SoCPhoto: Company