August 2006

I hope you all had a great summer and that those of you in the US or Asia who tried to contact Europeans in July and August were not too frustrated by the lack of response. We take vacations very seriously here! Next Monday the first print edition of EE Times Europe will appear. Many people here have questioned the economics of sending out 55,000 copies of a print publication across Europe every 2 weeks. However, when I met with Richard Wallace, the editor-in-chief and the driving force behind the publication yesterday, he assured me it’s on budget to be a success. Richard pointed out that EE Times Europe is not just a print publication but an integrated online, print and digital publication, with the online team at its core. He said that it leverages the resources of EE Times in the US very effectively and he praised the quality and versatility of the European editorial team, saying that “over here (Europe) it’s a different scale of operation and we achieve a lot more with less.” Richard lives in the US but is spending a great deal of time in Europe and has no plans to announce a locally based editor-in-chief just yet. “I need to train a local editor-in-chief,” he said, adding, “I’m still finding my way, so I’ll spend as much time as it takes to get to the right decision. The appointment could be from outside, or it may an internal promotion.” The Danish market is going strong too, according to Rolf Sylvester-Hvid, editor-in-chief of Aktuel Elektronik. See what he has to say in our SOAPBOX feature.

Onto the other news...

Penton Media, publishers of Electronic Design, amongst other titles, has appointed Credit Suisse Securities to look into future strategies, including the possible sale of the company. Penton Media is owned by ABRY Partners, a private equity firm. Penton’s CEO, David Nussbaum, said in July that it is “an opportune time to evaluate strategic alternatives” based on several factors. Those include the company’s improved operating income, in the wake of the 2001 recession, and “the board’s belief that the market is currently very attractive for business-to-business media assets.”

CONTACT
Web: http://www.penton.com

Global component distributor, Avnet Electronics Marketing, has been named as the exclusive platinum sponsor of the EE Times ACE Awards, the annual event to celebrate noteworthy accomplishments in electronics engineering. As platinum sponsor, Avnet will present the Lifetime Achievement Award at the awards gala on April 3, 2007 at the San Jose Fairmont Hotel. Nominations for the third EE Times ACE Awards will open on Tuesday, September 5, 2006. Awards are presented in 18 categories and are judged by blue-ribbon panel of judges. Two categories, the Editors’ Choice and Lifetime Achievement, will be selected by EE Times’ editors, and the Ultimate Products of the Year are selected by a peer review.

CONTACTS
Editorial: Brian Fuller, editor-in-chief, bfuller@cmp.com
Sales: Sean Raman, event sales director, sraman@cmp.com
Web: http://www.eetimes.com/ace

In conjunction with the Electronica 2006 Exhibition to be held in Munich, Germany 14 – 17 November 2006, Nikkei Electronics Asia will publish a special supplement providing European suppliers with the opportunity to reach electronics engineers and managers across Asia. The publisher says that the supplement will contain articles focusing on the latest trends and developments in Europe and will feature the latest in product and technology offerings. It is claimed that a recent readership survey for NE Asia demonstrated that 78% of the readership is interested in news and information related to Europe. NE Asia is a monthly magazine that has been reporting on Asia’s electronics industry for over 14 years. The magazine is distributed free of charge to electronics engineers and managers in Taiwan, Korea, Hong Kong, South East Asia and, as of April 2006, has an Indian edition. NE Asia has a BPA audited circulation of over 27,000 readers.

CONTACTS
Editorial: Keith Chan, editor, keith@nikkeibp.com.hk
Advertising: Matt Edgar, edgar@nikkeibp.co.uk

Bodo’s Power Systems, the new European power magazine and web site, has announced bonus distribution of 400 copies of its September and October issues at H2Expo, and additional 8000 copies of September, October and November issues relating to Electronica and an extra 800 copies of the November issue for the SPC/IPC/Drives show. The magazine, which published separate July and August issues this year, claim an audited pan-European circulation (Advertising Steering Committee) of 18,303 copies.

CONTACTS
Editorial and Advertising: Bodo Arlt, publisher, BodoArlt@aol.com
Web: http://www.bodospower.com

WEKA has announced a series of special issues in its flagship technical magazine, Elektronik, dedicated to the Electronica show that takes place in Munich from 14-17 November 2006. Issues 22 and 23 (advertising closing dates of October 11 and 20 respectively) and Elektronik Automotive issue 7 (advertising closing date 17 October) will all focus on what’s happening at the event.

CONTACTS
Editorial: Günther Klasche, editor-in-chief, gklasche@elektroniknet.de
Advertising: Sonja Diehl, international sales, sdiehl@elektroniknet.de

WEKA has claimed that print advertising in the electronics press in Germany is up 8.4% for the first half of 2006, compared with the same period last year. The company also tells us that they were the largest beneficiaries of this growth, claiming to have published 75% of the 2,662 pages booked in Markt & Technik, Elektronik or Design & Elektronik.

CONTACTS
Editorial Elektronik: Günther Klasche, editor-in-chief, gklasche@elektroniknet.de
Editorial Markt & Technik: Peter Wintermayer, editor-in-chief, pwintermayr@market-technik.de
Editorial Design & Elektronik: Caspar Gröte, editor-in-chief, cgrote@design-elektronik.de
Advertising: Matthäus Hose, director marketing and distribution, mhose@elektroniknet.de

CMP has published its program for the Embedded Systems Conference Boston. The conference runs from September 25-28 at the Hynes Convention Center. The program includes an exhibition supported by over 160 companies, training sessions, keynote presentations and special events. Hardware, software and development tool vendors are represented. A “Disruption Zone” is a new feature that offers emerging companies a turnkey exhibition space, print and online advertising, and a slot at a special invitation-only luncheon, where each of the participants will have five minutes to present their companies to an influential audience of venture capitalists, analysts and media. At the keynote presentation and industry address on Tuesday, September 28, Marc Abrahams, editor and co-founder of the science humor magazine Annals of Improbable Research (AIR), will deliver his views on “Improbable Research and the Ig Nobel Prizes.”

CONTACTS
Editorial and advertising: David Blaza, dblaza@cmp.com

Electronic Design, part of the Electronics OEM Group at Penton Media, has bought Web-EE.com, an online resource for electronics engineers that offers schematics, project and tutorial content, and components application notes. “Electronic Design has built a powerful emedia business,” said David Nussbaum, CEO, Penton Media, “and Web-EE will be a very powerful addition to the ED network. Also, this acquisition continues to fulfill our overall strategic goal of offering our vertical communities a full suite of information and data through the most relevant and desired channels.” Founded in 1999 by design engineer Jerry Wassinger, Web-EE was developed as a solution to fill the void Wassinger realized while looking for schematics online. Based upon a full review of the sites metrics through HitBox for the March ‘06 - May ‘06 period, Web-EE.com generates on average 100,000 page views per month from 30,000 unique visitors. Mr. Wassinger remains the primary editor of Web-EE and will continue to generate content for the site going forward.

CONTACTS
Editorial: Mark David, editor-in-chief, mdavid@penton.com
Advertising: Bill Baumann, publisher, bbaumann@penton.com

Publisher Datateam has announced the appointment of Paul Marsh as its new Editor. Paul has a degree in electronic engineering and over ten years of experience editing technical magazines. Previously, Paul was assistant editor with both New Electronics and EE Times, and editor of CIE. In recent months, he has been writing for a number of electronics publications worldwide. (Paul replaces Jo Bennet, who has gone over to the ‘dark side’ to work in PR! Ed.)

CONTACTS
Editorial: Paul Marsh, editor, pmarsh@datateam.co.uk
Advertising: Andy Pratt, andypratt@datateam.co.uk

CMP’s power and power management web site, powermanagementdesignline.com has launched a new search engine that the publisher claims “not only gives you results from your search within the site but also gives you focused results (Engineering Web results) with helpful design tips and product info.” It is also designed to give users immediate access to white papers and webcasts on the search terms used. There are search tips on the left column of the results page and users can search by date or relevance. Finally, a new feedback form provides a route for comment.

CONTACTS
Editorial: Paul O’Shea, site editor, poshea@cmp.com
Advertising: Paul Miller, publishng director, pmiller@cmp.com
Web: http://www.powermanagementdesignline.com

The New Electronics web site – renamed newelectronics.co.uk – now offers a wider range of functionality to users, says the publisher, Peter Ring. The completely re-designed site now boasts a broad supplier directory, covering everything from board level design to test and measurement, as well as an extensive technology section. Once users have found the technology or service they’re looking for, they can contact the supplier directly by email or go the company’s website. Daily news and technology updates and a full search facility are among the changes. Meanwhile, all technology articles are immediately available in pdf format and, in many cases, there will be additional material. There are links to the organisations featured in the articles and links to similar articles and news stories in the technology archive. New features will be added in the coming months – including RSS feeds and webcasts.

CONTACTS
Editorial: Graham Pitcher, editor, gpitcher@findlay.co.uk
Advertising: Peter Ring, publisher, pring@findlay.co.uk
Web: http://www.newelectronics.co.uk

This event takes place at the IET, Savoy Place, London on 8 November 2006. Numbers of new standards related to medical software have recently been published or are in the pipeline. This seminar will aim to place software standards in the regulatory framework. It will show the interrelation of standards for risk management, communications and networking usability and software development lifecycles.

CONTACTS
Web: http://www.iee.org/Events/smd.cfm

The Danish economy is almost overheating, leading to a massive surge in start-ups

The Danish economy is booming - to such a point that financial experts can’t say what we are to expect. The National Bank has raised the interest twice by 0.25 percent in order to prevent the Danish Krone from overheating. Things have gone bizarre in the Danish economy to the point where even the Danish Minister for Taxes claims that the income-tax is too high, as national debts have literally been cleared and unemployment has reached an all-time low at around 3.5 percent. The confidence in the National economy has had a rather interesting effect on the electronics industry, namely that quite a few people have left secure positions in well-established companies to start up their own firms. This is of course leading to a wealth of new business opportunities in Denmark, as many new companies are focussing on production. This could sound odd, but one peculiar effect of the situation is that - apart from housing - prices and salaries have remained at a fairly steady level throughout the latest five to six years. The labour force is however becoming a bit of a problem, but many workers and specialists from Poland and the Baltic nations are rushing towards Denmark, as the salaries - as low as they may be on a Western scale - are many times higher than in their native countries, and as the assistance of the workforce from our neighbouring countries is both needed and welcomed. Needless to say that this strenghtens the ties between Denmark and Poland/Baltics.

CONTACTS
Editorial: Rolf Sylvester-Hvid, rsh@techmedia.dk
Advertising: Ulla Molter, uam@techmedia.dk