In the Q5 series of interviews Electronics Weekly puts its questions to an industry figure. Five short sharp questions reveal their thoughts on the issues that matter most.
From ARM's chairman, Sir Robin Saxby, to touchscreen technology firm Zytronic's MD, Mark Cambridge, the business leaders share their particular insights on the UK electronics industry.
2011
Q5 Interview - Altium's Martin Harris [Friday 13 May 2011[
An Interview with Martin Harris, chief executive officer EMEA, Altium Europe, on the challenges facing electronics designers, today's economic challenges, the biggest changes within Altium, and the acquisition of web tool developer Morfik...
2010
Q5 Interview - Neville Reyner, Anglia Components [Friday 04 June 2010]
Neville Reyner CBE, chairman of Anglia Components and president of the Business Chambers of Commerce talks to EW about the continuing importance of the electronics manufacturing sector to the local economy.
Q5 Interview - Glenn Palmer, Murata Electronics UK [Monday 24 May 2010]
Glenn Palmer, Managing Director of Murata Electronics UK, talks to Electronics Weekly about the advantages possessed by the UK electronics industry, market opportunities for RFID, and the demands customers are making for the development of passive components...
Q5 Interview - Chris Shipway, Avnet Memec UK [Monday 17 May 2010]
Chris Shipway, country director of Avnet Memec UK, talks to Electronics Weekly about active markets in the UK and Europe, the biggest challenges facing the industry, and how the Internet is changing the business...
Q5 Interview - Martin Harris, Altium [Monday 10 May 2010]
Martin Harris, v-p, sales and support in Europe for chip design tool firm Altium talks to Electronics Weekly about how the use of unified data model can bring the benefits of a more holistic approach to semiconductor design.
Q5 Interview - Ron McConnachie, Rapid Electronics [Wednesday 05 May 2010]
Ron McConnachie, chief operating officer of Rapid Electronics, talks to Electronics Weekly about inventory replenishment in the supply chain, the most active end markets in the UK, the future of the UK manufacturing community, and the biggest challenge of 2010.
Q5 Interview - Peter Kasenbacher, Agilent Technologies [Wednesday 28 April 2010]
Peter Kasenbacher, European manager for the oscilloscope product lines at Agilent Technologies, talks to Electronics Weekly about the different ways in which oscilloscopes are used by the test engineer.
Q5 Interview - Charlie Huang, Cadence Design Systems [Monday 15 March 2010]
Charlie Huang, senior VP and Chief Strategy Officer, Cadence Design Systems talks to Electronics Weekly about important trends in design tool architectures, how EDA is helping tackle complexity in analog and multicore designs, and how the industry is reacting to adapt to the current economic conditions...
Q5 Interview - Masten Evans, Livingston [Monday 08 March 2010]
Masten Evans, managing director of Livingston, the equiment rental specialists, talks to Electronics Weekly about British engineering culture, companies managing their assets, and the greatest test activity he sees over the coming 12 months...
Q5 Interview - Richard Hanscott, NEC Europe's Network Solutions [Wednesday 17 February 2010]
Richard Hanscott, vice president of NEC Europe's Network Solutions, talks to Electronics Weekly about how the explosion in mobile data traffic is moving the market to LTE deployment.
Q5 Interview - Rich Beyer, Freescale Semiconductor [Monday 08 February 2010]
Rich Beyer, CEO Freescale Semiconductor talks to Electronics Weekly about the automotive market, the QorIQ multicore processor and new microcontrollers...
Q5 Interview - Derek Boyd, National Microelectronics Institute [Tuesday 02 February 2010]
Derek Boyd, CEO, National Microelectronics Institute, talks to Electronics Weekly about skills shortages, the areas where the problem is most acute, and how the UK compares for skills with other countries.
Q5 Interview - Paul Gill, Hansatech EMS [Wednesday 27 January 2010]
Paul Gill, managing director of Hansatech EMS, talks to Electronics Weekly about the value of in-house training, how you measure RoI on training and its impact on morale and absenteeism.
Q5 Interview - Ted Tewksbury, IDT [Monday 18 January 2010]
Ted Tewksbury, CEO of IDT talks to Electronics Weekly about design activity in OEM customers, opportunities in the current climate, and end-markets with growth prospects.
2009
Q5 Interview - Harry Tee CBE, Electronics Leadership Council [Monday 14 December 2009]
Harry Tee CBE, Chairman of the Electronics Leadership Council talks to Electronics Weekly about the UK government's growing recognition of the importance of electronics technologies to the economy and national skills base.
Q5 Interview - Eoin O'Riordan, Chomerics Division Europe [Monday 07 December 2009]
Eoin O'Riordan - Marketing & Technology Manager, Chomerics Division Europe, Parker Hannifin - talks about changing approaches to shielding and thermal materials technology, opportunities in the current climate, and the materials technologies having the most impact in electronics design...
Q5 Interview - Geraint Anderson, TT electronics group [Thursday 03 December 2009]
Geraint Anderson, CEO of the TT electronics group talks to Electronics Weekly about design activity in OEM customers, positive opportunities in the current climate, and end-markets with growth prospects...
Q5 Interview - Gideon Wertheizer, CEVA [Monday 23 November 2009]
Gideon Wertheizer, CEO of CEVA - a licensor of silicon IP platform solutions and DSP cores - talks to Electronics Weekly about mobile handset design, the crossover with netbooks and the true potential of software-defined radio...
Q5 Interview - Jon Treanor, Conduit Partners [Monday 16 November 2009]
Jon Treanor, CEO, Conduit Partners, talks to Electronics Weekly about the Carbon Trust Incubator programme, support for low carbon innovations, and the benefits UK electronics companies can expect...
Q5 Interview - Geir Førre, Energy Micro [Monday 09 November 2009]
Geir Førre, CEO ofEnergy Micro, talks to Electronics Weekly about the company, which has just launched its first semiconductor product, a very low-power ARM Cortex-M3-based microcontroller.
Q5 Interview - Maria Marced, TSMC [Monday 02 November 2009]
Maria Marced, president of TSMC Europe, talks to Electronics Weekly about roadmaps, best practices, the semiconductor upturn, and the challenges that face foundries...
Q5 Interview - Richard Barry, Wittenstein [Tuesday 27 October 2009]
Richard Barry, head of innovation at Wittenstein High Integrity Systems and creator of FreeRTOS.org, talks to Electronics Weekly about important trends in the embedded market, the challenges faced by developers, and the industries creating the most innovative designs...
Q5 Interview - Kevin Yapp, Premier Farnell [Wednesday 21 October 2009]
Kevin Yapp, chief innovation officer at Premier Farnell, talks to Electronics Weekly about how social media is changing the way distributors communicate, how the Internet is changing the distribution business, and possible new online services...
Q5 Interview - David Dickin, Prism Electronics [Monday 19 October 2009]
David Dickin, business development director of Prism Electronics, the Cambridge-based contract manufacturer, talks to Electronics Weekly about outsourcing requirements, OEMs considering future supply patterns, and hidden costs involved in outsourcing offshore...
Q5 Interview - Tony Harris, Digi-Key [Thursday 15 October 2009]
Tony Harris, VP of e-Commerce and Internet Marketing forDigi-Key, talks to Electronics Weekly about the importance of the Internet for distribution, what proportion of business is online, whether print catalogues will be completely superseded by online activities, and new services the Internet is making possible...
Q5 Interview - Mark Burr-Lonnon, Mouser [Tuesday 13 October 2009]
Mark Burr-Lonnon, VP of Mouser International, talks to Electronics Weekly about how the Internet is changing the distribution business, the proportion of business going online and the future for print catalogues...
Q5 Interview - David Bell, Intersil [Monday 05 October 2009]
David Bell, CEO of Intersil, talks to Electronics Weekly about the analogue business, energy efficiency, reference designs, disruptive technologies, ambient lighting and proximity sensing...
Q5 Interview - Andrew Porter, Europe TechInsights [Monday 21 September 2009]
Andrew Porter. Events Director, Europe TechInsights organiser of the Embedded Systems Conference 2009 event (6 - 8 Oct, FIVE International Show Centre, Farnborough), talks to Electronics Weekly about what makes the best electronics exhibition and conference in the UK.
Q5 Interview - Owen Reeves, ACW Technology [Tuesday 15 September 2009]
Owen Reeves, MD of ACW Technology, the UK contract electronics manufacturer, talks to Electronics Weekly about design activity, opportunities in the current economic climate, and end-markets with growth prospects.
Q5 Interview - Simon Wilson, Nortel Europe [Monday 07 September 20009]
Simon Wilson, leader of communications solutions atNortel Europe , talks to Electronics Weekly about power hungry data centres, energy-efficiency in network and data centre design, and other industry trends.
Q5 Interview - Thomas Wessel, Analog Devices [Tuesday 01 September 2009]
Thomas Wessel, vp of European sales and marketing, global head of automotive sales at Analog Devices, talks to Electronics Weeklyabout power efficiency, 4G mobile deployment, and the European semiconductor market.
Q5 Interview - Guido Schreiner, The MathWorks [Tuesday 25 August 2009]
Guido Schreiner, communications and semiconductor industry manager at The MathWorks, talks to Electronics Weekly about demystifying the terminology of model-based design and explaining its benefits of the time-constrained designer.
Q5 Interview - Matt Johnson, Fairchild Semiconductor [Monday 10 August 2009]
Matt Johnson, vp of Signal Path products at Fairchild Semiconductor, talks analogue ICs. We ask him about the trend for power efficient design, how high speed serial interface standards - such as uSerdes and USB2.0 - impact signal path design, and analogue chip firm recoveries.
Q5 Interview - Wes Hansford, The MOSIS Service [Monday 27 July 2009]
Wes Hansford is a director with The MOSIS Service, a US-based independent service provider with access to the fabrication of MPWs, prototypes and low volume production quantities of analogue and mixed signal ICs. He talks to Electronics Weekly about the most popular processes, which processes and applications show most promise for the future, and where he is seeing growth...
Q5 Interview - Roland Schimmelbauer, Toshiba Electronics [Monday13 July 2009]
Roland Schimmelbauer, VP of European sales & marketing for Toshiba Electronics Europe, talks to Electronics Weekly about the main business opportunities in 2009, how Toshiba is addressing power efficiency, a key technology for the next 12 months, and consolidation in the Japanese semiconductor industry...
Q5 Interview - Eamonn Walsh, Brainboxes [Monday 06 July 2009]
Eamonn Walsh, chairman of data communications systems manufacturer Brainboxes, talks to Electronics Weekly about OEM design activity, opportunities in the current economic climate, and end-markets with growth prospects...
Q5 Interview - Michael Barkway, Qasara [Monday 22 June 2009]
Michael Barkway, CEO of LTE specialists Qasara, talks to Electronics Weekly about the main differentiators between 3G and 4G, whether next year will see 4G LTE deployment "take-off", and what is the significance of femtocells for LTE...
Q5 Interview - John Lavery, Steatite [Monday 15 June 2009]
John Lavery, managing director of ruggedised embedded systems specialists Steatite, talks about how the requirements of embedded systems customers have changed over the last few years, the interest of Microsoft and the impact of Windows XP in this area, and what impact Intel's Atom will have in ruggedised systems applications..
Q5 Interview - Hossein Yassaie, Imagination Technologies [Monday 01 June 2009]
Hossein Yassaie, CEO of graphics processor specialists Imagination Technologies, talks to Electronics Weekly about mobile 3D graphics, partnerships with Intel and Apple, and the biggest challenge facing the chip IP community in 2009...
Q5 Interview - Tony Higgins, Dynamic-EMS [Monday 25 May 2009]
Tony Higgins, MD of electronic manufacturing service specialists Dynamic-EMS, talks to Electronics Weekly about design activity in his OEM customer base, opportunities in the current economic climate, and market growth prospects.
Q5 Interview - Nigel Toon, picoChip [Monday 18 May 2009]
Nigel Toon, president and CEO, picoChip talks to Electronics Weekly about the impact femtocells are making on the wireless communictaions market and next generation LTE in particular.
Q5 Interview - Simon Atkinson, Mirics Semiconductor [Monday 11 May 2009]
Simon Atkinson, CEO of wireless connectivity specialists Mirics Semiconductor, talks to Electronics Weekly about the UK and semiconductor start-ups, the high-tech skills shortage in the UK, and advice for students considering careers in electronics design...
Q5 Interview - Indro Mukerjee, C-MAC MicroTechnology [Tuesday 5 May 2009]
Indro Mukerjee, the CEO of C-MAC MicroTechnology, talks to Electronics Weekly about how well-equipped the UK electronics industry is to deal with a downturn in 2009, the role of government in supporting the industry, and which areas of the market will offer the best opportunities in 2009...
Q5 Interview - Andreas Lifvendahl, IAR Systems [Tuesday 28 April 2009]
Andreas Lifvendahl, director of marketing and sales at IAR Systems, the embedded software tools specialist, talks to Electronics Weekly about trends in the embedded tools business, whether graphical generation of code is more efficient, and the outlook for 2009...
Q5 Interview - Howard Ingleson, Syfer Technology [Monday 20 April 2009]
Howard Ingleson, managing director of Syfer Technology, manufacturer of multilayer ceramic capacitors, talks to Electronics Weekly about design activity in OEM customers, the impact of the downturn, and the opportunities of the current climate...
Q5 Interview - Slobodan Puljarevic, EBV [Tuesday 14 April 2009]
Slobodan Puljarevic, president of the design-in distributor EBV, talks to Electronics Weekly about the challenges facing the European electronics industry, the impact of the Internet, and the importance of eco-design...
Q5 Interview - Joep van Beurden, CSR [Tuesday 7 April 2009]
Joep van Beurden, CEO of single-chip wireless device designer CSR, talks to Electronics Weekly about Bluetooth, the secret of running a global fabless chip firm from the UK, the acquisition of SiRF, and important targets for 2009...
Q5 Interview - Andy Gales, Vicor [Monday 30 March 2009]
Andy Gales, v-p of international sales at Vicor talks to Electronics Weekly about high density DC-DC converter design, Smart Power, power density and the impact of digital control.
Q5 Interview - Stephen King, Phyworks [Tuesday 24 March 2009]
Stephen King, CEO of optical communications specialists Phyworks talks to Electronics Weekly about the status of broadband in the UK, why we are lagging so far behind other countries, and the future of FTTh technology.
Q5 Interview - Enrico Salvatori, Qualcomm Europe [Monday 16 March 2009]
Enrico Salvatori, Senior VP Qualcomm Europe. talks to Electronics Weekly about the impact of open source on mobile phone design, whether Europe is still seen as an important design centre, and the most important software technologies for the next generation of mobile phone design.
Q5 - Solid State Supplies MD on the downturn and design opportunities [Wednesday 11 March 2009]
Gary Marsh, managing director of distributor Solid State Supplies talks to Electronics Weekly about how the downturn is really impacting business and new design opportunities which still exist...
Q5 - UK chip R&D is key in downturn, says Dialog CEO [Monday 9 March 2009]
Jalal Bagherli, CEO of Dialog Semiconductor talks to ElectronicsWeekly.com about how UK-based R&D is changing the mixed-signal chip business in the downturn.
Q5 Interview - Frank Hoschar, Altium talks FPGA design [Thursday 26 February 2009]
Frank Hoschar, v-p sales & support at design tool firm Altium Europe, talks to Electronics Weekly about designing the FPGA as a system-on-chip device and the impact of cloud computing.
Q5 Interview - Ilya Bukshteyn, Microsoft [Wednesday 18 February 2009]
Ilya Bukshteyn, senior director of Windows Embedded Marketing at Microsoft, talks to Electronics Weekly about the main challenges facing embedded developers in 2009, what impact open-source software is having on the embedded market, and just how important the market is to Microsoft...
Q5 Interview - John Lofton Holt, Achronix [Wednesday 11 February 2009]
John Lofton Holt - Achronix founder, chairman and CEO - talks to Electronics Weekly about breaking into the FPGA market, whether FPGAs become just another SoC device by another name, and how important design tools and software IP will be to the company's strategy.
Q5 Interview - Bruce Klimpke, Integrated Engineering Software [Wednesday 4 February 2009]
Bruce Klimpke, Technical Director, Integrated Engineering Software, talks to Electronics Weekly about changing design strategies in response to the downturn, opportunities in the current climate, and achieving more cost-effective design processes.
Q5 Interview - Jason Oxman, CEA [Tuesday 27 January 2009]
Jason Oxman, senior VP industry affairs, Consumer Electronics Association, talks to Electronics Weekly about the biggest opportunities in the consumer market in 2009, the digital TV switch-over, and suppliers meeting the challenge of potentially falling consumer spending.
Q5 Interview - Peter van den Eijnden, JTAG Technologies [Friday 16 January 2009]
Peter van den Eijnden, managing director of JTAG Technologies, talks to Electronics Weekly about boundary-scanning - what value it adds, why the tools are perceived as being expensive, and the long-term stability of manufacturing test systems.
2008
Q5 interview - Linda C. Rae, Keithley Instruments [Tuesday 16 December 2008]
Linda C. Rae, executive vp and chief operating officer at the test and measurements company Keithley Instruments, talks to Electronics Weekly about the state of the test and measurement world today, the challenges facing test engineers, and making the job of test simpler for the customer.
Q5 interview - Alistair Morfey, Cambridge Consultants [Tuesday 9 December 2008]
Alistair Morfey, Technology Director at Cambridge Consultants, explains the importance of smart metering to Electronics Weekly, and the contribution the electronics industry will make in this sector over the next 10 years.
Q5 interview - Steve Rawlins, Anglia [Monday 1 December 2008]
Steve Rawlins, CEO of semiconductors, passives and e-mech distributor Anglia gives his view of the components market as it faces up to the challenges of an economic slowdown.
Q5 interview - Mark Robinson, Advanced Power Components [Wednesday 26 November 2008]
Mark Robinson, CEO at component distributor Advanced Power Components, talks to Electronics Weekly about consolidation in the market, the opportunities facing UK-based electronics companies, and the importance of skills in a downturn.
Q5 interview - Mike Farese, BitWave Semiconductor [Monday 17 November 2008]
Mike Farese, president and CEO of BitWave Semiconductor, the software radio company, talks about the impact of software radio on mobile phone design, the biggest challenge for wireless device manufacturers, and whether software radio can ultimately replace hardware radio transceiver designs.
Q5 interview - Andrew Cox, TT electronics [Monday 10 November 2008]
Andrew Cox, managing director of the manufacturing services division of TT electronics, talks to Electronics Weekly about China, Vietnam and government support for UK electronics manufacturing firms.
Q5 interview - Mark Larson, Digi-Key [Monday 3 November 2008]
Mark Larson, president of online and catalogue distributor Digi-Key, talks to EW about the growth in online distribution, business conditions in the European market and new product lines.
Q5 interview - Dr. Ebrahim Bushehri, Lime Microsystems [Monday 27 October]
Dr. Ebrahim Bushehri, CEO of semiconductor start-up Lime Microsystems, talks to Electronics Weekly about a shortage of high-tech skills in the UK, the biggest buzz from creating a start-up company, and how to encourage students to consider careers in electronics design.
Q5 interview - Jean Anne Booth, Luminary Micro [Monday 20 October 2008]
Jean Anne Booth, chief marketing officer at Luminary Micro, the supplier of 32-bit microcontrollers based on the ARM Cortex-M3 processor core, talks about the 32-bit MCU market, the impact of open source and the beauty of the ARM Cortex-M3 processor.
Q5 interview - Phil Gee, Nu Horizons [Monday 13 October]
Phil Gee, vice president of EMEA sales at component distributor Nu Horizons, talks to Electronics Weekly about the European components market and the economic slowdown, the most promising geographic markets, rising fuel costs and Chinese manufacturing, and lengthening lead times on some products.
Q5 interview - Simon Calder, Cambridge Mechatronics [Monday 6 October]
Simon Calder, CEO of Cambridge Mechatronics talks to Electronics Weekly about the place of semiconductor start-ups in the UK, the absence of a high-tech skills shortage, and how to encourage students to consider careers in electronics design.
Q5 interview - Shaun Ashmead, Axiom Manufacturing Services [Tuesday 30 September]
Shaun Ashmead, Managing Director of Axiom Manufacturing Services talks to Electronics Weekly about moving production off-shore, the economics of outsourcing and tackling a skills shortage.
Q5 interview - Mark Jones, Omron Electronic Components [Tuesday 23 September]
Mark Jones, chief operating officer at Omron Electronic Components Europe, talks to Electronics Weekly and highlights the importance of sustainable design in the future plans for the company and the industry as a whole.
Q5 interview - Brian Halla, National Semiconductor [Monday 15 September]
Brian Halla, Chairman & CEO, National Semiconductor, talks to Electronics Weekly about upcoming architecture and process developments, the global trend towards greater energy efficiency, and disruptive technologies on the horizon.
Q5 interview - Joanne Sonenshine, Consumer Electronics Association [Tuesday 9 September 2008]
Joanne Sonenshine, manager of environmental policy at the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA), talks to Electronics Weekly about recycling legislation one year after implementation.
Q5 interview - Walden Rhines, Mentor Graphics [Tuesday 2 September 2008]
Walden Rhines, chairman and CEO of semiconductor and system design tool firm Mentor Graphics talks about hot spots in design.
Q5 interview - Tim Elliott, Component Obsolescence Group [Friday 29 August 2008]
Tim Elliott, the chairman of the Component Obsolescence Group UK, talks to Electronics Weekly about the industry's continuing need to source obsolescent components and their susceptibility to counterfeiting.
Q5 interview - Ian Bell, National Instruments [Monday 11 August 2008]
Ian Bell, technical marketing manager at National Instruments, talks to Electronics Weekly about how graphical test and development tools can address the challenges of programming multicore processor systems.
Q5 interview - Moshe Gavrielov, Xilinx [Wednesday 30 July 2008]
Moshe Gavrielov joined Xilinx as CEO in January. He talks to Electronics Weekly about the challenges facing the FPGA supplier as it moves from pure vanilla to SoC.
Q5 interview - John Bruggeman, Wind River [Monday 21 July 2008]
John Bruggeman is chief marketing officer at Wind River, the real-time operating system and development software company. He reveals his thoughts on multi-core systems, Nokia's recent open-source move and the main RTOS market drivers.
Q5 interview - Damon de Laszlo, Harwin [Monday 14 July 2008]
Electronics Weekly puts its questions to an industry figure: Damon de Laszlo is chairman of Portsmouth-based connector manufacturer Harwin. He reveals his thoughts on UK competitiveness in global markets, the most exciting technologies, and the next big innovation in connector design.
Q5 interview - George Elliott, MED [Tuesday 8 July 2008]
Electronics Weekly puts its questions to an industry figure: George Elliott is chairman at miniature OLED display company, Edinburgh-based MED. The former CFO at Wolfson Microelectronics. He reveals his thoughts on breaking into the market in China, technology triggers for venture backing and the state of the high tech start-up community in Scotland.
Q5 interview - Kevin Ritchie, senior VP Texas Instruments [Tuesday 24 June 2008]
Electronics Weekly puts its questions to an industry figure: Kevin Ritchie, Senior Vice President, Technology and Manufacturing Group, Texas Instruments. He reveals his thoughts on the limits of CMOS process technology, TI operating its own fabs, and the key technologies and applications facing TI.
Q5 interview - Hal Philipp, founder of Quantum Research Group [Tuesday 17 June 2008]
Electronics Weekly puts its questions to an industry figure: Hal Philipp, founder of Quantum Research Group. He reveals his thoughts on expanding a UK-based semiconductor business globally, steering clear of VC funding and the customer impact of the acquisition by Atmel.
Q5 interview - Jay Alexander, Agilent [Tuesday 10 June 2008]
Electronics Weekly puts its questions to an industry figure: Jay Alexander is the v-p and general manager of the oscilloscope business at Agilent Technologies. He reveals his thoughts about technical and commercial trends in the scope market.
Q5 interview - Stig Enslev, Arrow UK [Tuesday 3 June 2008]
Electronics Weekly puts its questions to an industry figure: Stig Enslev is managing Director of broadline distributor Arrow UK. He reveals his thoughts on the most active product markets in Europe, the single biggest business challenge of 2008, and the potential for further consolidation in the European market.
Q5 interview - David Bell, Intersil [Wednesday 28 May 2008]
Electronics Weekly puts its questions to an industry figure: David Bell is the CEO of Intersil, the analogue semiconductor supplier. He reveals his thoughts on the importance of power efficiency, LEDs becoming economical for general lighting, and whether mobile TV will drive consumer technology.
Q5 interview - Gordon Serpis, 2001 Electronic Components [Tuesday 20 May 2008]
Electronics Weekly puts its questions to an industry figure: Gordon Serpis is marketing manager of Stevenage-based distributor 2001 Electronic Components. He reveals his thoughts on the biggest business challenge in 2008 and what characterises a good design-in distributor, and he picks one interesting new product technology.
Q5 interview - Adrian Rawlinson, Marl International [Monday 12 May 2008]
Electronics Weekly puts its questions to an industry figure: Adrian Rawlinson is managing director of Cumbria-based LED manufacturer Marl International. He reveals his thoughts on the commercial opportunity for LEDs, the biggest challenge to the development of a high volume LED market, and the viability of UK manufacturing.
Q5 interview - Hamid Farzaneh, DisplayLink [Tuesday 6 May 2008]
Electronics Weekly puts its questions to an industry figure: Hamid Farzaneh, president and CEO of video interconnect technology company DisplayLink, which has an R&D team in Cambridge. He reveals his thoughts on the cost of designing a new chip from scratch, wireless displays and wireless USB, and what makes Cambridge such a good location for undertaking chip R&D.
Q5 interview - Graham Martin, EnOcean Alliance [Monday 28 April 2008]
Graham Martin is chairman of the EnOcean Alliance, which promotes self-powered wireless monitoring and control systems for sustainable buildings. He reveals his thoughts on the need for a low-power altrernative to ZigBee comms, the 'green credentals' of the Alliance, and a domestic retrofit market for EnOcean-enabled products.
Q5 interview - Joe Matano, UR Group [Tuesday 22 April 2008]
Joe Matano is managing director of specialist power system distributor UR Group. He reveals his thoughts on engineers changing their approach to power system design, the state of the UK electronics manufacturing industry, the impact of EuP and the two biggest technology opportunities in the UK.
Q5 interview - Glenn Palmer, Murata Electronics UK [Monday 14 April 2008]
Glenn Palmer is managing director of component manufacturer Murata Electronics UK. He reveals his thoughts on changes in chip capacitor technology, whether high density power supplies will require new types of high reliability components, and the prospects for new dielectric materials.
Q5 interview - Mike Lloyd, ML Electronics [Tuesday 8 April 2008]
Mike Lloyd is managing director of Wiltshire-based design services company ML Electronics. He reveals his thoughts on UK design houses, lower-cost rivals from China and India, and the possible impact of mixed-signal arrays.
Q5 interview - Sudhir Subramanya, Philips Lumileds [Thursday 3 April 2008]
Sudhir Subramanya is Lumileds Luxeon product manager. He talks about the future of LED packaging at Philips Lumileds design, including thermal conductivity, Luxeon V LEDs, and hex footprints.
Q5 interview - James Foster, XMOS Semiconductor [Tuesday 25 March 2008]
James Foster is CEO of XMOS Semiconductor, the Bristol-based developer of programmable chips, tools and IP aimed at consumer applications. He reveals his thoughts on what makes Bristol an ideal location for a semiconductor start-up, the shortage of high-tech skills in the UK, and what he would say to students to encourage them to consider a career in electronics design.
Q5 interview - Tony Milbourn, Camitri Technologies [Tuesday 18 March 2008]
Tony Milbourn is CEO of Camitri Technologies, which brings to market intellectual property (IP) being created in universities. He reveals his thoughts on the biggest challenge universities face when trying to commercialise IP, the one design technology with the largest commercial potential and Jeremy Clarkson as an ambassador for engineers.
Q5 interview - James Gourlay, Design LED [Tuesday 11 March 2008]
James Gourlay is chief technology officer and founder of Design LED, the Livingston-based specialist in printed light-guides and embedded LEDs. He reveals his thoughts on the pros and cons of operating a design and manufacturing business out of Scotland, the most exciting application for LED light systems, and when the LED will replace the filament lightbulb in consumer lighting.
Q5 interview - Ronald Black, Wavecom [Wednesday 5 March 2008]
Ronald Black is CEO at Wavecom, the French developer and supplier of embedded industrial wireless communications systems. He reveals his thoughts on the M2M business, the top-three wireless apps for 2008/2009, and the impact of software-defined radio on wireless design.
Q5 interview - Per-Olof Loof, Kemet [Thursday 28 February 2008]
Per-Olof Loof is CEO of Kemet, the capacitor manufacturer and supplier. He reveals his thoughts on global production, shortages of Coltan, and whether multi-layer ceramic capacitors for DC-DC converters can get much smaller.
Q5 interview - David Baillie, CamSemi [Wednesday 20 February 2008]
David Baillie is CEO of CamSemi, a fabless semiconductor company developing new generations of power ICs. He reveals his thoughts on the commercial significance of winning awards, the importance of power efficiency, and whether the UK still has a competitive edge for electronics design skills.
Q5 interview - Steve Landau, Lumileds [Thursday 14 February 2008]
Steve Landau is director of marketing communications at Lumileds. He reveals his thoughts on what it will take to settle the patent issues between power LED makers, whether lumens/$ will be cut far enough to beat OLED or electroluminescent technology as a florescent tube replacement, and his favourite power LED application.
Q5 interview - Simon Payne, XJTAG [Thursday 7 February 2008]
Simon Payne is CEO of boundary scan test firm XJTAG. He reveals his thoughts on UK electronics events, the competitiveness of the market for boundary scan technology, and problems with component circuitry.
Q5 Interview - Mark McClear (Cree) and Ulrich Kastner-Jung (Osram Opto Semiconductors) [Thursday 31 January 2008]
Mark McClear is a director at Cree's solid state lighting business and Ulrich Kastner-Jung is a director at Osram Opto Semiconductors. They reveal their thoughts on the power LED market, LEDs for general lighting, and OLED technology.
Q5 interview - Anne Miller, The Creativity Partnership [Thursday 24 January 2008]
Anne Miller is an engineer, inventor, author and director of The Creativity Partnership. She gives her thoughts on hard-wired creativity, inspiration and morphing ideas.
Q5 interview - Hans Peter Kuhnert, Tektronix [Thursday 17 January 2008]
Hans Peter Kuhnert, EMEA v-p of sales at Tektronix, talks about the proposed acquisition by Danaher, real-time oscilloscopes and the biggest challenge facing the test instrument industry in 2008.
New Year Q5 - Anglia, PicoChip and Altera [Tuesday 8 January 2008]
Three winners of Electronics Weekly's Elektra awards answer our questions this week: Danny Biran, senior v-p of product and corporate marketing at Altera, Guillaume d'Eyssautier, CEO of PicoChip and Steve Rawlins, CEO of Anglia Components.
2007
Q5 - Andy Stubbings, Noritake Itron [Thursday 13 December 2007]
Andy Stubbings, managing director of Noritake Itron in the UK, reveals his thoughts on whether vacuum fluorescent displays (VFDs) can compete with lower cost LCD technologies, government support for UK based manufacturing and market opportunities for VFDs in Europe.
Q5 - Andrew Leake, Dengrove [28 November 2007]
Andrew Leake, MD of distributor Dengrove, reveals his thoughts on whether independent distributors have an image problem, if you can combine independent and franchise distribution, and what markets are strong at the moment.
Q5 - Dawn Ohlson, Thales [22 November 2007]
Dawn Ohlson, director of educational affairs at Thales in the UK, reveals her thoughts on graduate recruitment, the money to be made in engineering and the UK skills shortage.
Q5 - Paul Marsh, GSPK Design [15 November 2007]
Paul Marsh, managing director of GSPK Design, reveals his thoughts on the contract design sector, management buyouts and government support for the UK electronics industry.
Q5 - Kevin Edwards, EnSilica [8 November 2007]
Kevin Edwards, business development director at design services firm EnSilica, reveals his thoughts on winning design contracts, designing chips for fabless semiconductor start-ups and investment in EDA tools.
Q5 - Mike Surrey, Telent [31 October 2007]
Mike Surrey, director of business development at Telent, reveals his thoughts on communications services, spinning out of Marconi and the types of engineers employed.
Q5 - Dave Shrigley, Wolfson Microelectronics [24 October 2007]
Dave Shrigley, CEO of Wolfson Microelectronics, reveals his thoughts on mixed-signal companies making very high profit margins, IPOs and the audio market.
Q5 - Jenni Rosser, Envirowise [18 October 2007]
Jenni Rosser, a cleaner design specialist with Envirowise, reveals her thoughts on 'cleaner design', RoHS and WEEE legislation and the most important changes that electronics manufacturers need to consider.
Q5 - David Sykes, ProVision Communications [9 October 2007]
David Sykes, CEO of wireless and video specialist ProVision Communications, reveals his thoughts on WiFi radiation health safety, technical limitations of a data network for video transmission and whether it is possible to eliminate packet errors in a wireless network.
Q5 - Danny Miller, Future Electronics [4 October 2007]
Danny Miller, managing director of distributor Future Electronics (EMEA), reveals his thoughts on levels of design-in and technical support, how the Internet changing the way semiconductor distributors operate and UK market for new design starts
Q5 - Simon Bond, SETsquared and the SiliconSouthWest network [26 September 2007]
Simon Bond, who runs the SETsquared business incubators in Bath and Swindon and the SiliconSouthWest network, reveals his thoughts on emerging technology trends, selling semiconductor IP and government incentives to encourage UK start-ups.
Q5 - Dr James Truchard, National Instruments [19 September 2007]
Dr James Truchard, president of National Instruments, reveals his thoughts on the role of the test and design engineer, PC and software-based instruments and the convergence of test and design.
Q5 - Fergal Brosnan, IC Mask Design [13 September 2007]
Fergal Brosnan, CEO of IC Mask Design, the Limerick-based IC physical design company, reveals his thoughts on whether EDA complexity is holding back innovation, the main EDA challenges for analogue designs versus digital designs and emerging technology trends.
Q5 - Andy Allen, Plexus [5 September 2007]
Andy Allen, v-p Europe of EMS company Plexus, reveals his thoughts on supply chain management, the sort of people he recruits and whether it matters where in the world you make your products now.
Q5 - An Electronics Technician at Freescale Semiconductor's East Kilbride facility [28 August 2007]
A worker, who preferred not to be named, from Freescale Semiconductor's East Kilbride facility, reveals their thoughts on private equity executives, the mood at East Kilbride and how the firm announced the sale to the staff.
Q5 - Derek Boyd from the NMI answers our questions [18 August 2006]
Derek Boyd, chief executive officer of the UK's National Microelectronics Institute, reveals his thoughts on the successful exploitation of UK design skills, a dearth of design skills and the lack of an equivalent of IMEC, the Belgium semiconductor research organisation.
Q5 - Adam Rawicz, Lambda Europe [13 August 2007]
Adam Rawicz, managing director of power supply company Lambda Europe, reveals his thoughts on the most important technology challenges in power supply design, the real impacts that digital control and comms bus technologies are having and the benefits and challenges of designing world-class power supplies.
Q5 - Harold Hughes, Rambus [1 August 2007]
Harold Hughes, CEO of memory interface company Rambus, reveals his thoughts on whether Rambus suffers from its litigious reputation, the development of Flash interfaces and the miss-statements on stock options.
Q5 - Carlo Rebughini, Austria Microsystems [25 July 2007]
Carlo Rebughini, vice-president of sales at Austria Microsystems, reveals his thoughts on the most important process technologies and parameters for production of analogue parts, the relative pros and cons of CMOS and SiGe process technologies and which markets for analogue products are driving the technology hardest.
Q5 - Professor Harvey Rutt, University of Southampton [16 July 2007]
Professor Harvey Rutt, head of the School of Electronics and Computer Science, University of Southampton, reveals his thoughts on the abandonment of CMOS research, the basic science education of undergraduates and the process of commercialising research.
Q5 - Mark Cambridge, Zytronic [6 July 2007]
Mark Cambridge, managing director of touchscreen technology firm Zytronic, reveals his thoughts on avoiding parallax errors, replacing vandalised screens and the sustainability of manufacturing in the UK.
Q5 - Tim Haynes, Nujira [5 July 2007]
Tim Haynes, CEO of Nujira, which develops wireless basestation technology, reveals his thoughts on technology start-ups attracting funding, WiMAX as a viable alternative to 3G for broadband access and GaN as an alternative to LDMOS in RF power amplifier designs.
2006
Q5 - Professor PK Nathan on OLEDs [3 August 2006]
Professor P.K. Nathan, chief technology officer of start-up OLED-T, reveals his thoughts on vacuum deposited OLED, OLED TVs and how long will it be before OLED firms can stop talking about lifetime and differential ageing.
Q5 - Rich Templeton, Texas Instruments [21 July 2006]
Rich Templeton, CEO of Texas Instruments, reveals his thoughts on the future for TI, 45nm and 32nm process generations and self-organising molecules and atoms.
Q5 - Simon Bircham, business manager at BSI [19 June 2006]
Simon Bircham, the electrical & electronics product manager at the British Standards Institute's product services, reveals his thoughts on policing the RoHS kitemark, the cost of attaining it and European versus American attitudes to standards.
Q5 - Martin Kent, chief executive of Abacus [2 June 2006]
Martin Kent, chief executive of distribution firm Abacus, reveals his thoughts on acquisition deals, whether the electronics industry face too many European directives and the single biggest change in distribution since 1969.
Q5 - David Young, Component Obsolescence Group [26 May 2006]
David Young, the MARS integrated logistics support manager at Raytheon Systems, reveals his thoughts on the activities of COG, RoHS deadlines and component obsolescence.
Q5 - Tony Harker, Institute for System Level Integration [19 May 2006]
Tony Harker, chief executive of the Institute for System Level Integration (ISLI), reveals his thoughts on the politics of running an academic institution, jobs in Scotland and spinning out any companies based on the work of the doctorates.
Q5 - Wally Rhines, Mentor Graphics [12 May 2006]
Walden Rhines, chief executive officer of EDA firm Mentor Graphics and formerly the executive v-p of Texas Instruments' semiconductor group, reveals his thoughts on the EDA industry, the VHDL standard and the time taken to complete designs.
Q5 - Andrew Gold, Roband Electronics [5 May 2006]
Andrew Gold, managing director of Roband Electronics, reveals his thoughts on manufacturing in the UK, staying competitive against cheaper Far East-based manufacturers and government hopes for innovation.
Q5 - Jim Lindop, chief executive of Jennic [26 April 2006]
Jim Lindop, chief executive of wireless IC developer Jennic, reveals his thoughts on ZigBee, offering extra support and the success of ARM.
Q5 - Hans Rohrer, Zetex [14 April 2006]
Hans Rohrer, chief executive of UK semiconductor maker Zetex, reveals his thoughts on gross margins in the analogue business, the importance of proprietary process technology and serial CEOs versus those who rise through the ranks.
Q5 - David Jones, Invotec [7 April 2006]
David Jones, chief executive of PCB firm Invotec, the biggest remaining PCB firm in the UK, reveals his thoughts on surface finishes for lead-free circuit boards, niches in the PCB sector and the rising cost of utilities.
Q5 - Stan Boland, Icera Semiconductor [31 March 2006]
Stan Boland, CEO of wireless chip start-up Icera and previously the CEO of Element 14 that was sold to Broadcom in 2000 for around £400m, reveals his thoughts on being based in Bristol, advice for budding entrepreneurs and the main problems facing the widespread take up of mobile TV.
Q5 - Lesley Thompson, Research Councils UK [24 March 2006]
Lesley Thompson, a programme manager for information and communication technologies within the Research Councils UK, reveals her thoughts on the need for a mini-fab in the UK, 'virtual' research centres and electronics design talent in the UK.
Q5 - Phil Bishop, Celoxica [14 March 2006]
Phil Bishop, chief executive officer of FPGA and SoC design software company Celoxica, reveals his thoughts on the integration of hardware and software design for FPGA-based systems, the benefits and pitfalls for any UK firm carrying out design on two continents and the most exciting applications for high-performance digital signal processing boards.
Q5 - Laurence Garrett, 3i [2 March 2006]
Laurence Garrett, a partner at venture capital firm 3i in its electronics, semiconductors and advanced technologies group, reveals his thoughts on floating a British technology business rather than selling it, good technology ideas in the UK and government schemes supporting technology start-ups.
Q5 - Sir Robin Saxby, ARM [24 February 2006]
Sir Robin Saxby, who shaped processor firm ARM during his years as chief executive officer before becoming chairman of the company, reveals his thoughts on the reasons behind ARM's success, whether he is an entrepreneur or a technologist and what has given him most satisfaction in his time at ARM.
(Video: Sir Robin Saxby accepts his Lifetime Achievement Award, Elektras 2007)
Q5 - Adam Fletcher, Afdec [10 February 2006]
Adam Fletcher, chairman of the Association of Franchised Distributors of Electronic Components, reveals his thoughts on Afdec’s main role in serving the distribution sector, closer links with other European industry associations and the biggest challenge to the distribution sector.
Q5 - Harry Tee, Electronics Leadership Council [30 January 2006]
Harry Tee, chair of the Electronics Leadership Council (ELC), reveals his thoughts on the supply chain, the manufacturing of electronics in the UK and best way of fairly attributing the costs of implementing the WEEE directive.
Q5 - Stephen Lake, QinetiQ [20 January 2006]
Stephen Lake, director of QinetiQ’s business accelerator, reveals his thoughts on technology R&D, using government procurement to drive UK innovation and how to produce better science graduates.
Q5 - Charles Ward, Intellect [13 January 2006]
Charles Ward, CEO of trade body Intellect that coordinated a bid for a £3m Government-funded electronics Knowledge Transfer Network, reveals his thoughts on the UK's attractiveness as a location for electronics design and the UK Electronics Alliance (UKEA).
See also: the Electronics Weekly blog UK Tech Startups, covering news on funding for electronics startups