DesignCon celebrated its 20th anniversary this year, and Bob Hult was there to report on the newest developments in high-speed connector technology.   DesignCon 2015 celebrated its 20th anniversary as the premier showcase for high-speed chip, connector, and PCB board technology. More than 170 technical sessions organized in 14 conference tracks and three keynote addresses provided attendees with the latestRead More

Molex Hermetic-Sealed Multi-Fiber Circular MT Optical Assemblies ensure extreme sealing and long-term reliability for applications in harsh environments. Molex Incorporated has launched its Hermetic-Sealed Multi-Fiber Circular MT Optical Assemblies, which deliver extreme sealing performance in the industry’s smallest footprint. The new MT Optical Assemblies provide system reliability in extreme environments, including severe weather conditions, high altitudes,Read More

By Bob Hult and John MacWilliams, Bishop & Associates   [hr] Advances in photonics, signal integrity, chip integration, and high-performance materials are enabling entirely new classes of electronic equipment. Bob Hult and John MacWilliams kick off the new year with a look at connector technologies to watch in 2015. The pace of change in theRead More

The connector industry grew in 2014, and that was a result of both evolving product lines and cutting-edge technology. Here, Bob Hult looks back at the year’s trends and products in the annual 2014 Connector Technology Review. Shrinking the size of electronic devices has always been a given in the world of electronic equipment. TheRead More

TTI reports that Industry 4.0 drives the industrial manufacturing sector in Europe as implementation of “smart factory” technology gains momentum. TTI is seeing significant growth among customers implementing Industry 4.0 or “Smart Factory” technology according to Norbert Piefer, European director industry marketing – industrial at TTI. “The Smart Factory concept leads to end-to-end process optimization,” saidRead More

With more airline passengers demanding in-flight Wi-Fi, system designers need to find a smart solution for converting on-board systems to fiber optics. One of the hottest technology trends relating to cabin electronics in civil aircraft is creating designs that accommodate all the passengers that now want to use their smartphones, tablets, and laptops on board.Read More

In each issue, we highlight important OEM, supplier, and distributor news. Read on for the news briefs for September 16, 2014. Siemon, a fiber optic infrastructure specialist, has created a new video to illustrate the advantages of its LightStack ultra high-density fiber plug-and-play system for high performance data centers. The video illustrates how fiber countsRead More

Bishop & Associates’ 2014 Customer Survey has been tallied and the 2014 top 10 suppliers for quality, pricing, delivery, and more have been chosen. Read on to see the top 10 suppliers overall as chosen by their customers.  Bishop & Associates just completed the 2014 Customer Survey of the Connector Industry, in which connector usersRead More

In this issue, Bob Hult examines the power conundrum: How to design electronic products that require either very high or very low levels of power.   It seems like every day we hear about how the demand for power continues to soar along with a list of potential solutions: The generation of electrical power withRead More

The extraordinary success of “wearables” has helped forge opportunities for medical device manufacturers to better serve healthcare providers and patients. Hank Mancini of Molex subsidiary Affinity Medical explains how and why mobile health monitoring technologies go viral. Wearable devices, including smart watches, smart glasses, smart clothing, even upscale smart jewelry, with even more products inRead More

Converting an electrical signal to optic pulses has been a costly option that consumes too much PCB space and power. That’s changing now, as mid-board optical transceivers light up the datacom market. Demand for faster internal and external system interconnects has begun to push the limits of copper, especially in lengths of more than a fewRead More

The real advantages of solid-state lighting are realized when lamp designers shake off limitations imposed by traditional lamps and take advantage of the low power, low heat, and low profiles of LED light sources, as LED arrays light the way. Alternatives to the incandescent lightbulb have come a long way over the past 10 years. DemandRead More