Electronics Industry Innovators Compete for Top Honors as EE Times Announces Finalists for 2006 ACE Awards

CMP Media's EE Times today announced the finalists for its second Annual Creativity in Electronics (ACE) Awards, recognizing the electronics engineering industry's most innovative companies and breakthrough technologies. The honors will be presented at the EE Times ACE Awards Gala on April 4, 2006, as part of the Embedded Systems Conference Silicon Valley, the largest electronic systems design event in North America. The gala will take place at The Fairmont San Jose, with a headlining performance by Lewis Black, star of "The Daily Show with John Stewart."

A prestigious panel of judges has been gathered, comprised of the leading voices of academia, industry and Wall Street executives, to evaluate the finalists. The judges will select a winner in each of seven categories. Reader-selected Ultimate Products of the Year awards will also be announced for significant products introduced in the last 12 months in categories like Processor/Memory, Logic Interface & Programmable Logic and Test/Measurement.

"This year, we saw an impressive 70 percent increase in submissions for the ACE Awards, setting the bar very high regarding the quality of the technologies and products nominated," said Brian Fuller, publisher and editor in chief, EE Times. "The electronics engineering community came together to nominate more than 600 outstanding technologies and industry innovators, and we're excited to see who the judges pick as the best of the best in 2006."

The 2006 EE Times ACE Awards categories and finalists are:

Company of the Year (Large) -- for the company that exhibits the highest degree of professionalism in staff development and retention, customer focus, technical excellence and profitable growth -- a true leader in the electronics sector (over $1 billion in sales). Finalists are:

  -- Analog Devices, Inc.
  -- EMC Corp.
  -- Samsung Electronics
  -- Tektronix, Inc.
  -- Texas Instruments

Company of the Year (Small/Medium) -- for the small- or medium-sized company that exhibits the highest degree of professionalism in staff development and retention, customer focus, technical excellence and profitable growth -- a true leader in the electronics sector (under $1 billion in sales). Finalists are:

  -- Brion Technologies Inc.
  -- National Instruments
  -- PortalPlayer
  -- Trolltech
  -- Wind River Systems, Inc.

Design Team of the Year -- for the group of innovators whose system-or IC- level design made a significant contribution to the advancement of technology and whose project management abilities were creative, efficient and inspiring. Finalists are:

  -- Actel Fusion Technology
  -- Freescale Semiconductor
  -- IBM & Microsoft
  -- Motorola
  -- Northrop Grumman AGS & BMS

Startup Company of the Year -- for the venture capital (or pre-IPO financed) startup (under three years in business) electronics manufacturing (device or system) company that demonstrates excellence in business development and/or technology development processes with the potential to become a technical or market leader in the global electronics industry. Finalists are:

  -- Airgo Networks, Inc.
  -- ConSentry Network
  -- DiBcom
  -- Quorum Systems, Inc.
  -- Sling Media, Inc.

Executive of the Year -- for the individual who brought leadership, technological and fiscal vision to a company, organization or company division during the 2005 calendar period. Finalists are:

  -- Bay Microsystems
  -- eSilicon
  -- Freescale Semiconductor
  -- Ruckus Wireless
  -- Wind River Systems, Inc.

Innovator of the Year -- for the individual who brought leadership, creativity and out-of-the-box thinking to a technology, a product or a business. Finalists are:

  -- Analog Devices
  -- Cisco Systems Inc.
  -- Freescale Semiconductor
  -- Home Diagnostics Inc.
  -- Intel Corp.

Most Promising New Technology -- for the compelling electronic component or enabling technology, such as software, that is outstanding in its technical design, potential for market impact and demonstrable leadership in its area. Finalists are:

  -- Cambrios
  -- E Ink Corp.
  -- Intel Corp., Photonics Tech Lab
  -- Mobilygen
  -- Nantero

The Ultimate Products of the Year -- awarded to the most significant product introduced in the last 12 months in each of seven categories, as determined by large-scale peer review. Finalists in each category were chosen by qualified readers of EE Times and eeProductCenter on a quarterly basis via electronic balloting, from a list of 10 nominees submitted to readers by expert editors with accompanying editorial reviews. Winners in each category were selected by vote by over 300 qualified EE Times readers from a set of six finalists in each category

      Analog
      -- Frequency Clock Generator (Alliance Semiconductor Corp.)
      -- Op Amps (National Semiconductor)
      -- Family of A/D Converters (Linear Technology)
      -- Class-D Digital Amplifier (Texas Instruments)
      -- SERDES Pair (Maxim Integrated Products)
      -- ASIC Sensing Chip (Ethertouch)

      Processor/Memory
      -- 16-Gbit NAND Flash memory device (Samsung Electronics)
      -- Flash Controllers (Atmel)
      -- 32-bit ARM-based Microcontroller (STMicroelectronics)
      -- Automotive Processor (Freescale Semiconductor)
      -- 8-Gigabit NAND Flash Memory Chip (Toshiba and SanDisk)
      -- OKI 406X MCU (OKI Semiconductor)

      IP&E
      -- Surface-mount power resistor (Stackpole Electronics)
      -- LED-based Optical Mouse Sensors (Agilent Technologies)
      -- OSTAR LED (OSRAM Opto Semiconductors)
      -- Envisium Power PLCC-4SMT LEDs (Agilent Technologies and Lumileds
         Lighting)
      -- Laser Navigation Sensor (Agilent Technologies)
      -- 2.2 mF MLCC (Taiyo Yuden)

      Logic Interface & Programmable Logic
      -- CoDeveloper for Virtex-4 (Impulse Accelerated Technologies)
      -- FPGS (Altera)
      -- FPGA-based Reference Design (Altera)
      -- Virtex-4 FX20 and FX60 (Xilinx)
      -- SystemCrafter Package for SystemC Development Work (Orange Tree
         Technologies)
      -- Mentor Graphics Precision RTL Synthesis Tool (Lattice
         Semiconductor)

      Power
      -- Sequencing-marging IC (Texas Instruments)
      -- Power system controller IC (Potentia Semiconductor)
      -- Lithium-ion Power Cell (Valence Technology)
      -- Xcite Series of AC/DC Power Supplies (Excelsys Techonologies)
      -- CoolMOS CS Server MOSFETs (Infineon Technologies)
      -- Line Power Solutions (Valere Power).

      RF/Microwave
      -- Satellite Tuner (Zarlink Semiconductor)
      -- Power Amplifiers (Adadigics)
      -- Dolphin wireless universal asynchronous receiver/transmitter (Texas
         Instruments)
      -- Dual-brand, ultra low power tuner (Microtune)
      -- Othello-G Radio Chip for GSM/GPRS Communications (Analog Devices)
      -- GaAs Switch IC (California Eastern Labs)

      Test/Measurement
      -- USBee AX Test Pod (CWAV)
      -- 100 MHz oscilloscopes (Agilent Technologies)
      -- 100-GHz bandwidth scopes (LeCroy)
      -- USB-inSync (Fiberbyte)
      -- Real-Time Oscilloscope and Z-Active Probe (Tektronix)
      -- Portable Oscilloscopes (Agilent Technologies)

  About EE Times ACE Awards and Opportunities

The EE Times ACE Awards were created to recognize the people, companies and products that show leadership in the electronics industry and will honor those who are leading the way and making positive contributions -- the real innovators of technology. Awards will be presented at a second annual awards gala held on April 4, 2006 at The Fairmont San Jose during CMP Media's Embedded Systems Conference Silicon Valley. To purchase tickets and find out more about the event, visit http://www.eetimes.com/ace .

A limited number of sponsorship opportunities are available on a first- come, first-served basis for companies interested in associating their brands with this major industry event. Please visit http://www.eetimes.com/ace for more details.

About CMP Media's Electronics Group

The CMP Media Electronics Group is the premier technology and business media brand serving the information needs of the creators of technology worldwide through print, online and conferences.

As the most comprehensive and integrated source of electronics technology information, the CMP Media Electronics Group offers a full suite of products and services to reach electronics systems design professionals throughout the world. With its combination of media properties, the CMP Media Electronics Group focuses on delivering a targeted audience and actionable information to marketers in the electronics technology community.

Each month, CMP Media's Electronics Group delivers more than 1 million copies of its publications in five languages to subscribers in 55 countries. Online visitors from more than 100 countries view more than 7.5 million pages on its Web sites in six languages and in a year, more than 35,000 decision makers from 48 countries attend its conferences in North America, China, Taiwan and Europe.

   CMP Media's Electronics Group properties include:

  -- Print -- EE Times, Embedded Systems Design, Electronics Supply &
     Manufacturing
  -- Online -- EE Times Online, DesignLines, PlanetAnalog.com, Embedded.com,
     my-esm.com, CommsDesign.com, and SupplyLines
  -- Conferences -- Embedded Systems Conferences, Embedded Connect and
     Design Seminars

  About CMP Media (www.cmp.com)

Through its market-leading portfolio of trusted information brands in the technology, healthcare and lifestyles industries, CMP Media has earned the confidence of more professionals and enthusiasts in these fields than any other media company. As a result, CMP is the premier provider of access, insight and actionable programs designed to connect sellers and buyers in each of these industries in ways that yield superior return on investment. CMP Media is a subsidiary of United Business Media ( http://www.unitedbusinessmedia.com/ ), a global provider of news distribution and specialist information services with a market capitalization of more than $3 billion.

  Contact:
  Julia Konstantinovsky
  Atomic Public Relations for CMP Media
  julia@atomicpr.com
  415-402-0230

SOURCE: CMP Media

CONTACT: Julia Konstantinovsky of Atomic Public Relations,
+1-415-402-0230, or julia@atomicpr.com, for CMP Media

Web Site: http://www.eetimes.com/ace

Web Site: http://www.cmp.com/