The "information security" has faced tougher-than-ever challenges as the Internet and mobile devices have become prevalent during the modern era. "Bring your own device" is putting the operating environments of many governments and businesses at risk, said Robert Chin, Chairman, President & CEO of Clientron, in an exclusive interview. On the other hand, thin client PCs incorporating cloud computing technologies are smaller, lighter, and energy-saving, providing enterprise and organization users with the convenience and confidentiality they need most to have better security control."While the shipment of the PC is declining, the sale of thin clients continues to grow annually," said Chin, noting the promising growth of thin clients in the interview. "Especially when cloud computing applications at this stage have gradually become universal, a major portion of processing and storage can now be saved on the cloud, which further boosts the demand of thin clients." Clientron has launched thin client products combined with cloud computing technologies.The top three thin client PC manufacturer in the worldClientron, founded in 1983, targets user-side thin clients in the B2B market. The company took the lead and developed the world's first 486 thin client in 1996. Since 2006, the accumulative shipments of thin clients have exceeded 2.6 million units, making Clientron the third biggest thin client manufacturer in the world. Its clients include internationally renowned suppliers such as Dell, HP, Lenovo, IGEL and NEC.Explaining why Clientron has been favored by numerous clients, Chin noted that "our product lines are supported by 9 CPU platform suppliers, with Intel, TI, AMD and VIA are all partners of Clientron's embedded system solutions, which allows us to grasp product trends accurately."Given that the appeal of thin clients is small-volume production of a wide range of different products, Clientron's R&D team leverages its combination of various embedded platforms and operating systems to design products that meet the demands of public sectors, banks, schools, military units, and many different fields. This is the one of core competences of Clientron.More than 90% of Clientron's clients, up to 150 companies in total, are foreign companies and mainly located in Europe. Chin himself has three mobile phones and five phone numbers so as to provide timely and complete services. "My mobile phones are never switched off," said Chin. Moreover, owning two factories, situated in Taipei and Xiamen China respectively, enables Clientron to manage the allocation of production capacity as well as the design and manufacture ability more efficiently than competitors in the same industry.The soaring sales of POSApart from thin clients, Clientron began to lay out plans for the POS (point of sales) market in 2011 and saw a substantial growth of 189% in revenues from the segment in 2013. The main reason behind it is that the all-in-one flat panel products introduced by Clientron had caught the eyes of clients with their beautiful designs, coupled with an excellent heat dissipation performance that effectively avoids malfunctioning and reduces the need for maintenance, which accelerated its entrance into the US and European markets."Clientron will continue to develop new products based on the profound and professional foundations of embedded systems accumulated over many years." Chin especially pointed out that Clientron is taking active measures planning for the medical electronics market, believing that many Medicare business opportunities will be generated from the aging societies. "Instead of life-related products, we choose to penetrate peripheral devices with ICT technologies." For instance, the Patient Infotainment Terminal, which integrates personal medical information, infotainment, calls and even shopping with credit cards, is identified by Clientron as a medical application with great market potentials.The future lies in market business opportunities and smart applications originated from linking sensors, IoT, terminals, and cloud computing. In this industry, which is full of growth potentials, Clientron will utilize its experience and know-how in professional embedded platform design, as well as agile manufacturing abilities and quick service support to constantly expand its presence through vertical integration of different industries, and provide clients from various fields with the best solutions for smart embedded platforms.Robert Chin, Chairman & CEO of Clientron, believes the thin client market will continue to grow.

Over the past 60 years and throughout the establishment of Taiwan's electrical infrastructure, Tatung has helped Taiwan Power Company (TPC) build power plants and substations. Tatung has also provided infrastructural facilities including generators, transformers, switchgears, as well as electrical wires and cables. Looking forward, Tatung will continue to closely participate in the upgrading of Taiwan's electrical infrastructure as well as in the development of the smart grid.Which engineering achievement had the greatest impact on civilization in the 20th century? According to the assessment of U.S. National Academy of Engineering (NAE), electrical infrastructure tops the list, winning over the personal computers, mobile phones, and the Internet for one important reason: without electricity, none of these popular candidates would have existed.Entering the 21st century, electrical infrastructure is still critically important. However, traditional electrical grid architectures can no longer satisfy new developmental requirements, such as the requirements of incorporating more and more renewable energy, as well as energy conservation and carbon reduction. This is why the electrical grid is in such dire need of upgrading and transformation. Integrating ICT technologies will make the electrical grids intelligent, which is why smart grids are the popular trends of the future.According to Tatung Smart Grid BU Senior General Manager, Chang-Ping Lin, in order to realize the smart grid, we must not only rely on traditional electrical infrastructure technologies, such as those enabling power generation, power transmission, power transformation, power distribution, and power consumption, but also integrate ICT technologies as well as experience in large-scale IT software integration. Tatung is one of the few companies in Taiwan that possess these capabilities, and has pioneered in the research and development of smart meters as well as advanced AMI metering systems. Tatung believes that it has an important role to play in the establishment of the smart grid.Therefore, Tatung not only plays the role of system integrator, which is the one role that is most lacking in Taiwan, forming strategic partnerships, integrating technologies (such as networking and telecommunications modules, data collectors, and industrial computers), and developing both domestic and international smart grid business opportunities; it also works with Tatung University to foster tomorrow's talented smart grid workers.The most important aspect of smart grid development is systems integration capabilitiesChang-Ping Lin believes that the greatest advantage of Taiwan's vendors in terms of smart grid development is their strong ICT components manufacturing industry. However, it is not without its disadvantages, such as its lack of actual experience in system integration and system depolyment. In order to make up for this specific disadvantage, the government has been promoting the Penghu Smart Grid Demonstration Site through the Second-Phase National Energy Program; however, due to concerns over stable power supply, its range of application as well as verification items are limited and may not be able to achieve strong results. He recommends that the government consider using the NEDO model in establishing an overseas demonstration site.Taking the above advantages and disadvantages into consideration, what opportunities and challenges will Taiwan's vendors face in the future smart grid industry? In terms of opportunities, for ICT vendors, since they are not restricted in terms of regional electricity infrastructure restrictions, opportunities are plentiful; for electrical power vendors, although they are restricted by regional protectionism, there is still opportunity. In terms of emerging regions, such as ASEAN countries, the Middle East, North Africa, and Eastern Europe, Taiwan's vendors may be able to export full, flexible, customized systems. In terms of more advanced markets, such as Europe, the United States, and Japan, although chances of exporting entire systems are small, there may still be potential profits in key components, such as smart meters, etc.In terms of challenges, Chang-Ping Lin points out that Taiwan's vendors need to quickly establish system integration capabilities as well as system software and data analysis capabilities. Smart grid architectures are extremely complex. In addition to real-time monitoring of circuits, transformers, and switches in the electrical power system, additional technologies such as software, communications, and sensors also need to be incorporated. Furthermore, data needs to be analyzed in order to conduct intelligent scheduling and control, which further shows that the above-stated capabilities are all indispensable. And taking into consideration that the life cycle of electrical equipment must be at least 8-10 years, and error tolerance ranges are extremely small, the only way to gain the trust of global customers is to obtain stringent international certifications.In addition, the smart grid business is a long-term investment. Looking at related projects implemented by the Taiwan government as well as the governments of other countries, it can be clearly seen that they are planning for the long term and that returns will not be obtained overnight. Therefore, vendors wishing to enter this market should be prepared for long-term investments and should not enter with a short-term speculation mentality.Working with partners to gain domestic and foreign business opportunitiesIt is not hard to see that Taiwan's development of smart grid technologies will bring many benefits. Firstly, the Taiwan Power Company already began in-depth research of the smart grid many years ago, and has clearly identified its advantages and disadvantages compared to traditional centralized electrical grids and south-to-north electricity transmission architectures. It has therefore set four primary goals, which are to establish a safe and reliable electrical grid, enhance electrical power efficiency, optimize customer service quality, and integrate distributed generations (DG).In terms of government efforts, in August of 2012, the Smart Grid Master Program was introduced, with the primary goals of conserving energy, reducing carbon emissions, boosting the amount of renewable energies, and reforming the power industry. However, at the same time, the government must also maintain stable power supply, which is a seemingly contradicting goal; only through smart-grid real-time monitoring and scheduling will we be able to achieve the goal of peak suppression, as well as integrate energy storage and control technologies, allowing renewable energy grids to merge to solve the issue of regional congestion, thereby enhancing the efficiency and quality of the power supply, producing innovative value-added services, facilitating the positive reform of the electrical power industry, and finally achieving an optimal balance.In light of this, Tatung will continue to play a pivotal role in Taiwan's electrical power infrastructure, integrating corporate resources, taking up the difficult responsibility of system integration, working hand-in-hand with partners to participate in the establishment of Taiwan's smart grid as well as development of the global market.Tatung Smart Grid BU Senior General Manager, Chang-Ping Lin, stresses the company has an important role to play in the development of smart grids

Taiwan is highly dependent on imported energy, which is a potential threat to the security of its energy supply and its economic development. This is why energy conservation and carbon reduction is so important. Its first priority will be to reduce the amount of power consumption in electrical equipment; in the industrial and commercial spaces, air conditioning often accounts for up to 40-50% of power consumption, which clearly makes it the area that has the most urgent need for smart energy conservation.Most home air conditioning systems emphasize temperature control, whereas air conditioning systems used in shopping malls, restaurants, theaters, and hospitals, etc., must provide environmental control as well as functions that ensure user comfort. The role of temperature and humidity environmental control systems (clean rooms) in industrial processes is even more critical, since the quality of environmental temperature and humidity control directly affects the quality and yield of products. Commercial air conditioners include water (air) cooled box type air conditioners, water (air) cooled water coolers, water (air) cooled brine chillers, commercial dehumidifiers, heat pumps, and box-type air conditioners, etc.There is no doubt that the above-stated air conditioning products play a key role in supporting economic development, since many types of functions rely on air conditioning systems, including constant temperature and constant humidity for production processes as well as refrigeration and freezing, and the high levels of sensible heat required for machine rooms. However, in companies, medical institutions, government establishments, and schools, etc., air conditioning systems account for at least 40% of total power consumption, making it an "energy killer" and truly leaving much room for improvement.Chi-Hung Chen, Manager of Tatung's Air Conditioning Design Division, believes that adding smart energy conservation functions to commercial air conditioning systems is the trend of the future. In light of this important trend, key product design goals will include hybrid heat pumps, high energy efficiency IPLV highly-parallel chiller refrigerant systems, inverter air conditioning systems, and centralized box-type air conditioning smart management systems.Future products will be designed around the concept of smart energy conservationHeat pumps are a type of high-efficiency refrigerant system that can absorb heat from Mother Nature and use it to produce hot water. Under reasonable operating conditions, its COP (Coefficient of Performance) should exceed 3. Heat pumps can replace traditional electric, gas, and diesel water heaters, saving users up to half or more in terms of energy and operation costs. In addition to producing hot water, hybrid heat pumps can also provide cold water as well as collect cold air for reuse, further increasing energy efficiency. The total COP values for most heat pumps usually exceed 5.The "High Energy Efficiency IPLV Highly-Parallel Chiller Refrigerant System" is undoubtedly a major highlight in Tatung's commercial air conditioning system product line, since, slightly earlier, Tatung had already introduced a similar product model that emphasized the use of the R410A environmentally friendly refrigerant and had a load efficiency that was more than 25% higher than traditional models. The difference between highly-parallel refrigerant systems and traditional chilling systems is the ability to conduct partial load (partial compressor operation) operation and dramatically enhance heat exchange efficiencies. "High Energy Efficiency IPLV Highly-Parallel Chiller Refrigerant Systems" have even higher efficiency than the high-efficiency flooded chillers widely used in industries today. They also have smaller sizes and use scroll compressors, which have lower maintenance costs and higher efficiency compared to screw compressors. In addition to lowering electricity costs, these models will also play a role in protecting our precious environment.The three pillars of commercial air conditioning systems – environmental protection, energy conservation, and safetyInverter air conditioners are well-known for energy savings. Inverter technologies can adjust compressor operation speeds through varying power source frequencies, thereby achieving rapid cooling, constant temperatures, and low noise. For production process air conditioning applications, this can provide stable chilled water output temperatures and allow for even more precise environmental temperature and humidity control, thereby further improving process yield. In addition, refrigerant flows can be mediated through changing compressor operation speeds, which produces significant energy conservation effects when in low-frequency operation.According to Chi-Hung Chen, in the average commercial environment, multiple compressors are usually required to spread out operation loads when non-inverter type air conditioners are used. This results in relatively high power consumption. In industrial environments, due to production process requirements, this may result in the need to allocate a large area of space for a chilled water storage tank; however, all of these traditional drawbacks are eliminated when inverter-type air conditioning systems are used.Furthermore, this year (2014), Tatung plans to introduce a new box-type model that is equipped with "Centralized Electronic Panel Control and Management" functionality. This type of model has an MCU board at its core as well as RS-485 Modbus-RTU communications functionality, allowing users to control and manage up to 99 air conditioners in a centralized fashion, Chi-Hung Chen explains. Users can not only access input/output states and sensor temperature values, but also read/write final temperature configuration values, function modes, system ON/OFF states, as well as the status of offloading monitoring points. In environments where many air conditioning systems are installed, such as schools, hospitals, or factories, traditional electronic control systems only allow one-to-one control, which will result in a huge waste of manpower and maintenance costs. To the contrary, the one-to-many control mode provided by "Centralized Electronic Panel Control and Management" is undoubtedly the smarter and more ideal alternative.It is also worth mentioning that Tatung's commercial air conditioning systems not only reflect the above-mentioned product design trends, but Tatung is also the only box-type air conditioner (regulated vertical expansion energy source product) vendor in Taiwan that has successfully obtained the Energy Conservation Certification Label. Tatung also insists on using environmentally friendly refrigerants, such as R134A or R410A, in all of its product lines, stressing ozone layer destruction coefficient values of zero. Tatung also emphasizes safe designs, achieving its goal of "being safe even if components malfunction." These measures were all taken to meet the environmental protection, energy conservation, and safety requirements of industrial and commercial customers.Chi-Hung Chen, Manager of the Air Conditioning Design Division, points out key trends for smart, energy-conserving commercial air conditioners.

Depleting energy sources, climatic changes and rising power prices have highlighted the importance of energy savings and carbon reductions, and consequently, efforts have been made to optimize efficiency of energy use for buildings or factories. In line with the trend, the Tatung Group has been active in developing smart building/factory solutions to help users maintain an eco-friendly environment.Given growing expectations for factories and buildings to optimize energy efficiency through better monitoring of their facilities, demand for smart building/factory solutions is on the rise.Smart buildings/factories are crucial to corporation sustainable operations as well as overall environment. Pursuit of such goals will not seize until zero carbon emission is achieved, according to Liang Wen-jinn, general manager for SCADA Division under Tatung Co.Tatung, as former construction company, now is approaching centennial. Over the years, tremendous energy has been devoted to develop smart home appliances, energy-saving industrial applications, high-efficiency motors, and high-grade safety cables. Also, Tatung possesses comprehensive deployments in the solar and LED sectors, and boasts strong experience in providing automation services as well as undertaking massive projects. Moreover, software development resources has grown and become one of Tatung's strength as well. Its recent projects for the luxury property market have also been well-received, attesting to Tatung's achievements in the smart building/factory sector. Enabled by a strong integration of group resources and technologies, Tatung offers comprehensive solutions.The core of smart buildings/factories: The SCADA systemSCADA systems are crucial parts of smart building/factory solutions, Liang pointed out. Some users have equipped specific facilities with variable-frequency drives to save energy, but this is not sufficient because optimal energy-saving solutions rely on integrated energy consumption control based on data concerning power consumption of air conditioning, lighting, security control, etc., Liang explained. For example, control on valves of ventilation systems in addition to reducing load of air-conditioning chillers can enhance efficiency of energy use.Tatung has provided central monitoring services for state-run Taiwan Power Company, China Steel, water companies, food manufacturers, automakers, universities, colleges and public facilities for nearly 20 years. However, such previous services focused on maintaining regular operation and monitoring abnormal conditions. But Tatung has now integrated such monitoring services with smart energy-saving innovations to form smart SCADA systems.Smart energy saving enabled by Tatung Group synergyAn integration of its energy-saving equipment, safety materials and SCADA system software has allowed Tatung to provide smart building/factory solutions for various users in recent years.For example, Tatung helped an optoelectronics firm set up a rooftop PV system that also sheltered its facilities from the summer sun, which lowered indoor temperatures, as well as load for the chillers. In addition, based on analysis of production capacity and operation data on the four chillers collected by the SCADA system, it was found that three chillers were enough to attain the heat-dissipation target in fall and winter, and therefore a chiller was left idle to save energy by 25% during the colder months. Besides, the data enabled to the firm to determine the best time for running the manufacturing process, and its rescheduled production capitalized on off-peak power supply, saving its total electricity cost by 10%.Based on production data and information from the equipment monitoring, the optoelectronics firm was able to detect equipment wear and undertake precautionary maintenance to eliminate possible disruption to production. This allowed it to attain the goals of smart maintenance and smart manufacturing.According to Sun Yung-Fu, manager for SCADA Division under Tatung, a local courthouse has adopted a Tatung-developed SCADA system in combination with sensors to monitor air conditioning, lighting, power supply, fire prevention, entrance control and CCTV. The system automatically switches on and off facilities based on actual demand. It also forms a smart interconnected system to cope with emergency. For example, when a fire alarm sounds, the system swiftly locates the spot of the fire via the CCTV, and then switches on the emergency lights, eases all entrance control, and opens the gates to the parking lots.As the development of smart building/factory solutions is an endless pursuit, Tatung will keep optimizing its solutions in terms of content and design for different environments, Liang stressed. Most firms in the electronics sector have installed SCADA systems and some of them have begun collecting and analyzing data to enable the designs of energy-saving solutions, Liang indicated. In contrast, although some in the conventional manufacturing industries have adopted energy-saving measures, their efficacies are limited due to a lack of energy consumption data. Customized SCADA systems can help them significantly increase energy savings, Liang said.Taiwan and other parts of the world have been increasingly keen to track carbon footprints. Companies have to rely on SCADA systems to obtain objective data on carbon emissions so that they devise ways to meet stringent government rules and regulations, as well as strict requirements of their clients. Tatung is ready to do its utmost to help clients overcome these challenges.Liang Wen-jinn, general manager for SCADA Division, indicates that Tatung has developed various smart building/factory solutions by integrating its energy-saving equipment, safety materials and SCADA system software.

A young company comes with global perspective, firm determination in international market penetration and ambitious, iCatch inc. arguably is a world-class leading brand in security surveillance industry. In this exclusive interview with iCatch, you are about to learn that this company has solid foundations not only in product development and state-of-the-art technology, but also global channel marketing and strong relationships with regional distributors, by means of cultural inheritance, core competence and win-win models. Vanne Lin, the Executive Vice President at iCatch inc., reveals her ambitious in international market penetration, as well as iCatch's unique competitiveness through manage level's cultural inheritance. 'In the future,' said Vanne, 'iCatch will enter global medical industry, we are able to provide solutions with very much sought-after features such as positioning and alarming on top of security surveillance, which would make medical services even more user-friendly.'iCatch established her own brand in 33 nationsIn 2013, iCatch established markets in 33 nations with her own brand name, and will continue to build up further relationship with regional distributors. For that, iCatch can be seen in major trade shows worldwide - Secutech (Taiwan), ISC West (US), IFSEC (UK) to name a few.In 2014, iCatch will focus on mobile surveillance solutions and newly introduced Universal DVR family. In terms of demands in mobile surveillance, iCatch provides a very user-friendly system which allows the user to monitor through computer browsers and mobile devices. And alarm would be sent to user's mobile devices when events are triggered, which gives the user first-hand message so that countermeasures can be conducted immediately.iCatch's budget-friendly Universal DVR family is able to accommodate digital HD signals (1080P, 720P) and analog signals (960H, D1) in one single DVR, which provides great flexibility for upgrade. With existing coaxial cable infrastructure, the user is able to change some of the analog cameras with HD-SDI ones, or simply add new HD-SDI cameras at crucial points to fulfill surveillance capabilities with ease.In the mean time, iCatch is also developing cloud surveillance system. At this moment, basic features such as remote storage, playback and backup are declared mature. iCatch promises that more efforts will be spent on this project to complete the feature as well as produce line.Create product core competence, establish channels worldwideMajor surveillance system manufacturers are from South Korea, China and Taiwan. South Korea enjoy advantages over software capabilities, hence they can be seen in major tender cases. Yet in the meantime they are less strong in terms of hardware development and cost structure. On the other hand, Chinese manufacturers are benefited from the policy - they are able to obtain tax refund and other funding form the government. Also due to low labor and development cost in China, Taiwanese manufacturers often found themselves are far less competitive. Nevertheless, many Chinese manufacturers are still short of global perspective, global marketing staff and core competence. And low cost segment prevents it from entering mid and high level segments. The major problems that the Chinese manufacturers face still, are services and product stability.Looking back to iCatch, who owns a comparative advantage in services and product stability, hence is able to produce competitive products with only 10% higher than Chinese ones in terms of cost. In the meantime, mid-term 2-year product roadmap is set, way to establish relationship with high royalty customers. Future products will focus on medical / nursing solutions for seniors, with practical features such as positioning and alarming. At this moment, iCatch has gathered extensive experiences in large international project planning in Germany and Ukraine...etc.HD surveillance system will domain the market'HD surveillance system will domain the market. Users don't really care about jargons like SDI, TVI or CVI.' Said Vanne Lin, the Executive Vice President at iCatch inc. 'What they do care about is high image quality they can see on the monitor. And our product performs better than our fellow competitors.' iCatch's DVR is able to output 30 frames per second at million pixels, 16 channels. This can hardly be outpaced.On top of DVRs, iCatch also offers Intelligent Network solutions (IVR). They come with built-in switch. For users this means hassle free setting and no external switch needed, truly plug-n-play. And iCatch's IVRs share identical GUI with DVRs, so that the user can adopt it intuitively, saving up after service efforts.Global surveillance market will continue to grow stably for sure, commented by the Executive VP. In terms of business strategy, she reveals, 'Each entrepreneur must consider own core competence, product differential and global marketing strategy to root in the market. Strategic alliance with other companies can also be very valuable approaches. As the No.1 security surveillance system manufacturer in Taiwan, iCatch will continue to invest in R&D. On top of our user-friendly platforms, an even more budget-friendly price structure will also be materialized. As a future plan, iCatch is going to enter medical related markets, creating even further brand value.'If you have ever wondered what iCatch's advantages would be to penetrate medical markets, the answer has to go to Vanne, who has COO experience at one of the world's top 3 medical companies, and is very familiar with related channels worldwide. Her big picture is to combine security surveillance with medical and nursing, and will provide more competitive products and solution to fulfill different segments.Vanne Lin, the Executive Vice President at iCatch inc.

The security solutions market is an increasingly important market as the IT industry develops and security concerns strengthen. In Taiwan, security solutions providers such as EverFocus Electronics have watched the market develop for nearly 20 years and have witnessed not only how demand has developed, but also how companies compete amid increased competition.To understand how the security solutions industry is developing in Taiwan, particularly amid competition from China, Digitimes sat down with EverFocus product marketing manager, Tony Lin, to learn how the company is reacting to such developments and what kind of strategies are helping the company maintain a competitive edge.Q: How is the security solutions market developing and what does this mean to EverFocus?A: The security market is already quite mature and has a history of at least 30-50 years. The industry has seen the time of CCTV, then tape to hard disk, appliance to computer, and later computer back to appliance back in the early 2000s to become as the standard market DVR. In the last five years IT surveillance has grown particularly strong, with cameras, networks and recorders at the forefront. Simply put, this structure will always be the same regardless if there is cloud service because the same process applies. Really the biggest new thing to this setup is the use of mobile devices such as smartphone and tablets for more viewing options, but overall the structure is the same.What is changing though is the competition in the market. As of now Taiwan makers face challenges from China in terms of production capabilities in addition to low-cost solutions. It's already pretty clear that Taiwan IT surveillance makers have no way to further compete in this regard. So what direction is EverFocus going in? Customized services. Right now there are very different demands from customers for IT surveillance used in a variety of segments, so catering to customer demand is crucial. EverFocus focuses on having fast responses to customize, assembly or integrate solutions for its customers. It's not simply bringing another one of our products to the tablet for a customer; rather, react to the specific needs of each customer by making customized solutions. We are system integrators for system integrators in a manner of speaking.The IT industry has influenced not only the surveillance industry but also all industries around the world. As the security industry shifts and integrates more and more with IT, traditional surveillance systems cannot satisfy consumers' needs as before. We have to transform from analog to IP, and act as a service-orientated solution provider.Q: What is EverFocus' advantage over its competitors?A: We think our system levels have an advantage over our competitors, so taking on such a business model for EverFocus works well and also satisfies market demand. Of course, we have new and cutting-edge technology, but there needs to be more than that for a company like EverFocus, otherwise if we are just focused on a low-cost and low-profit business model, it would be very difficult to sustain. System integrations and solutions are important for Taiwan makers whereas China makers' solutions currently are product portfolios and product lineups. EverFocus also has 18 years experience in the industry and maintains close relations with its customers.Q: Why are security solutions important for companies?A: The way certain companies or organizations access security information is increasingly complex and customized. The methods by which, say, a camera captures video and transfers it back to a given database is essentially the same in the industry but the way that information is accessed is different. This has created increased demand for services such as POS integration, which can vary differently from customer to customer, so having a team that can react to such demand and offer companies comprehensive solutions to meet growing concerns is crux.Also, security solutions provide convenience for companies. Information is the most valuable asset to any company in the future, and should be protected and stored completely to ensure confidentiality, integrity and availability. EverFocus products can help companies protect important assets from various threats and make managing and securing confidential data no longer a problem.Q: Is there any risk in making solutions, such as extending services to mobile applications?A: There is risk, especially with information security. It depends on the customer's demand whether they want something that is powerful or something with limited usage. If you are creating an application for a mobile device that only requires a login and password, then there is going to be more risk. But we write high-security programs for our customers so information security for EverFocus is not really an issue.Q: What challenges do companies like EverFocus face?A: Selling cycles or response cycles are increasingly quicker, which combined with increased customized demand brings no shortage of challenges, so being efficient is crucial. So how does your business team become more efficient? A good way of doing that is through improving the culture and business process, which EverFocus has focused on over the last few years.Our platforms and production facilities have also made improvements, and we also stress interface integration performance capabilities in order to keep up with customer demand, so this is a challenge. However, taking on such challenges is what gives EverFocus its overall customized solutions service an advantage in the market, so they are also welcomed. All these factors together are what make our business structure.Q: Is such customized service also what's in demand in emerging markets?A: Basically yes. However, because some emerging markets want pricing for products to be lower than what we produce them at, there needs to be a service attached as well. If there isn't such a business model then orders could just be shifted to China. Having a value-added service is important, so creating that service in order to meet trends in the market is something we are constantly researching.EverFocus product marketing manager Tony Lin Photo: Alex Wolfgram, Digitimes, March 2014

As part of Toshiba, OCZ Storage Solutions is able to leverage Toshiba's NAND and combine it with its proprietary controllers, firmware and software. Toshiba's financial strength has also put OCZ in a better position to compete in the rapidly growing SSD market.The combination of OCZ and Toshiba is a win-win, said OCZ CMO Alex Mei in a recent interview with Digitimes. Mei also talked about the company's market position and direction after becoming a Toshiba subsidiary, and shared his views on the global SSD market.Q: Would you talk about the role of OCZ after being acquired by Toshiba?A: As a Toshiba group company, OCZ Storage Solutions is now a wholly-owned subsidiary that will continue to focus on developing best-in-class solid state drive solutions for both the client and enterprise markets. Toshiba will continue to develop, produce and market their own line of Toshiba-branded SSDs, while we will focus on selling OCZ-branded SSDs that leverage our in-house technology through our own well-established global channels.Q: What are the pros and cons of OCZ being a Toshiba subsidiary? And for Toshiba, what are the advantages of buying OCZ?A: Obviously when you are a standalone company, you have the ability to drive your own strategy when it comes to products and marketing. The good news is that when Toshiba acquired all of OCZ Technology Group's assets, they also kept all the SSD engineering and R&D teams fully intact, enabling the team to continue to operate autonomously and put even more focus and resources on developing next generation products.One of the biggest challenges that the previous organization faced was the lack of steady supply of NAND. This all changed once Toshiba acquired the company as we are now the only fully integrated solid state drive provider solely focused on SSD products. Together we have in-house controllers, firmware, application software, and as a Toshiba subsidiary, we now have direct access to NAND flash enabling superior optimization with early access to next-generation NAND technology, more competitive pricing and better overall product availability.For Toshiba, this acquisition means bringing key SSD technology in-house and the ability to address an even wider spectrum of client and enterprise customers with quality SSD solutions.Q: What changes have you made in your product roadmap and market focus after becoming part of Toshiba?A: Our product roadmap has remained consistent through this transition, but we are taking steps to accelerate development of next-generation controllers and application software with our newly-infused additional resources.The ability to get earlier access to next-generation NAND may also enable us to re-enter certain portions of the consumer market with more cost-effective products. In terms of market focus, we are firmly committed to supporting both the consumer and enterprise markets.Q: In terms of market applications, what would become a growth engine for OCZ in 2014?A: There continues to be explosive growth in the SSD market as end users continue to adopt solid state drives in everything from high-performance desktops to their mobile systems, and while we continue to cater to these key audiences we believe that storage acceleration and mass storage applications represent massive growth opportunities for OCZ Storage Solutions.Now that we are a Toshiba group company, we can once again be competitive in the client SSD space, which has been dominated by the NAND suppliers. In the enterprise segment, there are significant opportunities for OCZ Storage Solutions to capitalize on when it comes to the shift to SSDs in the data center and cloud storage environments.Q: Will you reorganize your product portfolio to satisfy demand from your parent company?A: While I believe it is critical for any subsidiary to align with the key strategy of the parent company, it is also equally important that the company be given the autonomy to meet the unique needs of the individual customer base. This is the case with our new organization as Toshiba has provided us with the financial strength and NAND technology to go ahead and develop products that will address the distinct storage challenges that our client and enterprise customers face.Q: Would you talk about OCZ's product focus for 2014?A: We have already made the transition to Toshiba 19nm NAND on our top-selling Vector and Vertex client SSD families, as well as the new Intrepid 3000 enterprise SATA drives designed for the mega data centers. We will soon be introducing a new Z-Drive PCIe solution, the 4500 Series, that also leverages Toshiba NAND.Moving to Toshiba NAND not only improves the cost structure for our customers, but also the availability of products, something which is critical in the enterprise market when large deployments require guaranteed supply. As we continue to focus on both the client and enterprise markets, our future products will continue to leverage our own in-house technology whenever and wherever possible so that we can offer our customers truly differentiated solutions. We are also making investments to introduce new PCIe SSDs beyond traditional edge cards, as well as M.2 SSDs that are both compact and extremely fast.Q: Competitionin the SSD market is becoming fierce. How would you differentiate yourself from fellow SSD companies?A: Competition has indeed heated up and the client and OEM market is already becoming dominated by the NAND providers. At the end of the day it all boils down to value for the customer. Can you deliver something that addresses their unique challenges, improves their application performance and delivers superior total cost of ownership? We believe that together with Toshiba we absolutely can.Q: As an entity, how would you and Toshiba compete against chip vendors which also manufacture SSDs, such as Samsung?A: Here is where the combination of OCZ and Toshiba really is a win-win. Together, OCZ Storage Solutions is now a fully integrated SSD provider with in-house controllers, firmware, application software and NAND. This enables us to develop and introduce compelling SSD products and total storage solutions that are cost competitive for consumers, OEMs and enterprise customers and provide plenty of added value.Q: Can you share your views about the outlook for SSD? What is your business outlook for 2014?A: As the flash storage market continues to mature, the consolidation among companies will continue to accelerate. The combination of Toshiba and OCZ is just one of the many combinations we have seen over the last year and a half, and as competition remains quite fierce in the SSD space the NAND suppliers are going to be in the best position to support customer price and supply requirements.At the same time, I think this is going to be a very exciting period for SSD innovation as manufactures will continue to push the envelope in bandwidth, I/O consistency and sheer density, as well as bring up new interfaces and form factors to meet customers' increasing performance and cost requirements. 2014 will be an exciting growth period for our new organization as we move full speed ahead with OCZ-branded SSDs in the client space as well as now have the opportunity to fully engage enterprise customers backed with Toshiba financial strength, NAND technology and supply. We are very excited about what this combination represents for our current and future product offerings, as well as what it means for our valued customers, as we are now in a better position than ever before to address their unique storage challenges moving forward.Alex Mei, CMO of OCZ Storage SolutionsPhoto: Company

While Digitimes is known as a media outlet, the company also includes a business unit that solely focuses on market research. Run independently from the Digitimes news organization, Digitimes Research provides market intelligence and data analysis on a number of different IT and high-tech industries to its customers. Digitimes recently spoke with Digitimes Research senior analyst & director Joanne Chien to learn more about the seismic shift that is underway in the mobile device supply chain, the concept of Chaiwan (China+Taiwan), and the new English language data services that Digitimes Research is rolling out.Q: The IT industry has been going through a major change over the past couple of years, with the rise of tablets and smartphones and the shrinking of the PC market. How has this shaken up the supply chain in Greater China?A: At this point, I guess it is fairly well known that the tablet and smartphone market is rising at the expense of the PC market, especially the notebook market. Digitimes Research estimates that while demand for mobile devices (smartphones, tablets and notebooks) rose 30% in 2013, notebook shipments dropped 12%, the biggest on-year drop on record. And we expect the slide to continue in 2014. Digitimes Research forecasts that 165-170 million notebooks will be shipped worldwide this year, down from a peak of 204.5 million in 2011.What is less well understood is how this change has shaken up the IT device supply chain. For example, if you look back at the PC industry, it has been the driving force behind Taiwan's dramatic growth over the past 30 years. That growth came about because PC brands started outsourcing their manufacturing, which in turn gave rise to the ODM model where large international brands partner with equally large manufacturers like Quanta, Compal or Wistron to produce devices. And now Taiwan dominates the global market for notebook PC manufacturing, with about an 85% market share.But as I mentioned earlier, while the notebook market is still huge, it is shrinking. If you are looking for growth, you need to look at the smartphone and tablet sectors, where design and manufacturing have either become much more consolidated or become completely decentralized, which is a phenomena that we call the Chaiwan model.Q: Can you provide a bit more color on that last statement?A: In terms of consolidation, you have huge brands like Apple and Samsung, who continue to pursue a vertical integration strategy whereby they can control more of the design, component choice (including software) and manufacturing of their products in order to give them differentiation. These brands still rely heavily on the Greater China supply chain, such as with Apple using large EMS manufacturers like Foxconn or Pegatron. However, this is a much different business model than that seen in the notebook industry, where ODMs provide designs to the brands and choose their own components. ODMs do a lot of heavy lifting in terms of product development, while EMS firms simply provide manufacturing services. The brands have much more control over the overall design and component choice.Q: What about this so-called Chaiwan model of decentralization?A: We use the combination of China and Taiwan (Chaiwan) to describe how the supply chains in Taiwan and China are becoming increasingly more integrated and intertwined and this has given rise to a mobile device supply chain that is producing unheard of time-to-market scenarios while remaining flexible and responsive to market demand.Q: How does it work?A: As I mentioned, a brand like Apple or Samsung controls everything in the process of bringing their products to market. Under the Chaiwan model, each sector does what it does best. For example, it starts with the key component provider, which in the case of smartphones is the application processor (AP). Companies like MediaTek or Qualcomm provide a turnkey solution and reference design to the players in the market.Those other players include independent design houses (IDH), which provide design services and recommendations for components (such as connectors, casing, etc) that are not included in the AP turnkey solution. You also have EMS players, who do the manufacturing. And ultimately you have the customer, which could be a large brand, a small white-box brand, or any vendor that wants to bring a smartphone to market. Moreover, under this model, the order volumes don't need to be very large, which means pretty much anyone who wants to can bring a smartphone to market in China, and it can be done quickly and cheaply.Originally, this business model was developed by white-box players but it has been increasingly adopted by larger brands, such as Huawei, ZTE and Lenovo in China. A vendor such as Lenovo can direct development of one model through one IDH and EMS provider, while working with another pair of manufacturing partners for development of another model.This has been a seismic shift for the market, but players are adapting. If you look at at AP provider MediaTek, the company no longer follows a strict roadmap. It simply reacts to what the market wants. In 2013, for example, MediaTek sometimes went a couple of months without releasing a new product and then would release two products in the same month. They weren't following a roadmap, they were chasing demand.This is also a new model for EMS providers, since they have been used to dealing with huge orders and following longer-term manufacturing plans. They now have to become more nimble and are learning how to cooperate with the IDHs and smaller brands for small orders and quick delivery.Players adapt because this is where the growth is. China-based vendors account for approximately one-third of global smartphone shipments and the region had four of the top-10 vendors worldwide in 2013. For 2014, Digitimes Research forecasts that China will have five vendors in the top 10.Looking at the rest of the market (non top 10 or "Other" segment) is even more interesting. This portion of the market is dominated by Greater China vendors and white-box players. The Other segment accounted for 12% of global smartphone shipments in 2012, 21% of the global market in 2013 and Digitimes Research forecasts the share will rise to 25.6% in 2014.This means that the global smartphone industry is opening up rather than consolidating and it is directly a result of the dynamic interplay seen in the Chaiwan model. Moreover, China vendors are now exporting about 30% of their smartphones (as of 2013) and that proportion is forecast to rise.Q: Where are they shipping their products?A: Mostly developing markets like India and Southeast Asia, where "Local King" brands (regional and local brands) are using their knowledge of local markets and ability to get good pricing from China on relatively small orders to compete successfully with top-10 smartphone brands. The interesting dynamic of this relationship is that many of these exported smartphones are supplied by IDHs, which function in a very similar way as ODMs do - providing design and manufacturing services for the international customers - though on a much smaller scale.Q: Is the same thing happening in the tablet market?A: In terms of tablets, if you remove Apple and Samsung from the equation, Greater China vendors account for pretty much the rest of all tablet shipments. And it's not just for local consumption. China players export about 70-80% of their tablets now, with more than 50% of exports going to developed markets. Greater China pretty much dominates the lower end of the market worldwide.Q: It sounds as if you are tracking these markets quite closely.A: This industry transition has been taking place for the past couple of years and Digitimes Research has been watching it closely for our customers. We have analysts on the ground monitoring the market dynamic in China and we have been working with a number of international suppliers to help them get a better understanding of how to compete in this market.We realize that this is a different kind of market dynamic and that it can be confusing, especially for players new to the China market, and we are seeing more and more requests for information about the market. Therefore, we are launching a new off-the-shelf data tracking service in English to help more international players understand the scope and structure of various component and device markets in Greater China. We will start with four data tracking services: China smartphone application processors (AP) shipments; China smartphone shipments; China touch-panel shipments; and Global tablet shipments.Q: What will the services entail?A: Each quarter, Digitimes Research will provide preliminary shipment data from the previous quarter as well as a data forecast for the upcoming quarter. We will follow that up with an analysis report and mid-term data update.In addition to the expertise we have in the local China market, I think one of our key advantages is our supply-side approach. We monitor shipments made to the vendor from the supply chain, rather than from the vendor to the end-user, which other research firms do. This means our shipment results from the previous quarter are actually leading indicators for a shipment forecast for vendors in the following quarter.Q: What do you mean by that?A: For example, when Apple is getting a product ready for the market, the product is in the supply chain pipeline 6-9 months before Apple even announces its launch. So we may provide shipment data for Apple 1-2 months before it even begins selling in the market, because that is when the supply chain delivers it to Apple. Q: Many people consider Digitimes Research to be the same as Digitimes. Is this is correct?A: The slogan at Digitimes is "Media, Marketing, Consulting" which means there are basically three different businesses run independently from each other. So while Digitimes may be best known as a media company, Digitimes Research is actually a business unto itself. We do our own market intelligence gathering and our analysts have a different operating mode than reporters at the Digitimes newspaper, who are more interested in real-time analysis. Digitimes Research is a market research firm, so our goal is to provide our customers with in-depth analysis and market forecasts.Q: Who are those customers, and what kind of in-depth analysis do you provide?A: All of the top ODMs and IT vendors in Taiwan are clients. Name any well-known Taiwan IT company and it is likely to be a Digitimes Research customer. We have been able to build up a customer base of more than 1,000 companies based on our ability to tie together data from the various industries that use Greater China as a supply chain hub. We offer 10 different research areas, including PC and Digital Home, Mobile Telecom, Computing, Mobile CE, Mobile Communications, Broadband and Wireless, Large-size FPD, Small-to-Medium (SM) size FPD and IC design, among others.Q: Do you serve international customers as well?A: We currently provide two data services, which we call Greater China ICT and Taiwan FPD. These services focus on shipment data from key Greater China industries. The ICT service focuses on data for notebooks, digital cameras and handsets, while the FPD service provides quarterly data for large-size LCD panels, small- to medium-size panels, LCD TVs, and monitors. These services are provided on an annual subscription basis. We are also excited to begin providing our new data tracking services for international customers as well.Joanne Chien, senior analyst & director, Digitimes Research

Mobile devices changed our life enormously. Mobile technology is essential for our lifestyle. A few years ago, a mobile phone was just a device used to make phone calls. However, time has gone by, nowadays most of us have a smartphone or tablet and use it just more like a computer. Today, those smart devices are equipped with GPS, accelerometer, cameras, proximity sensors, NFC technology, gyroscope....We cannot live without them. It's said that the 95% of us stay no more than 1 meter away from our cell phones. This means that we can answer calls, read messages, check mail anytime, anywhere. This phenomenon is driving a rapid increase in data traffic. It's expected to grow more than ten-fold over the next five years as smartphone adoption continues. This explosive increase is being driven by the seemingly insatiable consumer appetite for mobile broadband services to support Internet access, video streaming, content downloading, gaming and other high-bandwidth, data-intensive multimedia applications. The surging demand is straining the communications infrastructure. As a result, service providers around the world are upgrading their networks to ensure they have sufficient capacity and coverage to meet customer expectations.TriQuint, a leading provider of innovative RF solutions and foundry services, offers high-performance solutions for advanced approaches, leveraging strong integration expertise to pack more functionality into single modules that are considerably smaller than discrete solutions.The following is the interview during which TriQuint discussed the company's view and business opportunities in the mobile device and network infrastructure sectors, and the outlook for the industry.LTE Deployments AccelerateQ1: How is LTE technology affecting the wireless network infrastructure?A: LTE deployments give service providers more efficient ways to carry significantly more data traffic, driving much higher capacity requirements from the base station to the points across wireless networks; this capacity crunch also affects optical fiber networks used to backhaul data and connect mobile subscribers to internet hubs and international destinations. LTE enables better usage of available spectrum, faster data rates, reduced latency, lower per-gigabyte transport costs and simpler network architecture. In Figure 1, the statistics highlight LTE device growth of more than 3 times over the next four years.Fig 1: Projections of strong growth for LTE smartphonesWith more LTE devices arriving, it will boost infrastructure investments significantly. Operators worldwide have launched more than 200 LTE networks so far, with many more planned. The ramp to 4G is happening much faster than conversion to 3G services. In Asia Pacific, for example, LTE networks are expected to cover more than half of the population by 2018.Meanwhile, mobile carriers are easing the strain on their overstretched networks by offloading an increasing amount of data traffic onto Wi-Fi and small cell networks, such as micro-, pico- and femtocells. Small cell base stations will play a key role in heterogeneous networks (HetNets) as systems expand coverage in densely-populated urban areas. HetNets allow operators to optimize their spectrum portfolios and existing radio network assets, while delivering a better overall customer experience. The advent of small cells also has the potential to transform network economics by delivering service to rural areas, where their lower costs make deployment profitable even for low population densities.As wireless networks evolve to 4G and beyond, the bandwidth needed to each cell tower increases dramatically, so another challenge operators face is backhauling data from these miniature base stations. Optical networks are a logical solution, along with microwave radios. Optical networks provide higher capacity, better quality and reduced costs for new applications. The microwave / point-to-point radio alternative sees the greatest number of systems from 9 to 27 GHz, offering substantial bandwidth and range. While optical fiber can be readily upgraded from 10 to 40 to 100 Gb/s and beyond, microwave radio can reach areas where fiber deployment is too expensive or slow. TriQuint offers high-performance solutions for all these approaches, leveraging our integration expertise to pack more functionality into single modules that are considerably smaller than discrete solutions.Q2: How are LTE deployments impacting the smartphone market?A: The LTE build-out is escalating band counts within smartphones dramatically, creating new challenges for design engineers. Along with meeting more stringent performance requirements, designers must accommodate a rapidly increasing number of frequency bands within each mobile device. Next-gen smartphones must continue to support the primary 2G bands, 3G bands and new 4G, plus Wi-Fi and Bluetooth. The five dedicated bands for 3G pale in comparison to the more than 20 4G LTE bands, and this number could rise to more than 40 in the future.Q3: What about the shift to high-performance filters as LTE continues to be deployed? How will that affect the market?A: Filters play a critical role in the RF front-end, because they selectively pass desired signals while rejecting unwanted noise. Unlike PAs, which can cover multiple bands, filters are band-specific, so growth in band counts leads directly to the growth in the number of filters or duplexers within each device. Though it's not practical to support all worldwide bands in a single smartphone, a feature-rich model for international use might need to filter transmit and receive paths for 2G, 3G and 4G in up to 15 bands, as well as Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and GPS. Such a phone might require as many as 30 to 40 filters. The situation is likely to become even more complex in the future: next-generation high-end smartphones could include 50 or more filters. Adding to the filtering requirements, smartphones need multiple filters for each FDD-LTE and TDD-LTE band - as many as three filters: a duplexer for the primary TX path, one for the RX path plus an additional filter for the secondary RX path. Depending on the band, a Wi-Fi coexistence filter is often needed, too.Q4: What kind of filter technology will be required to meet LTE performance specifications?A: As the number of required filters grows, so too do the performance requirements. Not only must all these bands within each device be isolated to avoid interference, but spectral crowding means that guard bands between adjacent bands are being reduced significantly or even eliminated entirely. High-performance filters are needed for mitigating the resulting interference issues. In some regions, bands are being re-farmed for LTE, which may also change the filtering requirements; narrow 5 MHz and 10 MHz 4G LTE bands require filters with sharper corners than 3G WCDMA, for example.TriQuint leverages its advanced technology portfolio, to solve the toughest filtering challenges. While our surface acoustic wave (SAW) and temperature-compensated SAW (TC-SAW) filters are well suited for up to about 1.5 GHz, TriQuint's bulk acoustic wave (BAW) filters deliver compelling performance advantages above this frequency.Figure 2: The overview of different LTE frequency by regions and filters.Our BAW technology offers the only way to meet requirements for some of the most challenging LTE bands. BAW filters deliver exceptionally precise performance including steep skirts and high rejection along with very little temperature drift - ideal for addressing the most vexing interference rejection problems between adjacent bands. BAW filter size also decreases with higher frequencies, which makes them ideal for the most demanding 3G and 4G applications where performance and size are crucial.Impact of Regional Band AllocationsQ5: What's the impact of regional differences in band allocations on phone design?A: Phone designers must grapple with significant differences in band allocations among regions and even between countries. The situation will become even more challenging as more LTE bands are allocated in the future. In Asia, for example, the LTE picture is a complex map of regional band assignments with several distinct local markets. China is a huge potential market with unique requirements; other countries also have distinct needs, notably Japan and Korea, which, like the U.S., are the two nations that are most rapidly moving to LTE.ChinaIn China, the predominant LTE technology is LTE-TDD, as opposed to the LTE-FDD primarily used in North America. Many of the LTE bands are at higher frequencies, including several that are adjacent to the Wi-Fi band. This situation creates a strong requirement for BAW Wi-Fi coexistence filters. For example, two of the LTE-TDD bands allocated are Bands 40 and 41, as shown in Figure 3.Fig 3: China Bands 40 and 41 LTE-TDD bands are adjacent to the Wi-Fi bandThe Wi-Fi frequencies are sandwiched between these two bands. There is absolutely no gap between Band 40 and the lower end of the Wi-Fi band, and only a minimal gap between Band 41 and the upper end of the Wi-Fi band.High-performance BAW coexistence filters will be needed; in addition, tradeoffs may be necessary depending on customer priorities. Supporting the full width of Band 40 may require giving up some of the lower Wi-Fi channels. Alternatively, manufacturers may choose to give up part of Band 40 if supporting the full Wi-Fi bandwidth is their top priority. The coexistence situation with Band 41 is slightly less challenging because of the minimal guard band between Band 41 and the Wi-Fi spectrum. Within China, there is some local variation; for example Bands 7 and 38 replace Band 41 in Hong Kong.KoreaKorea is particularly interesting because of its high smartphone use and rapid LTE adoption. About 26 million people-more than half the population--already have smartphones, and about 15 million of those are expected to be using LTE by the end of 2013. Korea is re-farming Bands 3 and 5 for LTE, and starting this year, every phone is expected to support Band 7. Band 26 has also been allocated and will require TC-SAW; though it overlaps with Band 5, Band 26 includes some frequencies that a Band 5 filter cannot cover. Bands 3 and 7 will require BAW filters; there is also a substantial need for Wi-Fi coexistence filters.JapanThe situation in Japan further adds to the regional complexity. Japan is unusual in its use of Bands 26, 11 and 21; Band 41 is also used, requiring a BAW Wi-Fi coexistence filter.Q6: What about issues concerning carrier aggregation?A: As capacity demands on mobile wireless networks increase at an explosive rate, the scarcity of radio frequency allocations has made spectrum one of the most valuable and rapidly appreciating commodities in modern history. That's what makes carrier aggregation, as enabled by LTE-Advanced capability, so attractive. It enables network operators to consolidate multiple fragmented slivers of spectrum into a single wider channel to enable higher data rates and increase capacity. LTE-Advanced will require high-performance filter technology, and TriQuint is collaborating closely with operators, chipset providers and other ecosystem partners to solve the toughest RF challenges. See Figure 4.Fig 4: Carrier aggregation enabled by LTE-Advanced capabilityTrend to Integration ContinuesQ7: With the market pushing toward integration, what are the unique qualities of TriQuint that can deliver continued success in such an environment?A: RF solutions are continuing to move to higher levels of integration. TriQuint is taking on this design challenge to simplify RF design and optimize performance by providing more capability in less space for our customers. We've made significant advancements in miniaturization, power efficiency and system performance. We're leveraging active and passive process technologies to integrate the growing number of puzzle pieces into a few tiny modules - while conserving precious battery life.TriQuint is seeing high demand for multi-band, multi-mode power amplifier modules (MMPA) so OEMs can support numerous cellular bands in less space. For example, our first MMPA combined a quad-band EDGE amplifier with two data bands. The second generation offered four data bands, and our third-generation will house as many as 10. These highly integrated modules in an ultra-small form factor shrink overall product footprints while reducing external component count, minimizing assembly costs, speeding time-to-market, and enabling industry leading performance. In addition, device manufacturers use this common RF footprint to limit the proliferation of regional phones and speed design time.TriQuint's ability to integrate our premium filters with our active components such as power amplifiers and switches into single, densely-packed modules that package more functionality into smaller footprints is a distinct competitive advantage. Our multi-band power amplifier-duplexer modules are a great example of this innovation. TriQuint's packaging technologies include our CuFlip flip-chip, which uses copper 'bumps' to replace wire bonds, along with wafer level packaging. Both integration techniques enable smaller RF solutions with reduced height for today's thin and light mobile devices.Q8: What is your product strategy in this area to ensure that you will have a unique product lineup moving forward?A: TriQuint is ideally positioned to capitalize on industry trends. We're laser-focused on developing differentiated products that deliver value and provide industry-leading performance in the world's smallest form factors. TriQuint's differentiated filter technology gives us a distinct competitive advantage for solving our customers' toughest interference challenges. TriQuint is uniquely positioned to provide high-performance BAW and TC-SAW filters in volume. In addition, with our strong RF integration capabilities we can combine our sought-after premium filters into integrated modules that pack more capabilities into smaller footprints.Q9: What's the strategy for the emerging LTE business opportunities in APAC market?A: The upcoming deployment of LTE in Asia will continue to have a significant impact. The number of subscribers who will switch to 4G over the next five years is staggering. Besides providing LTE products for mobile devices, TriQuint supplies RF solutions for the base station market. Our product revenue from the base station market is up primarily because of early support for China's upcoming TD-LTE build-out. More than 200,000 LTE base stations are currently being deployed.The rollouts of LTE and LTE-Advanced will spur demand for TriQuint's integrated, high-performance RF solutions, so we're making investments in capacity to keep pace. R&D continues to be a priority as we develop unique technology and packaging techniques to deliver RF solutions that improve performance and reduce size, thereby furthering our commitment to innovation by delivering real customer value.

Genesis Photonics Inc. (GPI), which has been devoted to developing LED epitaxial wafer and chip technology for over 10 years, has made great strides in flip-chip packaging. GPI has developed MATCH LED and eutectic bonding technology, both of which improve reliability of LED lighting fixtures, allowing them to meet stringent outdoor lighting requirements and reduce production and after-sales costs.Embracing a corporate philosophy that calls for one to "mull the possibilities, seek solutions, and take actions" when faced with problems, GPI has extended from low- to medium-power LED chips to high-power flip-chip devices for nearly three years and has found the doors to Blue-Ocean markets of outdoor LED lighting. In a recent interview, GPI's Package & New Product Division Assistant Vice President Simon Hsu and Product & Marketing Division Section Manager Yang Shih-yi talked about the company's new products and technology, as well as its strategies that are designed around the goal of meeting clients' demand.GPI leads in flip-chip technology among LED makers in Greater ChinaQ: Can you give us a brief introduction to Genesis Photonics' current operations and products?Yang: Genesis Photonics has 35% of consolidated revenues coming from Japan-based clients, the highest proportion among Taiwan-based fellow makers, and 45% from China-based ones. As China's 12th Five-year Plan emphasizes the conservation of resources and environmental protection, infrastructure projects in China are expected to adopt a considerably large number of LED street lamps and tunnel lamps. Therefore, there will be huge demand for outdoor LED lighting in the China market.Flip-chip without wire bonding is a technology for securing high reliability of LED light sources and GPI was the first to start flip-chip LED production among Taiwan- and China-based fellow makers. Outdoor LED lighting products take up a large proportion of GPI's shipments.Flip-chip guarantees quality for outdoor LED lightingQ: How is demand in the outdoor LED lighting market?Hsu: When LED lights are switched on, they are always on, and the only problem is about luminance decay. Outdoor LED lighting is faced with challenging environmental conditions such as high/low temperatures, and high-voltage or high-current operations. When a string of LEDs is run by a constant current, the entire string will go off if one single LED chip fails. This will decrease the service life of LED lighting and even result in failure of the entire lighting system.As 5-year warranty is generally required in the EMC (energy management contract) market, any malfunction during the period may require the support of heavy machinery for repair. The costly maintenance may turn an EMC project into a failure in terms of profitability. Therefore it is necessary to maximize the reliability of LED lights. To enable high reliability, LED players have been keen to develop simplified LED component design. GPI's flip-chip technology is heading towards the same direction.Q: Can you give us a brief idea about GPI's flip-chip LED products?Hsu: Our MATCH LED is a flip-chip packaged on ceramic substrates using eutectic boning process. The MA3 series (MATCH LED in 3535 specification), for example, can reach luminous efficiency of 140lm/W for a single LED chip and features non-wire bonding, close arrays, low thermal resistance and high luminous efficiency, making it ideal for outdoor lighting.Q: Can you explain the flip-chip technology?Hsu: A general flip-chip packaging process involves soldering, bonding and reflow procedures, with reflow attaining 70% bonding coverage. GPI adopts eutectic bonding technology, which is characterized by direct bonding. The technology places an eutectic layer of gold-tin alloy – with thermal conductivity more than 10 times that for silver paste – between the LED chips and substrate, and with ultrasonic lamination technology the two can be firmly and evenly bonded. Such bonding minimizes bubbles and covers over 80% of the substrate. This enables the high reliability of LED chips when operated at high voltages and high currents.Q: What are GPI's advantages over competitors?Hsu: Our MA3 series features non-wire bonding, close arrays, low thermal resistance and high luminous efficiency, thanks to our vertical integration of LED epitaxial wafer, chip, and flip-chip packaging technologies. Based on LM-80 testing, the product life of the MA3-3 is comparable to products offered by leading international vendors. In addition, testing of luminous decay shows that the MA3-3 is well above the Energy Star outdoor lighting standard (94.1%) after working for 6,000 hours at 0.7 ampere and 105 degrees Celsius.High CP ratio creates win-win situation for GPI and clientsQ: What makes GPI a priority choice for clients?Yang: Our flip-chip technology is mature and we have begun volume production. And we are the only Taiwan-based maker whose 0.7 ampere-driven LED chips have been widely adopted for LED street lamps. In terms of cost-performance ratio, the chips generally take up 30% of total cost for high-power LED street lamps. For the same level of luminous efficiency and operating voltage, our MATCH LED is 20% less than competitions in terms of production cost, which will translate into a 6% reduction in the total production cost for lighting fixtures. This can shorten the time for return on investment for EMC projects. To sum up, GPI's competitiveness in the outdoor LED lighting market lies in its high quality, low cost and quick return on investment.Genesis Photonics showcases LED street lamps adopting its flip-chip-packaged high-power MATCH LED at the 2013 Guangzhou International Lighting Exhibition