Author: Techtime

Ability: All independent Board Members left the Board

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The Israeli provider of tactical communications intercepting solutions, Ability Inc. (NASDAQ: ABIL) announced that its independent directors, Amnon Dick, Efraim Halevy, Amos Malka, Meir Moshe and Shalom Singer have resigned from the Company’s Board of Directors. The Company is in the process of identifying replacement board members.

Anatoly Hurgin, Ability’s Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer, commented: “Alexander Aurovsky and I, who together co-founded Ability and hold a majority of its shares, remain committed to the Company.” He acknowledged that the Company is facing significant challenges: “We are taking steps to reduce costs and position Ability for future growth. As part of this effort, both Alexander and I have agreed to reduce our salaries by 50%, and are exploring additional cost-saving measures.

“We are encouraged by the interest in ULIN around the world, and are hopeful that this interest will translate into revenues over the second half of the year. We believe that the Company’s current cash position, including having over $8 million of cash and cash equivalents, should be adequate to meet Ability’s near future cash needs.”

Financial Challenge

Ability is facing financial crisis: Revenues for the first nine months of 2016 were $14.0 million compared with $50.2 million for the first nine months of 2015. The company has explained that the decrease was related to the project-oriented nature of Ability’s business and the ongoing transition to a revenue stream more focused on ULIN (Ultimate Interception) product, which is a new offering with a sales cycle which may be initially hard to predict. Meanwhile, it suffer a cash drain. Cash and cash equivalents now is approximately $8 million, compared to $19.5 million in September, 2016 and $25.8 million as of December, 2015

Headquartered in Tel Aviv, Israel, Ability Computer & Software Industries Ltd. was founded in 1994. The company provides interception, geolocation and cyber intelligence tools used by security and intelligence agencies, military forces, law enforcement and homeland security agencies worldwide. It focus on active and passive off-air interception and decryption of communications on GSM, CDMA, UMTS and LTE cellular systems as well as Iridium, Thuraya, and other satellite networks.Its latest product, ULIN – Ultimate Interception, is an SaaS strategic interception system with voice, text and geolocation capabilities without geographic limitation.

Gartner: Semiconductor sales to grow 12.3% in 2017

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Worldwide semiconductor revenue is forecast to total $386 billion in 2017, an increase of 12.3% from 2016. According to Gartner, the market is driven by price increases in DRAM and NAND flash, as tight supply conditions are expected to remain throughout most of 2017. Gartner: “Favorable market conditions that gained momentum in the second half of 2016, particularly for commodity memory, have accelerated and raised the outlook for the market in 2017 and 2018.”

However, the memory market is fickle, and additional capacity in both DRAM and NAND flash is expected to result in a correction in 2019. “While price increases for both DRAM and NAND flash memory are raising the outlook for the overall semiconductor market, it will also put pressure on margins for system vendors of smartphones, PCs and servers,” said Jon Erensen, research director at Gartner. “Component shortages, a rising bill of materials, and the prospect of having to counter by raising average selling prices (ASPs) will create a volatile market in 2017 and 2018.”

Memory push the Worldwide market

PC DRAM pricing has doubled since the middle of 2016. A 4GB module that cost $12.50 has jumped to just under $25 today. NAND flash ASPs increased sequentially in the second half of 2016 and the first quarter of 2017. Pricing for both DRAM and NAND is expected to peak in the second quarter of 2017, but relief is not expected until later in the year as content increases in key applications, such as smartphones, have vendors scrambling for supply.

Statistic: Semiconductor sales revenue worldwide from 1987 to 2018 (in billion U.S. dollars) | Statista

“With memory vendors expanding their margins though 2017, the temptation will be to add new capacity,” said Mr. Erensen. “We also expect to see China make a concerted effort to join the memory industry, setting the market up for a downturn in 2019.”

Unit production estimates for premium smartphones, graphics cards, video game consoles and automotive applications have improved and contributed to the stronger outlook in 2017. In addition, electronic equipment with heavy exposure to DRAM and NAND flash saw semiconductor revenue estimates increase. This includes PCs, ultramobiles, servers and solid-state drives.

“The outlook for emerging opportunities for semiconductors in the Internet of Things (IoT) and wearable electronics remains choppy with these markets still in the early stages of development and too small to have a significant impact on overall semiconductor revenue growth in 2017,” said Mr. Erensen.

TowerJazz and Aisin Seiki Announce New Generation of Automotive Products

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Photo above: Aisin’s ECU (electronic control unit) equipped with high-speed processor

TowerJazz and Aisin Seiki one of the largest worldwide automotive component suppliers, today announce volume production of Aisin’s new generation automotive devices for automotive body products for car manufacturers using TowerJazz’s power management technology platform.

TowerJazz’s power management platform enables industry leading performance for automotive chips by providing: scalable LDMOS and ESD devices for area efficiency, its patented highly-reliable Y-Flash OTP/MTP solutions, as well as buried Zener diode, Schottky diode and other advanced features.

Technology transfer to Japan

TowerJazz is expanding its power technology availability to its TowerJazz Panasonic Semiconductor Company’s (TPSCo’s) Japan fab. TowerJazz and Aisin plan to ramp products also in TPSCo’s 200mm automotive grade Japan fab, gaining multi-fab manufacturing flexibility.

“By utilizing TowerJazz’s advanced power technology platform, it is easy to customize the chips to our specifications,” said Mr. Koji Goto, Project General Manager, Electronics Advanced Development Dept. Electronics Product Division, Aisin Seiki Co., Ltd. “I am certain our close collaboration with TowerJazz on the development of automotive body products will result in efficient and reliable volume production of high quality automotive components.”

“TowerJazz is well positioned to best serve the growing automotive semiconductor market with our advanced power management technology platforms based on our 180nm AEC-Q100 Grade 0 qualified process platform to provide our customers with superior quality manufacturing solutions,” said Shimon Greenberg, Vice President and General Manager of Mixed-Signal and Power Management Business Unit, TowerJazz.

“We look forward to expanding our close relationship with Aisin to produce its next-generation automotive devices. The leadership of Aisin as a worldwide automotive component supplier, combined with our best in class power platform, enables breakthrough products in the fast growing automotive market.”

Alon Balash will lead Future Electronics Sales in EMEA

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The global electronic components distributor, Future Electronics, has appointed Alon Balash to the role of Vice-President of Sales for EMEA. Karim Khebere, Corporate VP & Managing Director EMEA at Future Electronics, sent last week an email to the employees, reporting the new nomination. Khebere wrote:

“Alon was a key founding member of the Tel-Aviv branch in 1997, where he started as a Strategic Account Manager, and soon became the sales leader for the external team. He was promoted to Branch Manager in 2003, achieving significant market share growth and distinguishing Future Electronics as a strong demand creation provider in the Israeli market, with the company winning numerous supplier awards as a result.

“He was appointed Regional Sales Director in 2008, taking on the responsibilities of Eastern Europe in 2010, Turkey in 2015, and the Nordic & Baltic Region in 2016. In addition, Alon is responsible for the Russian marketplace, where we are experiencing major sales penetration.

“Alon’s performance over the past 20 years has been outstanding! His proactive approach to sales leadership and tenacity for achieving success will continue to play a key role in his new position, in which he will execute our ‘win the customer’ strategy and be the driving force for all sales activity throughout the entire EMEA region. Future Electronics is committed to being the fastest growing distributor in EMEA, and Alon will lead the way in exposing our world-class industry-leading service model to all EMEA customers.

“Please join me in congratulating Alon on this well-deserved promotion.”

Digi-Key Offers Free Ultra Librarian CAD Models for Million Electronic In-Stock Parts

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The global electronic components distributor, Digi-Key Electronics, announced a new interface to the Ultra Librarian on-line library providing symbols, footprints, and 3D models for 1 million in-stock Digi-Key parts. Digi-Key’s new interface to Ultra Librarian offers an easy download of library components in 22 CAD formats supporting most EDA and CAD toolsets. Customers can now verify the Digi-Key and manufacturer’s part number, preview the graphics for the models, choose the output formats, and download up to 30 parts per month.

“This new interface and larger library will enable our customers to get a jump-start on incorporating new parts into their design with accurate and usable symbols, footprints, and 3D models,” said Randall Restle, VP, Applications Engineering at Digi-Key. “Our goal is to get CAD models for all of the parts we offer so that our customers can focus on design and get their products to market faster.”

up to 1,000 components in bundle

Digi-Key also offers Ultra Librarian pre-built parts in bundles for customers that need more than the free allotment.  These bundles can be purchased in sizes of 50, 100, and 1,000 pre-built parts and can also be delivered in any of the 22 CAD formats Ultra Librarian supports.  Additionally, customers who want to build their own part libraries can purchase Ultra Librarian desktop software.

“We are building the ‘Gold Standard’ for EDA libraries so that engineering teams can depend on downloaded parts as a reliable and effective time saving method of attaining CAD library components,” said Manny Marcano, president and CEO of EMA Design Automation, owner of the Ultra Librarian brand.  “By coupling a part download capability with the part research and purchase process, Digi-Key has raised the bar for electronic component distributors.”

To start downloading EDA and CAD parts from Digi-Key, go to a part detail page (Example), look for the row labeled “EDA / CAD Models” and click on the Download from Ultra Librarian link.

Delphi and otonomo to build auto-generated Data Marketplace for Automakers

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“When I think about the car of the future, I think about data,” twitted last week Glen De Vos, the chief technology officer of Delphi Automotive, one of the biggest Tier-1 supplier for the Automotive Industry. The twitting came immediately following a commercial partnership agreement signed between Delphi Automotive PLC (NYSE: DLPH) and otonomo, an Israel-based technology company developing a data marketplace for automakers.

A new type of Data Highway

otonomo’s connected car marketplace seamlessly and securely connects car data from any OEM to service and application providers such as insurance, fleet transportation, vehicle repair services, emergency services and expense control apps. By aggregating, anonymizing, and organizing car data, otonomo’s marketplace provides OEMs with full control over monetizing the valuable data from connected vehicles.

Delphi also led a $25 million series B financing round in otonomo, with additional participation and all existing investors, including Bessemer Venture Partners, StageOne Ventures and Maniv Mobility. The investment will be utilized to drive the company’s aggressive global expansion plans as market demand dramatically increases.

Glen added: “otonomo enables a cloud-based, connected car data marketplace. They offer a way for car makers and drivers a way to make use of the massive amount of data generated by cars by creating a marketplace that service providers like insurance, fleet, retails and smart city emergency services can tap into.”

otonomo’s CEO Ben Volkow (right), and the president Avner Cohen.

Delphi’s Data Strategy

“Our partnership will be bringing otonomo’s connected car marketplace to OEM customers,” said Kevin Clark, president and CEO, Delphi Automotive. “otonomo’s connected car marketplace will be integrated with Delphi products to offer a complete data acquisition and monetization solution for automakers. Investing in a platform that creates a connected car marketplace is a natural extension of Delphi’s data management and Over-The-Air (OTA) capabilities provided through our recent acquisitions of Control-Tec and Movimento.”

otonomo was founded in 2015 in Herzliya, Israel by the CEO Ben Volkow, and the president Avner Cohen. In November 2016, it raised $12 million in aseries A financing round led by Silicon Valley venture capital firm, Bessemer Venture Partners and Stageone Ventures.

“Gartner has predicted that by 2020, a quarter of a billion connected vehicles will be on the road—all of which will depend on in-car digital apps,” said Ben Volkow. “But in order for cars to provide the best connected service for drivers, car manufacturers need a platform they trust to share and negotiate data between them and application providers while meeting different data and privacy regulations that respect and accommodate drivers’ privacy. Our integrated cloud-based platform is a trusted gateway between the services and apps drivers want and the security the automotive industry needs.”

4,000 GB of value

When Intel has announced the acquisition of Mobileye in March 2017, it estimated that “by 2020, autonomous vehicles will generate 4,000 GB of data per day, which plays to Intel’s strengths in high-performance computing and network connectivity.” From Delphi/otonomo point of view, it means a lot of data with a lot of value – maybe even more than the car value itself…

US purchased 28 ReWalk Personal Exoskeletons

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ReWalk Robotics Ltd.,(Nasdaq: RWLK), announced today that the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) purchased 28 ReWalk Personal Exoskeleton Systems for an ongoing national multi-center clinical trial. ReWalk has already shiped 20 systems in Q1 of 2017. Rhe remaining 8 systems from this purchase will be shipped in Q2 2017. The 28 system purchase follows an initial purchase of 20 systems by the VA in 2016, which helped with the initiation of the multi-year, multi-center study.

The clinical trial is the first-ever study conducted in the United States to study the impact of exoskeleton use in a personal setting. The study is enrolling 160 randomized patients, half of whom use ReWalk Robotics’ exoskeleton system and half of whom use standard wheelchairs. Currently, there are six VA centers actively enrolling participants in the study, with four more VA centers set to be included by this summer.

Founded in 2001, ReWalk has headquarters in the U.S., Israel and Germany.  The ReWalk Exoskeleton was designed for people with paraplegia, a spinal cord injury resulting in complete or incomplete paralysis of the legs. The system uses patented motion sensing technology along with battery-powered motorized legs powering knee and hip movement which is controlled by proprietary on-board computers and software. The system allows the user to sit, stand, walk, turn and has the ability to climb and descend stairs. ReWalk is the first exoskeleton to receive FDA clearance.