Electronics Protection - September/October 2013 - (Page 28)

Industry News Emerson Network Power Forms New Thermal Management Business Emerson Network Power has created a thermal management business to expand its ability to develop and deliver more holistic, next-generation approaches to controlling the data center environment. The expanded focus reflects the evolution of data center environmental guidelines from organizations such as the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE). John Schneider will lead the new Thermal Management business as vice president and general manager. “The data center is an active, always-changing ecosystem where IT needs, geographic location and external weather conditions are connected, and changes in any one area have broad implications,” said Schneider. “We are delivering the next generation of data center cooling, with innovative services, software and hardware integrated and optimized to reliably, efficiently and cost-effectively control and manage heat.” The Thermal Management business, with annual revenues of approximately $800 million, includes Emerson Network Power’s existing Liebert precision cooling assets and expertise. It offers technologies and solutions for data centers and IT facilities of all sizes including air, waterside and innovative pumped-refrigerant economizers in addition to state-of-the-art controls and wireless sensors to maximize efficiency. Included in the solutions are custom air-handling solutions with chilled water, direct and indirect evaporative, and refrigerant technologies. “What we’re doing with our approach to thermal management is helping our customers analyze, understand and act on that data to realize more efficient, more sophisticated real-time environmental control,” said Schneider. “That control is realized through innovative hardware, software and services that include everything from more intelligent and versatile cooling technologies to data center infrastructure management systems to remote service delivery programs. Element Six Acquires the Assets and Intellectual Property of Group4 Labs, Inc. Element Six has acquired the assets and intellectual property of Group4 Labs, Inc. (Group4), a semiconductor wafer materials company that manufactured Gallium Nitride (GaN) on-diamond semiconductor technology for RF and high-power devices. The asset acquisition will expand Element Six’s semiconductor portfolio for defense and commercial applications. The assets were acquired through an assignment for the benefit of creditors from Group4, LLC. Group4 developed the first commercially available composite semiconductor wafer that includes GaN and diamond. Designed for manufacturers of transistor-based circuits with high power, temperature and frequency characteristics, the first-ever GaN-ondiamond system enables rapid, efficient and cost-effective heat extraction. This process reduces the operating temperatures of packaged devices, addressing heat issues that account for more than 50 percent of all electronic failures. Synthetic diamond dissipates heat up to five times better than existing materials, enabling device manufacturers to produce smaller, faster and higher power electronic devices, with longer life-spans and improved reliability. The Group4 GaN-on-diamond technology was a critical element of TriQuint Semiconductor’s device which won the Compound Semiconductor Industry Award in March. TriQuint demonstrated its new GaN-on-diamond, high electron mobility transistors (HEMT) in conjunction with partners at the University of Bristol, Group4 and Lockheed Martin under the Defense Advanced Re28 search Projects Agency’s (DARPA) Near Junction Thermal Transport (NJTT) program. TriQuint has designed devices using this technology to achieve up to a three-fold improvement in heat dissipation, the primary NJTT goal, while preserving RF functionality. This would translate into a potential reduction of the power amplifier size or increasing output power by a factor of three. “GaN-on-diamond wafers are poised to take a center seat in many of our customers technology roadmaps, as new developments demonstrate its ability to dramatically reduce device temperatures, while maintaining output performance,” said Adrian Wilson, head of technologies for Element Six. “With the acquisition of the GaN-on-diamond process developed by Group4, we plan to continue to support the market’s growth trajectory, ramping up manufacturing capabilities to deliver innovative synthetic diamond solutions to meet emerging market demands.” Latin American Data Center Infrastructure Market to Surge Beyond the $1 Billion Mark The Latin America market for data center infrastructure equipment is set to expand by 9 percent and exceed $1 billion for the first time ever in 2013, as the region engages in aggressive digitalization to become more competitive globally. Sales of data center infrastructure equipment in Latin America are forecast to climb to $1.01 billion in 2013, up from $926.6 million in 2012, according to the 2013 Latin American Market for Data Center Infrastructure Report from IMS Research. Revenue will continue to rise at a steady pace at least through 2016, when the market will swell to $1.3 billion. The major categories of data center infrastructure include uninterruptible power supplies (UPS), data center cooling, rack power-distribution units (PDU) and IT racks and enclosures. The fastest-growing product segment in the Latin American data center infrastructure equipment market will be rack PDUs, expected to enjoy a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of nearly 20 percent from 2011 to 2016. The next fastest-growing segment will be cooling equipment, expanding at a CAGR of 9.2 percent during the same period. “The fast growth of rack PDU and cooling equipment sales reflects global and regional realities for the Latin American data center market,” said Andres Gallardo, analyst at IHS. “First, the need to increase efficiency within a data center is a worldwide trend, and Latin America is no exception. Second, poorly equipped data centers and server rooms in Latin America historically used PDUs and cooling equipment that were not specifically designed for data centers. This means that these products are the first ones to be replaced when updating the data center.” The largest countries for data center infrastructure gear sales in Latin America are Brazil and Mexico. Together they accounted for 61 percent of the region’s market revenue in 2011. North American PCB Market Report Shows MIL/Aero Sales Still Outpace Other Markets Printed circuit board (PCB) sales growth to the military/ aerospace market continues to outpace sales to other vertical markets in North America, according to IPC’s North American PCB Market Report. Despite cutbacks in the US military budget, cumulative rigid PCB sales to the military market from January through May this year were up 3.4 percent compared to the same period in 2012, while rigid PCB sales to other markets were down 9.1 percent year-to-date. In the flexible circuit segment, year-to-date growth rates of sales to the military and other markets were both positive, September/October 2013 www.ElectronicsProtectionMagazine.com http://www.ElectronicsProtectionMagazine.com

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Electronics Protection - September/October 2013

Geist Unveils Rapid Deployment Data Center Environmental Monitoring System
Enabling Effective Thermal Management with DCIM
Predicting Gasket Performance: SE Measurements with a TEM Cell to Study Gasket Reliability
Rack Containment 101
The Nine Core Elements of DCIM
Using Electronic Locking Solutions to Secure Enclosures and Meet Storage Compliance Needs
Hammond’s HJ Series Ticks All the Boxes
Rogers Introduces Poron SlimGrip Foam
Ferrite Suppressors Clear Interference
Fujipoly Thermal Sheets are a Cooling Influence on LED Lighting
GE Introduces TLE Series UPS Platform
Gore PolyVent XL Improves Reliability of Large Outdoor Enclosures
IMI Sensors Launches Linear Adjust Mechanical Vibration Switch
Industry News
Calendar of Events
Five Ways to Realize Server Room Profitability

Electronics Protection - September/October 2013