Tag Archives: IHS

News, Politics, Government

Nigeria agency to allow LNG exports after $475 mln loss

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A Nigerian agency that has blockaded liquefied natural gas exports for three weeks, costing $475 million in revenue, agreed Friday to end its action after resolving a fees dispute, the company said.

Nigeria LNG Limited said it had decided under protest to pay $140 million in the dispute over levies claimed by the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency, known by its acronym NIMASA.

That amount is in addition to an earlier $20 million paid under protest.

NLNG’s shareholders include Shell at 25.6 percent, state firm NNPC with 49 percent, Total LNG Nigeria at 15 percent and Eni at 10.4 percent.

“In addition, NLNG has agreed to pay, again under protest, the levies as they become due until a judicial ruling on whether these payments are justified can be obtained,” NLNG said in a statement.

The company maintains it is exempt from such levies under a law setting out conditions for Nigeria’s LNG industry.

The agency had continued to block shipments from the facility in southern Nigeria which provides some seven percent of global LNG supply despite court rulings ordering it to end the action, NLNG said.

A NIMASA spokesman did not return calls for comment.

Asked whether the agency would now lift the blockade, NLNG spokesman Kudo Eresia-Eke told AFP “that was what was agreed.”

“Owing to the NIMASA blockade which persisted in spite of court orders, the company has lost revenues of over 76 billion naira ($475 million), 65 percent of which belongs to the federal government, which has thus lost about 50 billion naira in dividends, taxes, etc.,” NLNG said in a statement.

According to NLNG, the blockade that began on June 21 also cut into cooking gas supplies in Nigeria because the facility produces liquefied petroleum gas as a byproduct.

According to local media reports, NIMASA has contracted with a security firm linked to a prominent ex-militant from the country’s oil-producing Niger Delta region. The security firm, Global West, was named in court documents seeking an end to the blockade.

Nigeria exported some 19.6 million metric tons of LNG in 2012, the fourth-largest output worldwide, according to data compiled by research firm IHS. Qatar was first with 74.2 million metric tons.

LNG, which sees natural gas super-cooled and transformed into liquid for transport on tankers, has represented around nine percent of global gas demand, according to figures from the International Energy Agency.

…read more

Source: FULL ARTICLE at Fox World News

Business, Finance, Occupation & Industry

Philips Lights Up LEDs

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By Rich Duprey, The Motley Fool

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Normally, you don’t think of your lighting choices as an investment, but when the government is handing out $10 million in prizes so companies can develop $60 light bulbs, you better crack open your piggy bank (and break into Fort Knox) if you want to light up your house. 

But last year’s L prize winner, Koninklijke Philips Electronics , says it also has the next advance in LED lighting that will be more efficient and slightly more affordable than its oft-ridiculed predecessor. The lighting specialist says it has developed an LED bulb that can produce 200 lumens of light per watt, a threshold that puts it at about double what a typical fluorescent bulb generates. While it will cost slightly more than its fluorescent rival, the total cost of ownership of the bulb will be much less.

Source: Philips.

That’s also not a term you typically associate with your lighting needs, but until recently it was one you had to consider when deciding whether to change over to LEDs. Your initial up-front costs were substantial, but the savings over time greatly outweighed the cost. Even Philips’ $60 bulb would eventually save you money since it’s estimated they’d last for $20 years.

LEDing the way to profits
LED lighting leader Cree would likely take exception to Philips touting its work in this field since it previously developed an LED bulb that would reach 200 lumens per watt, though it occurs only under some circumstances. It’s also gone the route of producing a bulb that looks more like a traditional light bulb.

Both Philips and Cree have LEDs on the market that retail for around $10 to $15 despite taking different approaches to achieve that relatively affordable price level. Suffice to say that both realize if LEDs are going to gain broad public adoption, their cost will have to come down more while the bulbs themselves need to do more. 

A bright future
Even so, the market researchers at IHS estimate the LED lighting market will advance 40% this year. The time is quickly approaching when the compact fluorescent bulb, which was always seen as something of a transitional technology between traditional incandescent bulbs and highly efficient LEDs, will completely disappear.

The greatest uptake in the technology is coming first in commercial and industrial settings, where businesses with heavy lighting usage will realize the greatest savings in the shortest amount of time. Individual consumers with far more modest lighting needs will see more limited savings that will be stretched over extended periods of time.

Blinded by the light
Philips will be introducing its new 200 lumen bulb in 2015 and expects that within 10 years half the world’s fluorescents will be displaced. More importantly, their cost will fall rapidly with their increased efficiency, making them cheaper to own within a year, as opposed to the current three years. Acuity Brands  thinks Philips may still be in the dark about that, believing LEDs will surpass fluorescents in as

From: http://www.dailyfinance.com/2013/04/12/philips-lights-up-leds/

Business, Finance, Occupation & Industry

IHS Incoming President and CEO Scott Key Announces Executive Leadership Team

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By Business Wirevia The Motley Fool

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IHS Incoming President and CEO Scott Key Announces Executive Leadership Team

ENGLEWOOD, Colo.–(BUSINESS WIRE)– Following the April 10 announcement that Jerre Stead will assume the role of Executive Chairman of the IHS Board of Directors and Scott Key will be appointed President and Chief Executive Officer effective June 1, IHS Inc. (NYS: IHS) today announced the executive leadership team that will support Key.

“We have built an incredible leadership bench at IHS across each functional and operational area as we have grown the company,” Key said. “Over the last seven years, we have developed the experience and skill base designed to successfully scale and grow IHS for the long term. I am pleased to have the right leaders with the skills and capabilities to achieve our profitable growth goals, and to add to this leadership bench as we execute on a clear roadmap for continued growth and success.”

The leadership team continuing in their roles are:

  • Stephanie Buscemi, senior vice president and chief marketing officer
  • Stephen Green, executive vice president, legal and corporate secretary
  • Todd Hyatt, senior vice president-chief financial and IT officer
  • Jane Okun Bomba, senior vice president and chief sustainability, IR & communications officer
  • Jeffrey Sisson, senior vice president and chief human resources officer
  • Brian Sweeney, senior vice president-global sales
  • Richard Walker, executive vice president-global finance

IHS Vice Chairman of the Board Daniel Yergin will continue to report to Stead.

In addition, IHS is adding two new senior executives and expanding the responsibilities for another.

Jonathan Gear has been named senior vice president-industrials. In this expanded role, Gear will lead the IHS electronics and media, and transportation industry sectors, along with a number of key IHS end markets. Gear joined IHS in 2005 and has served as senior vice president of IHS Insight products and led IHS CERA, along with responsibilities in the areas of strategy, product management, marketing, and mergers and acquisitions.

Anurag Gupta has joined IHS as executive vice president-strategy, products and operations. Gupta will lead the IHS core workflow business lines and support operations. He also will lead the corporate strategy function. Gupta has

From: http://www.dailyfinance.com/2013/04/11/ihs-incoming-president-and-ceo-scott-key-announces/

Business, Finance, Occupation & Industry

IHS Promotes COO to CEO

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By Rich Smith, The Motley Fool

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Colorado-based IHS will be under new management soon. The business analytics provider announced Wednesday that current President and Chief Operating Officer Scott Key will take over the role of President and Chief Executive Officer from Jerre Stead on June 1.

At that time, Stead will become simply executive chairman of the company.

Key, a 10-year veteran of the company, has served as COO since January 2011. In compensation for his new role, IHS said in an SEC filing that he will receive:

  • A 23% increase in salary to $830,000 a year.
  • Annual bonus target of 100% of this salary.
  • A “promotional equity award” of 15,000 performance-based restricted stock units (RSU).

Stead will receive a 10,000-RSU award upon taking the position of executive chairman.

Simultaneously with this news, IHS issued guidance for the current fiscal year. The company expects to produce revenues of between $1.66 billion and $1.73 billion, with a revenue growth rate of about 6% year over year. Adjusted earnings for the year are expected to range between $4.23 and $4.43 per share. No GAAP earnings projection was given.

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The article IHS Promotes COO to CEO originally appeared on Fool.com.

Fool contributor Rich Smith has no position in any stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services free for 30 days. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

Copyright © 1995 – 2013 The Motley Fool, LLC. All rights reserved. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

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Source: FULL ARTICLE at DailyFinance

Business, Finance, Occupation & Industry

IHS Updates 2013 Financial Guidance

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By Business Wirevia The Motley Fool

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IHS Updates 2013 Financial Guidance

ENGLEWOOD, Colo.–(BUSINESS WIRE)– IHS Inc. (NYS: IHS) , the leading global source of information and analytics, is updating its 2013 financial guidance for the Fekete acquisition announced earlier this week and for the planned divestiture of a small, under-performing non-core asset. The company plans to publicly update its earnings guidance during its previously announced Investor Day presentation to be made today, April 10, 2013.

For the year ending November 30, 2013, IHS expects:

  • All-in revenue in a range of $1.66 to $1.73 billion, including an overall organic growth rate expected to be between 5-7 percent at the midpoint
  • All-in Adjusted EBITDA in a range of $540 to $582 million
  • Adjusted EPS between $4.23 to $4.43 per diluted share
  • Fully diluted shares to be approximately 67 million

This updated guidance assumes no adjustment to currency rates since our last earnings release on March 21, 2013.

The above outlook assumes no further acquisitions, divestitures, pension mark-to-market adjustments or unanticipated events. See discussion of non-GAAP financial measures at the end of this release.

To listen to the meeting and view the presentations via webcast, log on to investor.ihs.com by 11:45 a.m. EDT on April 10. A replay of the IHS Investor Day webcast will be available approximately two hours after the end of the presentation through the same website link.


About IHS
 (www.ihs.com)

IHS (NYS: IHS) is the leading source of information, insight and analytics in critical areas that shape today’s business landscape. Businesses and governments in more than 165 countries around the globe rely on the comprehensive content, expert independent analysis and flexible delivery methods of IHS to make high-impact decisions and develop strategies with speed and confidence. IHS has been in business since 1959 and became a publicly traded company on the New York Stock Exchange in 2005. Headquartered in Englewood, Colorado, USA, IHS employs 6,700 people in 31 countries around the world.

Use of …read more

Source: FULL ARTICLE at DailyFinance

Business, Finance, Occupation & Industry

IHS Acquires Fekete Associates

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By Business Wirevia The Motley Fool

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IHS Acquires Fekete Associates

ENGLEWOOD, Colo.–(BUSINESS WIRE)– IHS Inc. (NYS: IHS) , the leading global source of information and analytics, today announced it has acquired Fekete Associates, a leading provider of integrated reservoir management software and services to the oil and gas industry. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

“The acquisition of Fekete plays an important role in better supporting our customers as we continue to seamlessly connect IHS information and expertise with the right tools and technologies linked to key energy workflows,” said IHS Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Jerre Stead. “The products and services offered by Fekete build on existing IHS Energy solutions and provide new opportunity to expand Fekete offerings to a high-growth global energy marketplace.”

Fekete is a leading provider of integrated reservoir and production engineering tools and workflow solutions to the oil and natural gas exploration and production industry. Headquartered in Calgary, Alberta, Canada and with an office in Houston, the company’s digital solutions help customers find and develop new oil and gas reserves, and optimize production from new and existing assets by processing, analyzing, interpreting and modeling digital subsurface information. Fekete’s Harmony™ platform, an easy-to-use and customizable software environment that hosts its Well Performance Analysis applications, is the company’s hallmark product.

“Combining Fekete workflow tools with IHS Energy information will create new efficiencies for customers and speed time to decisions in exploration and production. In a very dynamic global energy environment, providing integrated solutions that improve productivity and allow an even greater level of insight in making investment decisions is a great outcome for our customers and for IHS,” said IHS President and Chief Operating Officer Scott Key.

Fekete provides solutions to support customers across the oil and gas asset life cycle, from governmental applications to drill, brownfield developments, well production analyses, reserve evaluations and simulation services. Their deep expertise aligns well with IHS significant permitting, drilling, development, production and reservoir databases.

David Dunn, president of Fekete, affirmed: “We’re excited about the opportunities this acquisition offers Fekete’s clients by supporting seamless connections to data that is integral to a proper well or asset performance analysis. The IHS global reach will expand the delivery of cutting-edge engineering services and products worldwide, and help position key support personnel across critical growth markets supporting the current demand for new tools to handle the frontier of unconventional resources.”

Additional information on the acquisition will be provided at IHS Investor Day on April 10, 2013.

…read more

Source: FULL ARTICLE at DailyFinance

Business, Finance, Occupation & Industry

Swissmedic and Swiss Red Cross Present National Haemovigilance Data Showing Favourable Safety Profil

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By Business Wirevia The Motley Fool

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Swissmedic and Swiss Red Cross Present National Haemovigilance Data Showing Favourable Safety Profile for INTERCEPT-Treated Platelet Components

CONCORD, Calif.–(BUSINESS WIRE)– Cerus Corporation (NAS: CERS) announced today the results of a haemovigilance study reflecting two years of experience with routine transfusion of 62,500 INTERCEPT-treated platelet components recently presented by Swissmedic and the Swiss Red Cross at the 15th International Haemovigilance Seminar (IHS) in Brussels, Belgium.

“Swiss haemovigilance data from transfusion of INTERCEPT-treated platelet components support the favourable safety profile of this pathogen inactivated blood product compared with conventional platelets,” said Dr. Markus Jutzi, Haemovigilance, Swissmedic, Swiss Agency of Therapeutic Products. “As expected, in routine use, we observed that INTERCEPT-treated platelet components prevented septic transfusion reactions. Furthermore, we detected no increased risk for pulmonary adverse events. The introduction of the INTERCEPT procedure also obviated the need for gamma irradiation.”

The INTERCEPT Blood System for platelets was introduced into routine use in Switzerland in 2011, where reporting of transfusion-related adverse events is mandatory. The cumulative haemovigilance data allowed for comparison of risks associated with transfusion of conventional platelet components (during 2009-2011) and INTERCEPT-treated platelet components (during 2011-2012).

As presented at IHS, Dres. Rüesch, Jutzi and colleagues observed no change in platelet or red blood cell utilization between the two periods. There were fewer reports of non-infectious transfusion reactions in general (1:400) as well as of severe (grade 3, 4) transfusion reactions (1:10,000) with INTERCEPT-treated platelet components compared to conventional platelet components (1:300 and 1:3,000, respectively). There were no instances of septic reactions reported with INTERCEPT-treated platelet components, compared to 4 septic reactions, including 1 fatality, with conventional platelet components. Additionally, fewer and less severe transfusion reactions with respiratory symptoms were reported for INTERCEPT-treated platelet components.

“We are very pleased by the improvements in transfusion safety documented by the Swiss haemovigilance data after the adoption of the INTERCEPT Blood System for platelets, and these results are consistent with the 6-year experience in France reported by the ANSM haemovigilance system,” said Dr. Laurence Corash, Cerus’ chief medical officer. “Cerus’ goal is to enable transfusion services to deliver safe and effective blood products to patients, and we are proud to work with countries such as Switzerland in this effort.”

The poster presentation (“Two years experience with pathogen inactivation for platelet concentrates in Switzerland“) is available for download on the Swissmedic website at http://www.swissmedic.ch/marktueberwachung/00159/00160/00437/index.html.

The poster abstract has been published as P-11 in Blood Transfusion, Supplement No. 1, February 2013, ISSN 1723-2007 and is available for download at …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at DailyFinance

Business, Finance, Occupation & Industry

How Big Is the Utica Shale's Potential?

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By Arjun Sreekumar, The Motley Fool

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Since the Bakken and Eagle Ford shales took the energy industry by storm a few years back, another energy play has slowly crept into the limelight. It’s the Utica shale — an up-and-coming play that has drawn comparisons with the prolific Eagle Ford of Texas. Like the Eagle Ford, the Utica is expected to have a vast prospective area, massive hydrocarbon potential, and three zones containing oil, dry gas, and natural gas liquids.  

Though relatively very little is known about the play’s true potential, results thus far have been encouraging. Let’s take a closer look at the play itself, its potential, and some of the major companies hoping to strike it rich.

A primer on the Utica
The Utica is a shale rock formation located thousands of feet below the Marcellus. Because the play is still in the infant stages of development, its geology and production potential are less well understood than the Marcellus. Located in the Appalachian Basin, the Utica spans several states but is located primarily in Ohio, New York, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and West Virginia.

Like the Marcellus, the Utica is composed of sedimentary rocks that contain potentially massive quantities of oil and gas. But unlike the Marcellus, the Utica is believed to contain a greater proportion of “wet” natural gas, which includes natural gas liquids such as butane, ethane, pentane, and propane.

The play is also much deeper than the Marcellus, with much of the sought-after wet gas located at depths of 6,000 feet or less in the outer fringes of the formation.

The Utica’s hydrocarbon and economic potential
According to the first assessment from the U.S. Geological Survey, the results from which were announced last year, the Utica shale contains 38 trillion cubic feet of technically recoverable natural gas. That’s a little less than half the recoverable resource potential of the Marcellus, which USGS estimates to hold around 84 trillion cubic feet of recoverable natural gas.

Development of unconventional oil and gas resources has already been hailed as a major source of job creation over the next several decades. As the Utica’s potentially massive hydrocarbon reserves are gradually exploited, the play is expected to yield significant economic benefits for Ohio and for the country as a whole.

According to a report by IHS, a leading global energy research and consulting firm, development in the Utica will catapult Ohio to the third spot in the list of the top states by energy-sector employment by 2035. The report forecasts that Ohio’s unconventional oil and gas employment will surge to 144,000 by the close of this decade and come close to 275,000 by 2035.

If the Utica does turn out to live up to its expectations, it should provide a major boost to Ohio’s economy and help reverse decades of manufacturing-sector decline there.

Major Utica operators
Chesapeake Energy is by far the leading driller in Ohio’s Utica shale, with its core acreage concentrated in Carroll and surrounding counties. Steve …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at DailyFinance

Business, Finance, Occupation & Industry

Does This Mean Huge Profits Ahead for Samsung in 2013?

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By Andrew Tonner, The Motley Fool

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In this video, Andrew Tonner examines the profit potential for the new Samsung S4 smartphone. Using data from IHS, the S4 costs more to build than the Galaxy S3, courtesy of a larger, higher-resolution screen. But even so, 60% of the S4’s components are made by Samsung, thus limiting the actual cost to the company. Right now, the big unknown is what Samsung will charge consumers for an S4 — and that doesn’t include the contract. Nothing is terribly clear at the moment, and Andrew encourages keeping a close watch.

As one of the most dominant Internet companies ever, Google has made a habit of driving strong returns for its shareholders. However, like many other Web companies, it’s also struggling to adapt to an increasingly mobile world. Despite gaining an enviable lead with its Android operating system, the market isn’t sold. That’s why it’s more important than ever to understand each piece of Google’s sprawling empire. In The Motley Fool’s new premium research report on Google, we break down the risks and potential rewards for Google investors. Simply click here now to unlock your copy of this invaluable resource.

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Source: FULL ARTICLE at DailyFinance

Business, Finance, Occupation & Industry

IHS to Hold Annual Investor Day Conference April 10, 2013

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By Business Wirevia The Motley Fool

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IHS to Hold Annual Investor Day Conference April 10, 2013

ENGLEWOOD, Colo.–(BUSINESS WIRE)– IHS Inc. (NYS: IHS) , the leading global source of information and analytics, will host its annual Investor Day conference on April 10, 2013 in New York.

The Investor Day conference will be led by IHS Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Jerre Stead and will focus on detailed overviews of the IHS business. To listen to the meeting and view the presentations via webcast, log on to investor.ihs.com by 11:45 a.m. EDT on April 10. A replay of the IHS Investor Day webcast will be available approximately two hours after the end of the presentation through the same website link.


About IHS
 (www.ihs.com)

IHS (NYS: IHS) is the leading source of information, insight and analytics in critical areas that shape today’s business landscape. Businesses and governments in more than 165 countries around the globe rely on the comprehensive content, expert independent analysis and flexible delivery methods of IHS to make high-impact decisions and develop strategies with speed and confidence. IHS has been in business since 1959 and became a publicly traded company on the New York Stock Exchange in 2005. Headquartered in Englewood, Colorado, USA, IHS is committed to sustainable, profitable growth and employs more than 6,000 people in 31 countries around the world.

IHS is a registered trademark of IHS Inc. All other company and product names may be trademarks of their respective owners. © 2013 IHS Inc. All rights reserved.

IHS Inc.
News Media:
Ed Mattix, +1-303-397-2467
ed.mattix@ihs.com
or
Investor Relations:
Andy Schulz, +1-303-397-2969
andy.schulz@ihs.com

KEYWORDS:   United States  North America  Colorado  New York

INDUSTRY KEYWORDS:

The article IHS to Hold Annual Investor Day Conference April 10, 2013 originally appeared on Fool.com.

Try any of our Foolish newsletter services free for 30 days. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

Copyright © 1995 – 2013 The Motley Fool, LLC. …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at DailyFinance

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WEX Releases Monthly Construction Fuel Consumption Index (FCI) Results

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By Business Wirevia The Motley Fool

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WEX Releases Monthly Construction Fuel Consumption Index (FCI) Results

U.S. Construction Industry Fueling Increased 6.5% Year-Over-Year in February; Up 1.6% versus Previous Month

SOUTH PORTLAND, Maine–(BUSINESS WIRE)– WEX Inc. (NYS: WXS) , a leading provider of corporate payment solutions, in collaboration with IHS, the leading global source of information and analytics, today released results of its WEX Construction Fuel Consumption Index (FCI), which indicated an increase of 6.5% in February versus its level at the same time the previous year.

The WEX Construction FCI measures national fuel consumption statistics for the construction industry, which provides an accurate and up-to-date indication of construction activity in the United States.

WEX worked with IHS to capture and analyze transaction data from its closed loop network, which includes over 90 percent of the domestic retail fuel locations. With this data, the WEX Construction FCI can be used to identify emerging trends within the construction industry and the national economy.

The indicators were tested at monthly, quarterly and annual frequencies, with the greatest insights produced using the year-over-year percent change of the monthly data. For February 2013, the WEX Construction FCI reported that fuel consumption by U.S. construction companies increased 6.5% versus February 2012 and increased 1.6% versus the previous month.

The WEX Construction FCI, which is available monthly in advance of the U.S. Census Bureau figures on construction spending, is available at http://www.wexinc.com/fuel-consumption-index.

Last month’s WEX Construction FCI reflected the consecutive positive year-over-year growth indicated by the seasonally-adjusted index in most of the government‘s subsequent construction data releases. Private residential construction rose by 3.3%; however, construction spending excluding improvements – a good measure of activity – decreased by 1.8% in January. January housing permit statistics were encouraging, with total permits increasing by 1.8%. Meanwhile, housing starts in January dropped by 8.5%, to an annual rate of 890,000. Total construction put-in-place, which is also released a month later than the WEX Construction FCI, fell by 2.1% in January. In February, the construction industry added 48,000 jobs after gaining 25,000 in January, which coincides with the February increase for the WEX Construction FCI.

IHS Analysis

According to the IHS analysis, the month-to-month growth in February for the WEX Construction FCI follows a recent uptick in U.S. home sales. New home sales increased by 15.6% in January to a 437,000-unit annual …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at DailyFinance

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IHS GlobalSpec Introduces Datasheets360.com

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By Business Wirevia The Motley Fool

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IHS GlobalSpec Introduces Datasheets360.com


Targeted Online Resource is Designed to Meet the Specific Needs of Electronics Purchasing, Engineering, and Technical Professionals

EAST GREENBUSH, N.Y.–(BUSINESS WIRE)– GlobalSpec (recently acquired by IHS Inc. (NYS: IHS) ), a leading provider of digital media solutions for suppliers and distributors seeking exposure to engineering, manufacturing and technical professionals, today announced the release of Datasheets360 (www.datasheets360.com), a comprehensive source for manufacturer datasheets and distributor pricing and availability information, searchable by partial and exact product numbers.

By leveraging IHS CAPS Universe content with IHS GlobalSpec’s digital media platform, Datasheets360 provides purchasing, engineering, and technical professionals instant, free access to a database of millions of electronics components datasheets. Visitors to www.datasheets360.com can search datasheets from over 600 suppliers in more than 400 categories of active and passive electronic components.

For suppliers, Datasheets360 offers multiple opportunities to dominate share of voice for specific parts or entire part categories via contextual ad units, and drive transaction-ready traffic to their site to buy products or request samples. Built to facilitate product consideration and ultimately part procurement, the site represents an opportunity for manufacturers to build brand awareness and position themselves for design wins during a critical phase in the buy cycle, and for distributors to drive transactions.

“With the launch of Datasheets360, IHS has established the largest, most comprehensive resource for critical parts data in the industry,” said Don Lesem, vice president of digital media & engineering insight for IHS. “Engineering, purchasing and related professionals have long relied on IHS as a source of trusted content. Datasheets360 allows this audience to search and access essential data and content, while giving suppliers a digital media platform designed to facilitate multiple opportunities to reach, engage and drive transactions.”

Datasheets360 launch partners include Digi-Key Corporation; Mouser Electronics, Inc.; and Allied Electronics, Inc.

To learn more about Datasheets360, visit www.datasheets360.com.


About GlobalSpec

GlobalSpec, recently acquired by IHS Inc. (NYS: IHS) , is the leading provider of digital media solutions designed to …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at DailyFinance

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IDT Announces World's Lowest Jitter MEMS Oscillators With Integrated Frequency Margining Capability

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By Business Wirevia The Motley Fool

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IDT Announces World’s Lowest Jitter MEMS Oscillators With Integrated Frequency Margining Capability

IDT’s 4H LVDS / LVPECL MEMS Oscillators with 100 Femtoseconds Typical Phase Jitter and Adaptable Output Frequency Reduces BER in High-performance 10GbE and Networking Applications

SAN JOSE, Calif.–(BUSINESS WIRE)– Integrated Device Technology, Inc. (IDT®) (NAS: IDTI) , the Analog and Digital Company™ delivering essential mixed-signal semiconductor solutions, today announced the industry’s first differential MEMS oscillators with 100 femtosecond (fs) typical phase jitter performance and integrated frequency margining capability. The extremely low phase jitter and adaptable output frequency of IDT‘s high-performance oscillators significantly reduce bit error rate (BER) in 10 gigabit Ethernet (10GbE) switches, routers, and other related networking equipment.

The IDT 4H performance MEMS oscillators feature a differential LVDS / LVPECL output and the lowest phase jitter in their product class (100 fs @ 1.875 – 20 MHz and sub-300 fs @ 12kHz – 20 MHz), satisfying the low-jitter chipset requirements of high-performance networking applications. Integrated frequency margining capability enables customers to fine-tune the oscillator frequency during operation in the application by up to ±1000 ppm, minimizing BER and facilitating margin testing. IDT‘s 4H MEMS oscillators are available in multiple package sizes including the smaller 3225 (3.2 x 2.5 mm) to save board space and cost in densely populated applications. IDT is the only supplier to offer this combination of MEMS oscillator performance, features, and small package size.

“IDT‘s latest series of MEMS oscillators build upon the standard 4M and enhanced 4E oscillator series’ to address the demanding performance requirements of 10GbE and networking applications,” said Christian Kermarrec, vice president and general manager of the Timing and Synchronization Division at IDT. “As the leader in timing solutions, we equip our customers with the highest performance parts and innovative features to facilitate the development of their next-generation products. We are pleased to see many OEMs choosing IDT over MEMS start-up suppliers for the experience and technical innovation that IDT provides.”

“Cloud computing and storage infrastructure is growing rapidly with almost 50% of servers and storage clusters shipping with 10GbE. High performance MEMS oscillators enable a lower bit error rate in enterprise computing and storage infrastructure and offer much better reliability at the same time,” said Jérémie Bouchaud, director and principal analyst for MEMS and sensors at IHS.

IDT‘s integrated frequency margining capability enables customers to employ a technique known in the industry as ‘plus-PPM clocking’. This technique clocks systems …read more
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Amazon.com's Race to the Bottom

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By Evan Niu, CFA, The Motley Fool

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Always one to go low, Amazon.com may be about to go even lower with its popular Kindle Fire tablet. TechCrunch is reporting that the e-tail juggernaut is preparing to launch a $99 Kindle Fire with a seven-inch display.

Amazon is reportedly going with a 1280 x 800 resolution along with a processor from Texas Instruments . If those specs sound familiar, that’s because the current $199 Kindle Fire HD bears the same characteristics. The company continues to put pressure on Apple‘s iPad mini, and also recently dropped the price of its 8.9-inch Kindle Fire HD, which is now $60 cheaper than Apple’s smaller model. A possible $99 model could potentially add even more heat, costing less than a third of an entry-level iPad mini.

Here, have some cost savings
When Amazon reduced the price of its bigger tablet, the company said that it was passing along cost savings that have materialized since the initial launch as Amazon increased production volumes. The possibility of a $99 Kindle Fire would follow in those same footsteps, and also implies that costs have come down significantly since launch.

In November, IHS iSuppli estimated that Amazon’s component costs including manufacturing totaled $174, so costs must have had to come down significantly for Amazon to make this move. The largest component for any tablet in general is always the display and touchscreen assembly ($64 of iSuppli’s November estimate). That was five months ago, and any cost reductions related to the display would go a long way in facilitating a retail price drop.

Going with TI would show how cozy the pair is, since TI publicly exited the mobile chip sector last year. TI processors have powered every Kindle Fire to date, and Amazon is undoubtedly the biggest buyer of its OMAP chips.

IDC Research Director Tom Mainelli said the $99 price point seems within reach for Amazon, since the company does have the required scale to make it worthwhile.

Stuck in the middle with you
With Google‘s upcoming second-generation Nexus 7 expected within a matter of months, a $99 Kindle Fire would also be a viable threat to the search giant if it were still targeting the original $199 price point. Google similarly pursues a strategy of little to no hardware margins for most of its devices (other than its new high-end Chromebook Pixel), so the company can also be expected to pass along cost savings to consumers wherever possible.

Although Google has also been following Apple’s lead with pushing higher-resolution displays, such as the one found in the larger Nexus 10 and the aforementioned Chromebook Pixel. If the search giant opts for a sharper display in the second-generation Nexus 7, that’s going to add a lot to the bill of materials and may prohibit a more aggressive price point. On the other hand, a higher-resolution Nexus 7 would also be positioned higher than a $99 tablet.

There aren’t a whole lot of rumors …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at DailyFinance

News, Politics, Government

Samsung's Secret To Innovation: An Extraordinary Grip On Components

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By Parmy Olson, Forbes Staff

A stark figure stood out in the bill-of-materials estimate that IHS made today for Samsung’s latest smartphone: 63% of the total costs of materials in the Galaxy S4, including key items like the processor and display, go back to Samsung’s own component-making divisions. That’s $149 out of a total cost of $236. …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Forbes Latest

Business, Finance, Occupation & Industry

Amazon Gets Aggressive

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By Evan Niu, CFA, The Motley Fool

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Just yesterday, e-tail kingpin Amazon.com decided to get even more aggressive than usual. The company permanently slashed the price of its 8.9-inch Kindle Fire HD tablet and expanded country availability.

The larger version of its popular tablet can now be had for just $269 for a Wi-Fi only model, while the LTE-equipped model now starts at just $399.

Model

New Entry-Level Price

Price Reduction

Wi-Fi

$269

$30

LTE

$399

$100

Source: Amazon.

The change comes shortly after Amazon was offering a promotion last month with similar price points, but now the price changes are here to stay. Why the sudden change of heart?

A little white lie?
According to Amazon Kindle exec Dave Limp, the e-tailer has been able to decrease its cost structure alongside increased production volumes. Amazon has a habit of passing along cost savings to customers whenever possible throughout its business, and Limp maintains that this is just the latest example of that practice.

When Amazon offered the promotion last month, I instead hypothesized that the 8.9-inch Kindle Fire HD didn’t sell too well over the holidays, and that the company was stuck with a glut of inventory that it needed to clear out. The 7-inch model is still likely doing well at the tempting $199 price point, but the original entry-level price point of $299 for an 8.9-inch Wi-Fi model put it squarely against Apple‘s iPad Mini.

For an extra $30, the iPad Mini is pretty compelling since it has higher build quality and a more robust app ecosystem, even if the Kindle Fire HD features a much better display. That seems to be a trade-off that many consumers were willing to make, since the iPad Mini is off to a strong start and expected to sell upwards of 55 million units this year.

History does not repeat itself
The price cut is in stark contrast to Amazon’s pricing strategy last year. The first-generation Kindle Fire was launched in September 2011, and Google launched its Nexus 7 in June 2012. The Nexus 7 was superior to the Kindle Fire in nearly every imaginable way, yet both devices were priced at $199. At the time, there weren’t many justifiable reasons to pick a Kindle Fire over the Nexus 7 since they were at pricing parity.

That was a whole nine months after launch, and Amazon’s component costs inevitably decreased over that time, yet it did not offer any type of price reductions. Fellow Fool Rick Munarriz entertained the idea of a $149 Kindle Fire after IHS iSuppli compiled a bill of materials for the Nexus 7, with the justified assumption that Amazon was facing a similar cost curve as Google.

Amazon’s strategy has always been to sell hardware at or near cost, but it would be another three months until Amazon cut the first-generation model’s price to $169 when it launched the second-generation models.

What’s the difference? …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at DailyFinance

Business, Finance, Occupation & Industry

A Skeptic Concedes Solid-State Drives Are the Future

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By Tim Beyers and Alison Southwick, The Motley Fool

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Solid-state drives, or SSDs, have been catching on ever since Apple decided to put them in its laptops. But now we’ve reached a tipping point. Classic hard-drive makers are beginning to turn away from the magnetic drives we’ve used for decades in favor of the newer, stabler, faster solid-state alternatives.

The latest to make the switch: Seagate Technology , which is on track to stop producing 7,200-rpm laptop drives by the end of the year. Currently, Seagate pitches a brand of “hybrid” drives that add a flash-based cache to reduce stress on the underlying drive platters to hold most data.

While an interesting stopgap, Seagate may be battling a mighty tide with SSD shipments from the likes of Intel on track to double this year, according to researcher IHS iSuppli.

Is Seagate fighting a battle it can’t win? What’s the best way to play the rise of solid-state drives? The Motley Fool’s Alison Southwick asks Tim Beyers of Motley Fool Rule Breakers and Motley Fool Supernova for his perspective in the following video. Please watch, and then leave a comment to let us know what you think.

Seagate attracts some investors for its massive and growing dividend yield. Is it sustainable? Or will a worldwide slowdown in demand for magnetic data storage curtail margins and stall growth? The Motley Fool answers this question and more in our most in-depth Seagate research available for smart investors like you. Thousands have already claimed their own premium ticker coverage, and you can gain instant access to your own by clicking here now.

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Source: FULL ARTICLE at DailyFinance

Everything Under the Sun

Time Inc. Spinoff Highlights Challenges Facing the Magazine Industry

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By The Associated Press

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By RYAN NAKASHIMA

LOS ANGELES (AP) – From Sports Illustrated to People to its namesake magazine, Time Inc., was always an innovator. But now when the troubled magazine industry is facing its greatest challenge, the company Henry Luce founded is struggling to find its way in a digital world.

Time Warner Inc.’s decision to shed its Time Inc. magazine unit last week underscores the challenges facing an industry that remains wedded to glossy paper even as the use of tablet computers, e-readers and smartphones explodes.

Although the new devices might seem to present an array of opportunity for Time Inc.’s 95 magazine titles, many publishers have found the digital transition troublesome. Digital editions of magazines represented just 2.4 percent of all U.S. circulation in the last half of 2012, or about 7.9 million copies, according to the Alliance for Audited Media.

Although that number more than doubled from a year earlier, it’s hardly gangbusters growth, considering that the number of tablets in the U.S. also more than doubled last year to 64.8 million, according to research firm IHS.

The fact that so few tablet owners are buying magazines on their devices is a concern because both ad and circulation revenue from print editions have fallen more than 20 percent since their peak near the middle of the last decade. And, according to forecasts, there’s no recovery in sight.

“We have to get much better at capturing those (digital) readers,” said Mary Berner, president of The Association of Magazine Media.

Before publishers can accomplish that, they need to address a number of problems, experts say. First, the range of free content on the Web has given some readers the impression that it’s not necessary to pay for the digital versions of magazine stories. Also, there’s no industry standard for pricing. Publishers aren’t in agreement over whether to include free access to digital copies as part of a print subscription.

There are technical challenges, too. It’s been difficult for magazine makers to create compelling digital editions that fit every screen size and resolution.

Berner acknowledges that customer confusion is part of what’s preventing the magazine industry from selling more digital copies. She is working with industry players like Time Inc., Hearst Corp., Conde Nast and Meredith Corp. to standardize both the format of magazines and the way they are sold.

“There used to be a couple ways you used to be able to get a magazine: you could subscribe or buy it at the newsstand. Now there’s 25 ways. Joe Average consumer just isn’t that clear on it yet,” she said. “The confusing part is hurting.”

Advertisers are making matters worse. The ad industry has been slow to warm to the notion that they still need to pay top dollar to advertise in the tablet editions of magazines, even though much cheaper website ads are just a finger-swipe away.

But many magazines still command significant premiums. A full-page ad in Elle magazine, for instance, costs $155,680 to reach the …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at DailyFinance

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Does This Mean Apple Doesn't Need a Low-End Phone?

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By Tim Brugger, The Motley Fool

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Much has been made lately of the growth potential that the entry-level phone market represents. As the leader in the high-end smartphone arena, rumors surrounding Apple‘s needs for a cheaper alternative to supplement its dominant share of the full-featured smartphone market are nothing new. I’ve suggested the same thing on more than one occasion. But a new report by research firm IDC detailing 2013 smartphone sales growth adds another wrinkle to the “iPhone Mini” debate.

The data
For smartphone users, the notion of going back to a feature phone — you know, the “old days” — is borderline heresy. But for the majority of the billions of mobile-phone users around the world, old-school feature phones are the devices of choice. Either because unsubsidized smartphones cost too much for the majority of buyers, or because few emerging markets can boast the widespread, lightning-fast networks we’ve become accustomed to in the States, feature phones continue to dominate the global phone market — for now.

According to the IDC report, 2013 will be the year of the smartphone — the first year in which smartphones gain a slim 50.1% majority of the global mobile market. For Apple, and its brethren in the smartphone marketplace, that’s encouraging data, to say the least.

Much of Apple’s nearly 20% drop in share price year to date has been attributed to concerns about continued growth, particularly overseas, where Apple allegedly has nothing to offer customers but its expensive, high-end iPhones. Added competition, compressed margins, and uncertainties about developing the “next great thing” have also taken their toll on Apple’s valuation. As for the low-end phone market, there’s no doubt it offers tremendous upside — a threefold increase in sales by 2016, according to research firm IHS.

As for the smartphone market in 2013, the IDC report confirms what many of us have long thought: China and India offer the most upside for mobile-phone manufacturers, including those in the surging high-end smartphone market.

Does this change the game for Apple?
It’s no accident that Apple CEO Tim Cook has spent so much time in China of late. Cook recognizes that global growth isn’t just a good idea for Apple — it’s a necessity. And as the IDC report confirms, China will remain a key market for all phone manufacturers for years to come. Cook’s conversations with China Mobile are probably an effort to secure a deal like the one Nokia has: Offer China Mobile‘s 700 million customers the latest, greatest smartphone — in Nokia’s case, the Lumia 920T — and subsidize the cost so that it’s virtually free with a service contract.

China Mobile‘s one of the earliest major Chinese carriers to begin the transition to faster 4G networks, which also bodes well for high-end smartphone manufacturers.

With Apple’s margins already under pressure, the expected boost in global high-end smartphone sales in 2013 (and beyond) may have some Apple fans wanting to ditch those oft-rumored plans for a …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at DailyFinance