Anite gave a trading update this week that included reducing its expectations for its full-year results. An anticipated second-quarter uptick in handset testing didn’t pan out, and the company said it is also being affected by projects taking longer due to reorganizations and consolidations among handset and chipset manufacturers. However, the company said that the second half of the year should be better – just not as much better as it predicted earlier this year.
“The first six months of this year has seen unusual market conditions in the mobile industry which has led to a disappointing first half,” said CEO Chris Humphrey. “This has not changed our fundamental view that we remain at the early stage of the LTE technology roll out, nor our confidence in the market opportunity and our market position.”
“We believe that the second half for handset testing will be materially improved on the first half,” Humphrey added.
Anite expects handset testing revenue to be down 25% year-over-year and orders to be down about 10%, but that its handset testing business will approximately break even for the first half of the year and second-half figures to be in line with last year’s.
— Agilent Technologies added two new options to its MXE X-Series electromagnetic interference receiver: 44-GHz frequency range and time-domain scans. The device is used in electromagnetic compliance testing.
The 44-GHz frequency coverage allows the MXE to be a single instrument used for compliance testing for multiple standards, as well as identifying sources of unwanted emissions. Agilent said the time-domain scan feature “significantly [reduces] the time needed to create a list of suspect emissions prior to final measurements” and is widely used in the automotive industry.
The company also added three new features to every MXE: live-spectrum and meter displays for characterizing signals; amplitude probability distribution; and the ability to control switching functions in two commercially available LISN transducers, used in compliance testing of electromagnetic emissions for commercial and military standards.
—JDSU launched the latest version of its Video Stream Analyzer, which is a video probe that combines JDSU’s video monitoring software with off-the-shelf hardware to ensure quality of service and quality of experience, particularly at the network edge.
–Tektronix added a new portable waveform monitor that weighs just four pounds and costs less than $10,000, designed for installation and maintenance use. The WFM2300 offers a variety of tests that allow engineers to troubleshoot and resolve system issues, including eye pattern and jitter measurement and cable simulator/margin tests, in addition to all the features already offered in Textronix’ existing WFM2200 unit.
“As the newest member of our of waveform monitor family, the WFM2300 benefits from decades of intensive R&D and customer feedback with many of the world’s largest broadcasters who have relied on Tektronix waveform monitors,” said Eben Jenkins, GM of Tektronix’s video product line. “The WFM2300 is also an example of our commitment to innovation as it offers the market’s first portable waveform monitors equipped with multiple features required to support a variety of interfaces deployed into the broadcast facilities reducing the amount of equipment required in the field and overall operational costs.”
The new waveform monitor will be available in the first quarter of 2014.
