EE Times Announces 2006 ACE Awards Winners

CMP Media's EE Times today announced the winners of its second Annual Creativity in Electronics (ACE) Awards, recognizing the electronics engineering industry's most innovative companies and breakthrough technologies. The honors were presented last night at the EE Times ACE Awards Gala, as part of the Embedded Systems Conference Silicon Valley, the largest electronic systems design event in North America. The ceremony attended by more than 600 technology and business leaders took place at The Fairmont San Jose, with a headlining performance by Lewis Black, star of "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart."

A prestigious panel of judges comprised of the leading voices of academia, industry visionaries and top Wall Street executives evaluated the finalists and selected winners from more than 600 entry submissions in seven categories. Reader-selected Ultimate Products of the Year awards winners were also announced at the gala.

"The ACE Awards pay tribute to the high standard of excellence that these leaders provide in our industry," said Brian Fuller, publisher and editor in chief, EE Times. "These innovators -- the creators of technology -- are shaping our future through their influence, vision and creativity, enabling us to see the world in a new light."

Brian Fuller awarded the Editors' Choice Award to David Tsiang, chief hardware architect, Cisco for the CRS-1.

The 2006 EE Times ACE Awards winners by categories are:

Lifetime Achievement Award -- selected by the editors of EE Times based on their individual accomplishments over the course of their careers. The recipient is:

  * Wilfred J. Corrigan, founder and chairman of the board of LSI Logic
    Corporation

Company of the Year (Large) -- recognizes the company that exhibits the highest degree of professionalism in staff development and retention, customer focus, technical excellence and profitable growth -- a true leader in the electronics sector (over $1 billion in sales). The winner is:

* Samsung Electronics

Company of the Year (Small/Medium) -- recognizes the small- or medium-sized company that exhibits the highest degree of professionalism in staff development and retention, customer focus, technical excellence and profitable growth -- a true leader in the electronics sector (under $1 billion in sales). The winner is:

* PortalPlayer

Design Team of the Year -- recognizes the group of innovators whose system-or IC-level design made a significant contribution to the advancement of technology and whose project management abilities were creative, efficient and inspiring. The winners are:

* IBM & Microsoft - Xbox 360

Startup Company of the Year -- recognizes the venture capital (or pre-IPO financed) startup (under three years in business) electronics manufacturing (device or system) company that demonstrates excellence in business development and/or technology development processes with the potential to become a technical or market leader in the global electronics industry. The winner is:

* Airgo Networks, Inc.

Executive of the Year -- recognizes the individual who brought leadership, technological and fiscal vision to a company, organization or company division during the 2005 calendar period. The winner is:

* Michel Mayer, Freescale Semiconductor

Innovator of the Year -- recognizes the individual who brought leadership, creativity and out-of-the-box thinking to a technology, a product or a business. The winner is:

* Leo Mathew, Freescale Semiconductor

Most Promising New Technology -- recognizes the compelling electronic component or enabling technology, such as software, that is outstanding in its technical design, potential for market impact and demonstrable leadership in its area. The winner is:

* Cambrios -- Biomorphic nanostructures

Educator of the Year -- recognizes an individual who brings leadership, creativity and inspiration to students in an engineering or science curriculum in college or secondary schools. The winner is:

  * Geoffrey Orsak, dean and professor, school of engineering, Southern
    Methodist University

Student of the Year -- recognizes a student whose discipline, hard work and academic success are considered hallmarks for other engineering or science students. The winner is:

* Adam Sidman, senior, Palmer High School, Colorado Springs, Colo.

The Ultimate Products of the Year -- awarded to the most significant product introduced in the last 12 months in each of the seven categories, as determined by large-scale peer review. Finalists in each category were chosen by qualified readers of EE Times and eeProductCenter on a quarterly basis via electronic balloting, from a list of 10 nominees submitted to readers by expert editors with accompanying editorial reviews. Winners in each category were selected by vote by more than 300 qualified EE Times readers from a set of six finalists in each category.

  Analog
  * Texas Instruments -- Class-D Digital Amplifier

  Processor/Memory
  * Atmel - Flash Controllers/ARM7-based flash MCU with Ethernet, CAN and
    USB

  IP&E
  * Avago Technologies and Lumileds Lighting -- Envisium Power PLCC-4SMT
    LEDs

  Logic Interface & Programmable Logic
  * Xilinx -- Virtex-4 FPGA FX20 and FX60

  Power
  * Texas Instruments -- Sequencing-marging IC

  RF/Microwave
  * Analog Devices -- Othello-G Radio Chip for GSM/GPRS Communications

  Test/Measurement
  * CWAV -- USBee AX Test Pod

  IEEE Spectrum Technology in the Service of Society Award
  * American Superconductor & Tennessee Valley Authority

  IEEE Spectrum Emerging Technology Award
  * IBM Corp., Sony & Toshiba

  About EE Times ACE Awards

The EE Times ACE Awards were created to recognize the people, companies and products that show leadership in the electronics industry and will honor those who are leading the way and making positive contributions -- the real innovators of technology. The 2007 EE Times ACE will be presented at an awards gala during CMP Media's Embedded Systems Conference Silicon Valley. To find out more about the event, visit http://www.eetimes.com/ace.EE Times would like to thank the sponsors of the 2006 ACE Awards Gala: gold sponsors Analog Devices, Inc., Avnet, Cadence and Wind River; silver sponsors. Atmel, Atomic PR, DMNA, McClenahan Bruer, San Jose Convention & Visitors Bureau and Xilinx; associate media sponsor IEEE Spectrum; and event sponsor Embedded Systems Conference Silicon Valley.

About CMP Media's Electronics Group

The CMP Media Electronics Group is the premier technology and business media brand serving the information needs of the creators of technology worldwide through print, online and conferences.

As the most comprehensive and integrated source of electronics technology information, the CMP Media Electronics Group offers a full suite of products and services to reach electronics systems design professionals throughout the world. With its combination of media properties, the CMP Media Electronics Group focuses on delivering a targeted audience and actionable information to marketers in the electronics technology community.

Each month, CMP Media's Electronics Group delivers more than 1 million copies of its publications in five languages to subscribers in 55 countries. Online visitors from more than 100 countries view more than 7.5 million pages on its Web sites in six languages and in a year, more than 35,000 decision makers from 48 countries attend its conferences in North America, China, Taiwan and Europe.

  CMP Media's Electronics Group properties include:

  * Print -- EE Times, Embedded Systems Design, Electronics Supply &
    Manufacturing
  * Online -- EE Times Online, DesignLines, PlanetAnalog.com, Embedded.com,
    my-esm.com, CommsDesign.com, and SupplyLines
  * Conferences -- Embedded Systems Conferences, Embedded Connect and Design
    Seminars

  About CMP Media (www.cmp.com)

Through its market-leading portfolio of trusted information brands in the technology, healthcare and lifestyles industries, CMP Media has earned the confidence of more professionals and enthusiasts in these fields than any other media company. As a result, CMP is the premier provider of access, insight and actionable programs designed to connect sellers and buyers in each of these industries in ways that yield superior return on investment. CMP Media is a subsidiary of United Business Media (http://www.unitedbusinessmedia.com/), a global provider of news distribution and specialist information services with a market capitalization of more than $3 billion.

  Contact: Michelle Sabolich
   Atomic Public Relations for CMP Media
   michelle.sabolich@atomicpr.com
   (415) 402-0230

SOURCE: CMP Media

CONTACT: Michelle Sabolich of Atomic Public Relations, +1-415-402-0230,
or michelle.sabolich@atomicpr.com, for CMP Media

Web site: http://www.cmp.com/