Technology

MEMS Technology

MEMS is the manufacturing process of building transistors in integrated circuits (IC’s) used to form mechanical structures, but on a micron level.  MEMS are a classic example of a new technology and marketplace created by using the existing infrastructure of the IC industry in a new and exciting way.  Examples of MEMS-based components include: accelerometers, thermal sensors, gas sensors, gyroscopes, fluid flow, control and optical devices.  MEMS, a $4 billion business in 2001, primarily served the printer and automotive businesses.  In-Stat, a market research firm, is projecting that the MEMS business will reach $10 billion by 2006.

Nanotechnology

Nanotechnology involves the design, fabrication and manipulation of materials and devices on an almost atomic scale.  This technology may lead to a host of new products and applications such as high selectivity sensors, precision instruments for bio-medical applications and advanced computer components.  Applications of nanotechnology described in the popular press often appear futuristic, but real commercial examples are already beginning to appear. 

Machine-to-Machine Interfacing

Machine-to-Machine Interfacing is another example of a promising technology with broad applications.  Currently, wireless communication is dominated by voice traffic, but new protocols such as 802.11, Bluetooth and ZigBee have increasingly allowed machines to communicate directly with other machines via remote RF transmitters.  IXL Enterprises, a market research firm, is forecasting that as early as 2003, machine to machine wireless communications devices will exceed people to people devices and by 2007, machine to machine wireless devices will constitute 80% of the total wireless components.  This rapidly growing new market will generate demands for both wireless enabled sensors, as well as the management and monitoring of the wireless networks.  Harbor Research, a specialized research firm, is forecasting that this managing and monitoring function alone will be a $10 billion market in 2006.

Optical Technologies

The invention of fiber optics has created a fundamental shift in the communications industry from communicating with electrical signals to communicating with optical signals.  The telecommunications industry has spent billions of dollars in this field of micro-optics over the last ten years, creating an entire micro-optical infrastructure.  The creation of this infrastructure will allow many existing optical products to be redeveloped on a radically smaller scale, with an accompanying reduction in cost and increase in functionality.