[time-nuts] vectron to be acquired by MicroSemi

jimlux jimlux at earthlink.net
Sat Oct 28 15:51:15 UTC 2017


On 10/28/17 6:19 AM, Bob kb8tq wrote:
> Hi
> 
> In terms of what Vectron actually manufacturers, there isn’t a *lot* of overlap
> with Microsemi. Compared to a a lot of possible matchups this one does not
> have to many things to work out. They both do a bit in space and they both
> do GPSDO’s. Past that, the other stuff is not in markets or technologies
> that overlap.
> 
> 

one concern would be if there's a desire to consolidate or move 
manufacturing - I'm thinking here of the Symmetricom CSAC vs MicroSemi 
CSAC story.

I'm in the space business for the most part, and there's great emphasis 
on Heritage - we bought Part XYZ from Company ABC for the Ranger mission 
to the moon and it worked in 1967, so lets just keep using it.  While 
I'm not a huge fan of the value of heritage (I think it's often a "you 
can't go wrong buying IBM" kind of strategy to reduce the number of 
questions in design reviews) - when it does exist, it's "XYZ people" not 
"released drawing number in XYZ's library" that gives you the desired 
product.


The other concern about acquisitions in general (I don't know if that's 
an issue here)  is that there tends to be a "cleaning out of old files 
and websites" as part of the process - documentation, data sheets, etc. 
for "not in the current product line" often disappears.

For those of us who tend to use legacy, older products, perhaps spares 
or surplus (time-nuts list members, and flight hardware designers 
alike), this can present a problem.  (Because *we* are also faced with 
pressure to dispose of all that old paper and records, either from 
cohabitants or managers).  This is particularly the case when we're 
building up a breadboard or demonstration - I've built an awful lot of 
stuff at JPL using spare parts and components with date codes in the 60s 
and 70s - it's not like a 2-4 GHz directional coupler made in 1964 works 
any different from one made in 2014.

Of course, the lack of data sheets for *semiconductor* modules and parts 
from the 1980s and 1990s is probably a boon in the long run, although a 
pain in the short run.  Amplifiers, mixers, etc. are all a LOT better 
today (in general) than they were 20-30 years ago.  (Of course, I *do* 
still have a bunch of WJ parts sitting around for breadboarding)





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