[time-nuts] vectron to be acquired by MicroSemi

Bob kb8tq kb8tq at n1k.org
Sat Oct 28 12:06:03 EDT 2017


Hi

To some extent, companies are acquired for their heritage / IP. That can
give a pretty strong push towards hanging on to all the old files and 
designs. Certainly that’s been the case with Vectron (and with McCoy, 
Piezo, Ovenair, Telequartz, Oscillatek, ….) through multiple passes at this. 

Bob

> On Oct 28, 2017, at 11:51 AM, jimlux <jimlux at earthlink.net> wrote:
> 
> 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)
> 
> 
> _______________________________________________
> time-nuts mailing list -- time-nuts at febo.com
> To unsubscribe, go to https://www.febo.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/time-nuts
> and follow the instructions there.



More information about the time-nuts mailing list