Noteworthy May 2008 News

May 3, 2008

Schneider Electric’s North American Operating Division contributed $500,000 and became a Platinum Level sponsor of the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE) and the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) Arc Flash Collaborative Research Project, designed to educate electrical workers about the arc flash hazard and how to avoid it.

Wilcoxon Research, a supplier of vibration sensors and sensor networks, successfully completed an audit to maintain ISO 14001 certification, an international standard indicating a company complies with all applicable environmental regulations.

Cooper Bussmann’s Overcurrent Device Recycling Program is designed to be an environmentally safe way to dispose of any brand of fuse, circuit breaker or electrical contactor. The program is available at many local electrical distributors and an opportunity to recycle electrical components that may otherwise populate a landfill.

Maverick Technologies, an engineering, system integration and operational consulting firm, was named the 2008 Frost & Sullivan North American System Integrator Company of the Year.

MicroChip Technology and TechInsights partnered with Digi-Key to unveil and host a year-long, four-phase, Microchip PIC32 Design Challenge as a means to foster a social community where designs using Microchip’s PIC32 microcontrollers can be built, tested and displayed to colleagues through the use of blogs, videos and forums.

Contestants will use Microchip’s PIC32 starter kit, and a set of three judges, as well as members, will vote each week to determine who survives to the next round.

The winner will be chosen from the remaining five finalists at the Embedded Systems Conference 2009 in Silicon Valley, Calif.