Electronica: inside tomorrow

As Electronica opens in Munich under leaden skies and steadily cooling temperatures, it can boast 2,669 exhibitors from 48 countries who are focused on smart energy, e-mobility, embedded applications and power electronics in general. The first day crowd was ranked by old hands as "quite a good showing for the first day" although for some of the more deeply embedded stands the occupants were hoping for real discovery by day two. Instantly visible at Elecronica 2012 is that analog portfolio's are widening to include digital offerings. The motor and its control have got chipped. It is not just counterfeit devices that worry the industry, but the emergence of e-waste or recycled formerly scrap devices being sold back into the market from the not-so-far-east using the the web. Power materials such as GaN (Galliium Nitride) should watch out for the onset of SiC (Silicon Carbide). "It might be said it's time has come" said one show observer. Electronica's most numerous exhibitors are ranked as Germany, China, Taiwan, USA, Great Britain, Italy, Hong Kong France, Switzerland and Japan. But the largest increase of exhibitors is notably China, France, Japan, Austria, Spain and the USA. Czechoslovakia is gaining rank as a player, and for the first tiime, Morocco is participating in a joint exhibition. The emergence of the memory stick is really nothing very new, but one small straw in the wind is at this Electronica, is stand visitors will be offered not only a business card, but the data presentation too in a variety of formats. The device will come bearing the company name or logo, and may resemble anything from the historic Swissbit inclusion in a Victorinox Swiss Army knife; Vishay's offering encased in cardboard, the Vicor's VTM Current Multiplier device or the chain-hung, sliver of an offering from IDT. No-one could say says that the data stick devices storage designs are dull: the same holds for the Electronica exhibitors. Electronica