Q: Which of your company's recent product introductions has you the most excited?
A: Semflex is expanding its offering of high power microwave cable assemblies. High power designs for N types, SC's, HN's, EIA 7/8", EIA 1 1/8", and EIA 1 5/8" connectors are capable of operating from 500 watts up to 10 Kwatts of MW power. Combining high power connectors with Semflex's KW series cable provides a light weight, flexible interconnect solution for Airborne Radar and Electronic Counter Measures. The KW cable is flexible enough to fit in to tight installation spaces and still provide the attenuation and power handling capability of large corrugated cables. This combination is a better all around solution.

Q: Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) would seem to be the "next big thing." What effect do you think it will have on our industry? Consumers?
A: While many of our customers are still using MW frequencies for analog information, we are clearly in a trend to "digital everything." VoIP is another manifestation of that- all voice traffic up until the early 60's was full analog end to end. VoIP takes digital transport to a new level, enabling more efficient use of the network. It may be that our military customers will find value in doing similar things with today's high frequency signal.

Q: Last year, the majority of our "View"-ers saw the Far East, particularly China, as the part of the world with the greatest growth potential for their business. Would you agree with that now, or is another geographical market opening up?
A: China still offers good growth potential. Chinese manufacturing focuses more on big market, high volume products. There is a need for high tech niche products such as high performance MW interconnects. Many Asian companies manufacture low frequency cable and connectors, few if any manufacture the kind of products Semflex offers and the market will grow as the government invests in communications and commercial radar infrastructure.

Q: In your opinion, which military or commercial product category may show the most growth in the
coming year? Why?
A: Battlefield communications appears to be the large growth area for the coming year. We have Joint Tactical Radio and Joint Network Node in work now and WIN-T (Warfighter Information Network-Tactical) on the horizon. Lots of new miniaturization technology is needed for WIN-T, we hear.

Q: Other than VoIP, do you see any other emerging technology that will shake up the marketplace, either consumer or military?
A: We are keeping an eye on free space optics. Several companies are placing large money bets on this sector but we are not yet aware of the technology base to support this particular innovation. ®

Q: Which of your company's recent product introductions has you the most excited?
A: Pulse®, as one of the world's largest electronic component manufacturers with hundreds of passive, magnetic-based components, has recently introduced many exciting products. From the Telecom Division, I'm most excited about our products that enable service providers and equipment companies to offer high-speed communications for both enterprise and consumer residences, whether over cable, phonelines or wireless. We just released a Uni-coreT balun transformer, where the core and the base form one piece. This increases reliability and conductivity as it reduces component size and cost and minimizes EMI because the leads are flush with the core. Several new diplexers are just being introduced, including the first RF diplexer to reduce EMI for multimedia over coaxial cable applications. Innovations are seen in our new Excelsus® dynamic filters that provide clear signals for DSL users, splitters and filters for phone networks that support VDSL speeds and video, and power over Ethernet connectors. Plus, we've launched a variety of products for telecom networks that provide video, not just voice and data communications. Pulse also recently introduced a number of products for power conversion, computer networking, and military aerospace.

Q: Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) would seem to be the "next big thing." What effect do you think it will have on our industry? Consumers?
A: The implications of VoIP cannot be overstated - it will be a huge change. It's a disruptive influence on the way consumers use networks and on the business models associated with those networks. For phone networks, the impact will be similar to the effect digitization (MP3) had on the music industry - it turned it upside down. 60-70% of wireline traffic today is data, yet it only provides 20-30% of revenues. Voice represents 30-40% of traffic, yet delivers 70% of the revenues. So when voice becomes just another data packet, current providers' revenue drops substantially - it's not sustainable. We will see lots of experiments and trials as service providers move to find new sources of revenue.

Influencing this change, however, is customers expect performance. Today everybody has a dedicated telephone line with smooth transmission and no interference. Phone calls don't get disconnected. But VoIP is data packets, and those can have delays. VoIP may not be better or faster; but, it WILL be cheaper and that will drive demand.

Another effect is regulation. Telephone service is the second most heavily taxed part of most people's lives. Governments around the world take in billions of dollars in taxes on telephone service. VoIP is not taxed at the moment. Watch for big changes in the regulatory environment and tax laws.

Q: Last year, the majority of our "View"-ers saw the Far East, particularly China, as the part of the world with the greatest growth potential for their business. Would you agree with that now, or is another geographical market opening up?
A: I would say China is an important region for growth, but as Q2 showed, China is also perfectly capable of slowing down! When China Telecom reported decelerating growth in broadband subscribers and wireless, capital expenditures took a big hit. The Chinese government threw confusion into the market by saying they'd consolidate their four major players, but didn't say which companies these would be. This had a braking effect on their economy, showing their market, just like any other market, is capable of going up, but just as capable of going down.

There's growing interest in India as well, but I think the greatest potential for growth is not geography-based but application-based, like video on phone networks and voice on the cable networks.

Q: In your opinion, which military or commercial product category may show the most growth in the
coming year? Why?
A: Anything related to high-speed communications is going to show tremendous growth for commercial, consumer, and military applications. But it's not just product-based. Customers want us to make their job easier, so we see growth coming from successful process innovation as well as product innovation. And that has a ripple effect for everything in the infrastructure and supply chain: from board level connectors, transformers, and power devices on up to network management and filters in the premises. That's why innovations like our SMARTT and PowerJackT technologies have been so well received.

Q: Other than VoIP, do you see any other emerging technology that will shake up the marketplace, either consumer or military?
A: Watch for technologies that marry communications and entertainment. Data has to be secure and accessible on public and private networks. There is some very interesting work going on now in home networking - like easily moving video and audio content from one part of the house to another, whether on TIVO, video recorder, computer, or music devices. Now consumers have a lot of content, but it is limited to one venue for each type.

A lot of work is being done on the technology standards that will make content more accessible and transferable around the house.  In other communication networks, there is growing work to move video and TV to cell phones. And voice across the cable network.

The convergence of communications and entertainment will drive a lot of equipment sales, and at same time, will drive demand for more content, and that will drive service providers to offer higher speeds. ®

Q: Which of your company's recent product introductions has you the most excited?
A: In previous years we have seen the top frequency of the microwave industry change from 4 GHz to 10 GHz, to 12.4 GHz, to 18 GHz, to 26 GHz, and to 40 GHz. Now we are working at 65 GHz to satisfy our customers' requirements.

The most recent product introductions that we feel are most beneficial in the industry for RLC are the Broadband Programmable Attenuators, Surface Mount Passive devices, SP2T Switches to 65 GHz, Waveguide Devices, and Bessel Response Low Pass Filters.

Q: Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) would seem to be the "next big thing." What effect do you think it will have on our industry? Consumers?
A: VoIP will significantly effect our industry. VoIP will cause the cost of telecommunications to drop rapidly, as this will become the most efficient way to communicate.

Q: Last year, the majority of our "View"-ers saw the Far East, particularly China, as the part of the world with the greatest growth potential for their business. Would you agree with that now, or is another geographical market opening up?
A: We feel that China shows signs of becoming a significant part of the world economically, and they will have many, many uses for utilization of our products in the near future. This will definitely grow as their telecommunications efforts become more substantial, and we have a spot in that marketplace.

Q: In your opinion, which military or commercial product category may show the most growth?
A: It seems that the Homeland Security efforts of the Country will grow. Communications and evaluations of these systems will become large and will use many communication products.

Q: Other than VoIP, do you see any other emerging technology that will shake up the marketplace?
A: Obviously, in order to handle security in an effective manner, the technology in this area will have to improve. We will have to perform better in evaluating security. ®

Q: Which of your company's recent product introductions has you the most excited?
A: MI Technologies developed what may be the world's largest full spherical near-field antenna measurement system. Capable of measuring antennas to over 20 feet in diameter and to frequencies well above 40 GHz, these arches are used to collect antenna test data in the near-field in order to determine the performance of antennas in the far-field through the use of spherical near-field transformations. These products are used where accurate antenna characterization of either large antennas or antennas mounted on large objects are required. These arches are seeing use for both large, active array antennas as well as in the automotive industry for testing the performance of antennas mounted on various vehicles. With the increase of more communication and entertainment services being added to automobiles and the technology shift to large aperture, high-frequency antennas, we cannot help but be excited about this product.

Q: Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) would seem to be the "next big thing." What effect do you think it will have on our industry? Consumers?
A: Across the board VoIP is going to lower the cost of communications for both businesses and consumers. The big question is what is going to happen to the traditional providers of voice communications. Will governments step in and regulate VoIP if traditional long distance cost structures change? With the convergence of voice and data networks as VoIP grows, the two could become indistinguishable. Will data traffic start getting taxed to offset lost tax revenues as long distance voice tax revenue falls?

One growth area of VoIP to watch will be the evolution of WiFi phones and the worldwide increase of IEEE 802.11 hotspots. The growth of WiFi phones could open broad consumer product areas and markets to support those products. WiFi phones open a whole new avenue of security issues for companies and providers.

Q: Last year, the majority of our "View"-ers saw the Far East, particularly China, as the part of the world with the greatest growth potential for their business. Would you agree with that now?
A: Asia continues to be a growth region for MI Technologies and we expect it to continue over the foreseeable future. Government capital expenditures on broad technological infrastructure are driving a significant percentage of the growth of the Chinese economy. We sell test equipment to support a number of industries and in order for those industries to grow; we expect that they will continue to need our equipment and expertise. In addition to China, government/ military spending in South Korea and a recovering Japanese economy are resulting in improved sales opportunities for our products.

Q: In your opinion, which military or commercial product category may show the most growth?
A: The War on Terrorism is certainly going to drive growth in the military market. Some of the areas that might see growth are in reconnaissance, precision guided munitions and more UAVs. Where growth in the consumer marketplace will come from is hard to predict. The growth of IEEE 802.11 hotspots will allow more connectivity as we go about our daily lives and the buying public will no doubt have an appetite for products to stay connected. Since we are spending more time in our cars I expect that products to keep us connected and entertained while in our cars will continue to show growth.

Q: Other than VoIP, do you see any other emerging technology that will shake up the marketplace?
A: RFID technology acceptance may be poised to shake up the marketplace. The DOD has mandated that all of its suppliers in its massive supply chain will use both active and passive RFID tags at the lowest level possible. While each individual tag does not sell for much money, the overall total represents a tremendous expenditure. With such a large volume of goods, there will be a similarly large variety of products to support the mandate.

On the consumer side, Wal-Mart is leading the way with RFID technology. We may see products in the near future that allow someone to load a shopping cart and swipe their credit card on the way through the line without ever unloading their cart. ®

Q: Which of your company's recent product introductions has you the most excited?
A: It is hard to decide which excites me more, Agilent's new N6030A wideband arbitrary waveform generator (AWG) or our LXI microwave synthetic instruments. Until now, commercial AWGs offered either wide bandwidth or wide dynamic range. The N6030A not only offers both simultaneously, it provides an combination of 1GHz IQ bandwidth AND more than 65 dBc of spurious free dynamic range. This unprecedented capability enables system engineers to rapidly create realistic wideband signals without compromising performance. I'm equally excited about our LXI microwave synthetic instrument portfolio, which includes an upconverter, downconverter, digitizer, AWG, peak and average power meter and switch matrices. These LXI modules offer the highest-performance microwave instrumentation available, a smaller footprint and obsolescence protection for automated test systems (ATSs), which lowers the cost of ownership for our A/D customers.

Q: Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) would seem to be the "next big thing." What effect do you think it will have on our industry? Consumers?
A: The exciting, yet highly disruptive nature of the Internet Protocol (IP) has enabled fast development and adoption of new network applications, in some cases old applications delivered in a new way, such as Voice over IP (VoIP). VoIP is bringing significant stir to the communications industry: well established, incumbent communication service providers are suddenly facing a highly competitive industry environment, as cable and DSL providers start to offer Voice services over an IP infrastructure. For consumers, more competition is great news: to enterprises or individual users, VoIP offers a more flexible, cost-effective way to use data and voice services on a unified network infrastructure. From the underlying technical perspective, VoIP introduces new challenges in interoperability and standardization of VoIP-enabled network devices, such as routers, firewalls, session border controllers, as well as managing large VoIP networks. Agilent covers a range of VoIP test and validation tools, from measurements of VoIP call quality, VoIP network scalability, reliability, to operational and management tools.

Q: Last year, the majority of our "View"-ers saw the Far East, particularly China, as the part of the world with the greatest growth potential for business. Would you agree with that now?
A: China continues to have the greatest growth potential because of its lack of existing wireline infrastructure, although we're also seeing growth in India and Southeast Asia. Wireless communication is a convenient and comparatively inexpensive solution for providing voice and data services to an unconnected population. R&D investments in this region are continuing and Agilent's China Communication Operation (CCO) in Beijing designs, develops and markets products for the communications industry driven by the unique needs of China and Asia-Pacific customers.

Q: In your opinion, which military or commercial product category may show the most growth?
A: From a military standpoint, we see microwave vector signal generators and our new N6030A wideband arbitrary waveform generator showing the most growth in the coming year. Combining the N6030A with Agilent's flagship PSG high-performance vector signal generator gives radar and satellite designers 1 GHz IQ bandwidth for simulating IF and RF subsystem tests at microwave frequencies. The N6030A can also be used stand-alone to test baseband components and subsystems.

Q: Other than VoIP, do you see any other emerging technology that will shake up the marketplace?
A: You can expect to see LXI microwave synthetic instruments shake up the military marketplace by replacing traditional rack and stack in ATSs with high-performance modular instrumentation. These instruments will help propel the U.S. Department of Defense NxTest vision for flexibility, morphablilty and modularity into reality by providing obsolescence protection, lowering the cost of ownership, and requires less rack space, making systems smaller and expansion easier. ®

Q: Which of your company's recent product introductions has you the most excited?
A: The market reception for our newest wire bonder, the Model 8000, has been excellent. In addition to wire bonding applications, it has been attracting a great deal of attention for its ball bumping capabilities. The bonder uses a patented one-step bumping process that gives it the unprecedented ability to repeatably control bump height and shape. This advanced process control has been essential for gold bump flip chip, which is being used increasingly for improved thermal dissipation and low resistance connections, such as in many high frequency RF devices.

We are also excited about our high precision die bonder, the Model 6500. As a die bonder capable of 1.5 micron accuracy, it provides an enabling technology for advanced packaging companies to assemble miniaturized components that were not possible to build until now. For example, we have been developing and qualifying processes on the 6500 to assemble high frequency RF devices and LED and laser array print heads. The latter two items are revolutionary new printing technologies with vast commercial potential which require high accuracy die placement. We are also developing processes to enable manufacture of high-resolution CMOS image sensors for the next generation of camera modules, and processes for laser diode attach in advanced photonics for the FTTx network build out. It is gratifying to be integral to creating products that make such a difference in industry, and we are looking forward to realize our own commercial potential going into 2005.

Q: Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) would seem to be the "next big thing." What effect do you think it will have on our industry? Consumers?
A: VoIP is changing the fundamental business models for all of the telecom companies who historically have derived most of their revenues from voice communications. FTTx and other technologies that deliver fiber and low-cost high bandwidth to our homes and businesses will make the Internet another utility, just like electricity, that we will become dependent on the more we use it. And like electricity, bandwidth will be used for a wide variety of applications, including voice communications, home entertainment, "surfing the net", monitoring appliances, plus many others. This convergence of applications for bandwidth is what is driving cable companies and telecom companies to compete for total bandwidth dollars instead of individual application dollars (e.g. voice, entertainment). The October 2004 ruling by the FCC clarifying that the old rules designed for traditional telephone networks won't be applied to new, advanced broadband and Internet protocol (IP) networks and services has already spurred additional investment by many of the major carriers.

Q: Last year, the majority of our "View"-ers saw the Far East, particularly China, as the part of the world with the greatest growth potential for their business. Would you agree with that now, or is another geographical market opening up?
A:The Far East remains the region in which we expect to achieve the most significant growth in 2005. However, for our products in the near term, we believe Taiwan will be the most significant importer of our equipment, with China following later on.

Q: In your opinion, which military or commercial product category may show the most growth in the
coming year? Why?
A: Much of the major commercial market growth will occur in leading-edge market segments that involve the confluence of multiple functions into a single device that is both functional and practical. For example, the introduction of cell phones with advanced digital imaging capabilities (previously found only in digital cameras) combined with PDA functions.

As applications converge in a single device, many of the technical challenges are shifting from the chip IP to the packaging IP. More functionality is being compressed into ever-smaller form factors, yet the products must be cost-effectively manufactured. The companies who innovate to develop useful, multi-function devices that they can sell at market-sensitive, yet profitable price points will see significant growth in the next several years, as will the suppliers of the advanced packaging technology solutions that make it all possible. A lot of work is being done on the technology standards that will make content more accessible and transferable around the house. In other communication networks, there is growing work to move video and TV to cell phones. And voice across the cable network. The convergence of communications and entertainment will drive a lot of equipment sales, and at same time, will drive demand for more content, and that will drive service providers to offer higher speeds.

Q: Other than VoIP, do you see any other emerging technology that will shake up the marketplace, either consumer or military?
A: I do not see a single "killer app" in the near term. However, the collective set of wireless applications together will continue to be a major factor driving the electronics economy. 3G, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, last-mile wireless, and other wireless technologies will continue to drive a great deal of investment aimed at reducing cost and improving performance over the next several years. ®

Q: Which of your company's recent product introductions has you the most excited?
A: I am very excited about our new Wi-Fi products. SiGe Semiconductor recently expanded our line of power amplifiers and chip-scale RF front-end modules with new solutions for the 802.11b/g and 802.11a markets. Our series now includes variants that meet the size, battery life and performance requirements of applications ranging from personal digital assistants and cellular phones, to PC cards and access points. Each of our products is based on a high-performance architecture that ensures reliable wireless connectivity by enabling high data throughput over long transmission ranges. The new RF front-end solutions will help to maintain SiGe's position as a leading supplier to the Wi-Fi market. With a customer base that includes some of the industry's leading consumer electronics suppliers, we currently hold about 50 percent of the market for 802.11g power amplifiers.

Another product recently launched is our PA2423U power amplifier for Class 1 Bluetooth applications. As the adoption of Bluetooth applications continues to grow, particularly in Europe, product developers are looking to improve the performance of their solutions in products such as cellular handsets, personal digital assistants, wireless headsets, laptop computers, cordless telephones, and other portable devices. Bluetooth Class 1 specification uses a power amplifier to strengthen the signal to increase reliable wireless transmission over short distances, or to increase the coverage range to over 100 meters. The PA2423U is unique in serving this market opportunity, since the device is supplied in a miniature package, with high levels of integration that allows designers to implement Bluetooth functionality without impacting size or battery life.

Q: Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) would seem to be the "next big thing." What effect do you think it will have on our industry? Consumers?
A: VoIP will impact every level of the value chain. Technology providers must deliver innovations that will provide an infrastructure capable of performance equivalent to land line services, and service providers must determine new revenue models. For consumers, VoIP has the potential to support a broader range of services and enhanced mobility. As the technology is rolled out and gains consumer acceptance, we expect to see a greater demand for mobile VoIP capability, requiring broadband wireless access equipment, as well as the convergence of Wi-Fi and cellular in consumer electronics. The industry must work to accelerate standards development, as well as to develop wireless broadband access equipment capable of seamless, high-performance access to these services.

Q: Last year, the majority of our "View"-ers saw the Far East, particularly China, as the part of the world with the greatest growth potential for their business. Would you agree with that now, or is another geographical market opening up?
A: A huge growth potential exists in Asia. The electronics supply chain continues to undergo a transition with the majority of production already moved to mainland China, and other functions like purchasing and engineering about to follow. Able to realize significant manufacturing efficiencies, the leading brand names in consumer electronics rely on Asian original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and original design manufacturers (ODMs) to produce everything from PCs and laptop computers to personal digital assistants, digital cameras, computer peripherals, access points, and cellular phones.

SiGe Semiconductor is established as a leading supplier to these manufacturers, with exponential growth in shipments to ODMs and OEMs in China, Taiwan and Korea. These ICs are integrated into a wide range of applications including BluetoothT-enabled devices, WLAN embedded and card-based products, and global positioning by satellite (GPS) systems.

In support of our growing customer base, SiGe Semiconductor has recently added operations and application development teams to our office in Hong Kong. Local application support will assist customers in board layout and design optimization to speed the development cycle. The new operations team will focus on supply line management, providing local, real-time support of SiGe's extensive test and assembly resources in this region. These plans enhance our existing presence in Asia, which currently includes an established office in Hong Kong, and a full compliment of distributors and representatives across China, Hong Kong, Japan, Korea, Singapore and Taiwan.

Q: In your opinion, which military or commercial product category may show the most growth in the
coming year? Why?
A: I believe we'll see significant growth across the wireless markets. Consumers are demanding seamless mobile access to voice and data services. There are several market segments rising to meet this demand. Wi-Fi products compliant to the 802.11a/b/g standard will dominate the business and consumer markets for mobile internet access. 3G cellular handsets will begin to roll out incorporating multi-mode capability with cellular, WLAN, GPS and Bluetooth functionality.

Q: Other than VoIP, do you see any other emerging technology that will shake up the marketplace, either consumer or military?
A: The roll out of 3G cellular will provide consumers with a host of new portable applications. Emerging handsets will support multiple cellular standards for global operation, as well as new Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and GPS services. This functionality must come without impact to size, performance or battery life - A difficult scenario when incorporating multiple radio chipsets. SiGe Semiconductor is currently working with handset manufacturers to determine the ideal partitioning and co-existence scenarios to ensure that phones will integrate desired functionality while supporting excellent coverage, small size, and optimal battery life.

WiMAX capable broadband access equipment will deliver broadband services with the added benefit of portability. The promise of worldwide broadband access may be delivered if carriers and Intel are successful with their plans. Given the success of Wi-Fi hotspots, this is the one to watch. ®

Q: Which of your company's recent product introductions has you the most excited?
A: MITEQ has a long history of microwave and millimeter wave technologies, enabling MITEQ to offer a broad spectrum of Ka-Band products for the next generation of Internet connections via the under utilized 27 GHz to 31 GHz spectrum. Some of Miteq's proven products are; Low Noise Amplifiers, Block converters, High Power amplifiers and much of the ancillary equipment necessary to build a successful Ka-Band gateway system.

Q: Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) would seem to be the "next big thing." What effect do you think it will have on our industry? Consumers?
A: Voice over the Internet will have little effect on MITEQ and ultimately little effect on our industry as a whole. It's mainly a digital/software manipulation of an existing platform, whose primary motivation is financial.

Q: Last year, the majority of our "View"-ers saw the Far East, particularly China, as the part of the world with the greatest growth potential for their business. Would you agree with that now, or is another geographical market opening up?
A: Traditionally our growth potential has always been best in rapidly growing economies where infrastructure has to be established quickly. We have seen similar growth in Russia, but China is growing rapidly and appears to be at the beginning of its emergence as a consumer.

We need to remember that in all areas, the political situation can affect future growth.

Q: In your opinion, which military or commercial product category may show the most growth in the
coming year? Why?
A: Satellite communications remains the principle means of reliable communications in remote areas, typical of military operations where real time flexible deployment of assets is necessary for a successful mission.

Q: Other than VoIP, do you see any other emerging technology that will shake up the marketplace, either consumer or military?
A: High speed communication on the move seems to be on most wish lists. The military wants to communicate with every vehicle in any location. The consumer wants E-mail and the Internet instantly ON independent of their location, i.e. a train, an airplane, a car or truck, etc. The technology is still very expensive, but once it becomes widespread in the military and major industrial users, it will flow down in a cost effective manner to the consumer. ®

Q: Which of your company's recent product introductions has you the most excited?
A: I'm very excited about many of our recent products. We've released a number of infrastructure devices including mult-chip modules, power amplifiers and other RF devices. However, I think the most exciting is our new line of PCMCIA RFID Cards-the MPR5000 and MPR6000 multi-protocol RFID cards. These unique products are the first UHF multi-protocol RFID cards using the ultra-compact PCMCIA Type II standard commonly found on laptops and other commercial computing platforms. Now anyone can get into the RFID business. These units leverage existing air protocol standards-ECPGlobal' Classes 0 and 1 and Class 0+ -to ensure compatibility and maximize utility. Future upgradeability is ensured via flash memory and a boot loader function. These small easy-to-use RFID cards are building blocks for OEM's, systems integrators, value-added resellers (VARs) and small business owners developing printer/applicator, handheld, stationary, portal and other integrated RFID-enabled end-products. We have had a strong Beta customer program and are beginning production shipments this month. These products make RFID technology available to the masses at commercial price levels, and we are very excited about the future potential of the MPR family of RFID Cards.

Q: Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) would seem to be the "next big thing." What effect do you think it will have on our industry? Consumers?
A: I believe the effect of VoIP will be positive for those companies utilizing internet-based application technology. VoIP will likely reduce operational costs and reduce the number of service providers necessary to service the industry. VoIP advances will have an indirect impact on many industries as the internet becomes evermore ubiquitous. As people adopt technology such as VoIP it has a tendency to act as a catalyst spurring other complimentary technologies. It possible the VoIP advances could even flow through this indirect path to an RF/microwave company like WJ.

Q: Last year, the majority of our "View"-ers saw the Far East, particularly China, as the part of the world with the greatest growth potential for their business. Would you agree with that now, or is another geographical market opening up?
A: Asia remains a strong market for WJ. China is a powerhouse in a number of markets like the PHS (Personal Handphone Systems) business. China is the largest cellular market and the upcoming 3G market is a driving force in China where investments in infrastructure remain heavy. As such a large market there are also many niche market, such as the emergence of RFID, where WJ offers low-cost, high-performance products of various types.

Q: In your opinion, which military or commercial product category may show the most growth?
A: WJ offers its product for military applications on a COTs basis. I believe the application of UHF RFID technology in the consumer product goods supply chain and the military asset tracking will show the most significant growth in the coming year. RFID is an emerging technology both for commercial and military markets with predicted annual growth rates of over 30%. Many of the implementation deadlines for RFID mandates by market movers such as Wal-Mart, Tesco, U.S. Department of Defense, Metro AG and others are in 2005. With products like the multi-protocol RFID cards, WJ is well positioned to benefit from this same accelerated growth.

Q: Other than VoIP, do you see any other emerging technology that will shake up the marketplace?
A: Again, I think RFID will be spectacular. We are just beginning to see UHF RFID supply chain and asset tracking applications coming of age. As the RFID market grows we will see a shift from small technology companies to larger corporations offering a broader array of RFID products and services. We've already seen mergers and acquisitions, lawsuits, governmental regulation and other market forces coming to bear. Anything can happen in the RFID market, and its guaranteed to be exciting. WJ's offering unique RFID products leveraging technology and making RFID easier to use, more consistent in performance and available to anyone. We'll be hanging on to this market as is takes off in the coming year. ®

Q: Which of your company's recent product introductions has you the most excited?
A: Smiths Microwave Components & Subsystems group has been very active in technology advancement. Our companies have introduced a wide range of new products including Miniature Microstrips, Components with 10 to 30 times higher power handling, Signal Processing, Isolator/ Limiters, Switch Filters, and high performance Signal Generation Synthesizer subsystems. Each of our technology centers is constantly developing and introducing new products or technology solutions. I am particularly excited about several recent product introductions.

Our Microwave Multifunction Assembly center recently introduced "no tune" Switch Filter subassemblies targeted at rapidly growing EW/ELINT markets. These Military Airborne grade products are small, low profile and designed for volume production. Our design simulation tools permit minimum tuning and alignment in volume production. Recently, four and five channel switch filter subassemblies have been introduced and we forecast exceptional growth in this product line over the next 5-10 years.

Our Time and Frequency center recently introduced a new GPS SASSM (Selected Availability Anti-Spoofing Module) Time Code Processor, Model 9000S. This new product line addresses needs in an under-served market critical to our national defense. We have invested heavily in this technology and have recently completed a stringent test program and have been granted approval by the L.A. AFB Joint Program Office (JPO) for our GPS SAASM HAE (host application equipment) and related software.

Also, from our components center, we recently introduced a surface mount power divider line with power handling capabilities equaling that of many connectorized power dividers. Currently 2-, 3-, and 4-way versions are available in ranges from 420MHz to 2.4 GHz. These are an ideal solution for telecom and military applications.

Most important, we anticipate an escalating pace of technology advances. Smiths is committed to providing "next generation solutions" whether through internally developed or acquired new technology.

Q: Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) would seem to be the "next big thing." What effect do you think it will have on our industry? Consumers?
A: VoIP may cannibalize some landline telecommunications and may take market share from mobile cell phones as users rely on portable laptops in "hotspot" locations for video and voice calls. One benefit of VoIP is the remote capabilities offered to a variety of employees, which will lead to more flexible companies. According to a recent research report VoIP usage in the US will grow from 400,000 homes in 2004 to 12.1 million in 2009.

The growing combined data rates of VoIP with music and video data streams drives BW requirements directly to last mile in-home links and small businesses. This will eventually strengthen the RF back-haul needs and may re-ignite the push to deliver WB data directly to homes and businesses using either fiber or RF links. DSL continues to provide a cost effective, stopgap solution for moderate BW but has insufficient capacity to support future data expectations. Solutions like WiMAX (IEEE 802.16), provide fantastic opportunities for our industry to demonstrate a last mile WB pipe to users that leap-frog fiber to home and other competing more costly systems.

Q: Last year, the majority of our "View"-ers saw the Far East, particularly China, as the part of the world with the greatest growth potential for their business. Would you agree with that now, or is another geographical market opening up?
A: While we forecast China to continue as a key manufacturing center and one of the largest markets with the highest growth, another geographical area now emerging appears to be India. The large population, skilled labor pool, and developing infrastructure may put India in a similar position as China 5 or 10 years ago.

Q: In your opinion, which military or commercial product category may show the most growth in the
coming year? Why?
A:Primary growth in military and space markets is being driven by information systems. Wideband data channels are required for fast responsive image and surveillance data. These applications range from network centric battlefield situational awareness, to real time command and control of battle groups from remote locations. This kind of connectivity can only be provided by RF systems since fiber installations are not flexible enough to fight mobile conflicts. We see SATCOM and EW/ELINT as the key growth areas of the defense and space sector in the coming years. Products we are focused on include mmWave SATCOM converter assemblies and fast hopping channelizers and LO assemblies for EW/ELINT receivers.

Our company remains heavily diversified in both military and commercial markets. While military growth may not keep pace with previous