17 Dec 09. EADS has received the decision of the Sanctions Commission of the AMF (Autorité des Marchés Financiers), regarding the charges initially notified by the AMF on 1 April 2008. EADS is pleased that the Sanctions Commission has decided to dismiss all charges, following the arguments and evidence presented by EADS and the other notified parties to refute the elements presented by the AMF investigators and the rapporteur. EADS is satisfied that the Sanctions Commision has recognised that EADS has complied with all applicable market information duties, in particular in respect of risks affecting the A380 programme and its development, and that there has been no breach of insider trading rules. EADS is confident that this point of view will also prevail in all other pending proceedings based on the same facts.
18 Dec 09. Intel is preparing two new families of microprocessors—the basic calculating engines in PCs—that add circuitry now found on separate chips that manage three-dimensional graphics and video on display screens. Squeezing such functions onto fewer chips tends to bring snappier performance at a lower price as well as longer battery life in laptops. On Monday, Intel plans to announce Pineview, its code name for a new version of its low-end Atom microprocessor that comes with built-in graphics. At the Consumer Electronics Show next month, the company plans to announce 17 chips in its Westmere family for mainstream laptops and desktop PCs that uses a similar approach to boost graphic performance. (Source: WSJ)
21 Dec 09. Curtiss-Wright Controls, Inc. announced today that it has acquired Skyquest Systems Ltd. for £10 million, or approximately $16m. Skyquest is a leading supplier of aircraft video displays, recorders and video/radar converters for surveillance aircraft applications in the aerospace and defense markets. The business will become part of Curtiss-Wright Controls’ Embedded Computing group. “The Skyquest product family complements our Embedded Computing product offering,” said David Adams, co-chief operating officer of Curtiss-Wright Corporation. “The addition of Skyquest’s airborne video solutions to our product family will expand our systems offering for customers looking for a total solutions provider for their mission critical applications. Furthermore, Curtiss-Wright Controls will be able to grow the Skyquest brand by providing it access to many new markets.” Skyquest Systems Ltd was formed from two businesses, Skyquest Ltd and Real-Time Vision Ltd. Founded in 1996 and 1998 respectively, the two businesses have been operating under the trademark Skyquest Aviation. They have developed the Skyquest range of stand-alone rugged mission displays, digital video recorders and video distribution systems for aircraft and rotorcraft manufacturers and system integrators throughout the world. Customers for Skyquest’s systems typically include police, customs, coast guard, border patrol, military, search & rescue, air ambulance and government agencies. Skyquest’s advanced display and recorder technology is widely recognized as the system of choice for demanding airborne surveillance missions with proven reliability in harsh environments. The company’s Video Management System (VMS) has been successfully fielded in a broad range of demanding applications including SAR and border patrol operations. In the UK Skyquest’s VMS is flown by London’s Metropolitan Police Air Support Unit and in Australia, airborne surveillance units deploy the VMS on both fixed and rotary wing aircraft. The VMS is a fully integrated systems that use touch-screen technology which enables observers and pilots to independently select, view and record the images they need, with no signal loss, from multiple camera and sensors. In addition transmission of video for downlink via microwave link is available. The company is also a market leader in the development of lightweight, airworthy High Definition (HD) video recorders for airborn