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January 10, 2002
The spotlight will be on San Diego-based Cubic Corp.'s sophisticated laser-based weapons training system, MILES 2000, when USA Network debuts “Combat Missions,” the newest entry into the reality television show arena.
The 15-episode series begins Jan. 16 at 10 p.m. on the USA cable channel.
Combat Missions was developed by “Survivor” producer Mark Burnett.
Contestants wearing Cubic's MILES 2000 "manworn" gear and armed with the system's laser simulated weapons will compete against each other in war games.
Cubic's laser-based system, in use by the U.S. Army, U.S. Marine Corps and allied forces, allows soldiers and marines to fire infrared laser impulses from the same weapons and vehicles used in actual combat. MILES 2000 provides for accurate scorekeeping because it records all shots and actual hits.
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U.S. Bank has named Robert Armstrong market chairman for the bank's operations in San Diego.
Armstrong will lead the commercial banking efforts and work closely with current leaders to bolster the bank's presence in the region.
"San Diego is one of the primary growth areas for U.S. Bank, so the growth of our leadership team is a natural next step," says David Rainer, state president for U.S. Bank in California. "Robert brings a wealth of experience to the position and has demonstrated outstanding leadership in Southern California, which I am confident will translate into tremendous opportunities in San Diego."
Armstrong brings 13 years of commercial banking and corporate financial experience to his new role. He has lead U.S. Bank Commercial Dealer Services in Southern California since U.S. Bank entered the region in 1999.
"I look forward to enhancing the business relationships that U.S. Bank and has worked hard to establish in San Diego," Armstrong says.
He will be based in U.S. Bank's downtown office at 600 West Broadway.
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Athena, a San Diego-based organization for executive women in technology, and Catalyst, a New York-based research and advisory organization that works to advance women in business, revealed that obtaining high visibility assignments is the most important factor contributing to women's career advancement.
This is from the results of surveys addressing women in San Diego technology companies and 10 of the most influential companies in the high tech world.
"Other key factors included consistently exceeding expectations, a willingness to take risks, and having an influential mentor," says AnneMarie Kaiser, attorney at law, Knobbe, Martens, Olson & Bear LLP.
The 2001 Athena survey had 127 total respondents, 87 percent of them female. Slightly less than half of the respondents hold positions in San Diego technology companies, including biotechnology and biopharmaceutical companies and software companies. The remaining respondents hold positions in service firms, including accounting firms, marketing and public relations firms, and law firms. Almost half of the respondents are corporate officers or members of the executive committee within their company.
"Athena's local survey results are compared with Catalyst's 2001 census of women corporate officers and top earners," says Tamar Elkeles, v.p., Learning and Development, Qualcomm. "The survey results provide unique insights into why San Diego’s executive women are successful in their organizations, as well as their key strategies for continual career growth."
Athena survey results indicated some of the following findings:
• Board of Directors — Nearly half of the respondents indicated that there are no women on their companies' board. A majority of the respondents indicated that the number of women on their company’s board has stayed the same in the past two years.
• Executive Positions — More than half of the respondents indicated that the progress of women in executive position has stayed the same in the past two years. Yet the majority of respondents indicated that they expect that the number of women holding executive positions by the year 2002 would increase.
• Factors Contributing to Success — Factors such as consistently exceeding expectations, willingness to take risks, and having an influential mentor and an advanced education were cited by respondents as factors that contributed to their success.
• Factors Preventing Women from Advancement — Exclusion from informal networks of communication, stereotyping and preconceptions of women were cited as the top factors preventing women from advancement into corporate leadership.
Catalyst interviewed 30 of the tech industry's next generation leaders in 10 of the most influential companies in the high tech world today. Companies participating in the study included AOL Time Warner, Autodesk Inc., Hewlett-Packard, Intel, Moai Technologies, Nortel Networks, Oracle, Sun Microsystems, TiVo and Yahoo.
The study’s purpose was to define the career paths to leadership positions in high technology industries.
The key findings of the study included there is no necessary or preferred starting point for advancement in high technology businesses, and that there is no preferred route to the top. In keeping with the Athena survey results, the majority of women surveyed by Catalyst indicated that mentors were extremely important to their success, and that networks are critical. Women survey participants indicated that there is subtle stereotyping that keeps women from advancing, and that strategic assignments and risk taking were key factors in finding success.
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Cymer Inc., a supplier of excimer light sources used in semiconductor manufacturing, has unveiled the ELS-7000, its latest krypton fluoride (KrF) production light source.
Designed for next- generation lithography applications at the 248 nm wavelength, the ELS-7000 will assist in the production of devices with sub-130 nm design rules.
By also providing the highest spectral power of any Cymer KrF light source, it is Cymer’s intent that the ELS-7000 fulfill customers' demand for a 4kHz KrF system that addresses their increasingly aggressive performance and cost requirements.
Cymer already has received multiple-system orders for the ELS-7000, exceeding $14 million, from several of the top companies in the semiconductor industry.
Shipments to these global customers are expected to commence in Q1 2002.
Pascal Didier, Cymer's president and COO, noted that this product launch and its associated purchase orders confirm that the industry is entering the "golden age" of DUV.
"DUV lithography is a key technology driving smaller geometries and technological advancements in the semiconductor itself," Didier says. "The ELS-7000 offers more power for higher productivity and tighter bandwidth to extend KrF technology to sub-130 nm designs-enabling chipmakers to shrink the critical dimensions of integrated circuits, while minimizing operating costs."
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The follow-up to the "Protein Kinases in Drug Discovery & Development," which attracted more than 300 international research scientists from big pharma and biotech alike, will take place in San Diego on March 4-5., says Strategic Research Institute.
The meeting is divided into three discrete sections, 1) discovery & research, 2) pre-clinical development and, 3) clinical development. Novel crystal structures and updates on clinical development of a variety of compounds will be discussed.
Renowned industry and academic researchers will discuss the latest advances in growth factor receptors and signal transduction inhibitors across many different therapeutic classes including cancer, diabetes and inflammation.
The keynote presentation, titled, "Protein Kinases and Phosphotases in the Age of Genomics" will be given by Dr. Tony Hunter of the Salk Institute.
Presenting papers on behalf of the industry will be Aventis, Novartis, OSI Pharmaceuticals, Millennium Pharmaceuticals, Chiron Corp., Pfizer La Jolla, Caliper Technologies, Vertex Pharmaceuticals, Serono, Cor Therapeutics, Kinetek, Genentech, GPC Biotech, Immunex Corp., Keryx Biopharmaceuticals, Nanogen and Enchira Biotechnology.
National Cancer Institute, Salk Institute and the University of California at San Diego will represent the academic community.
To receive the full agenda, and/or register for the conference, contact Jon E. Liong of Strategic Research Institute at jliong@srinstitute.com or (212) 967-0095, x243 (please include name, corporate affiliation, mailing address, and fax number).
For information on the exposition, or to register as a sponsor, contact Mark Alexay at malexay@srinstitute.com.
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San Diego Opera reports that Audi of America Inc. has committed to its sixth consecutive year as the Opera's season sponsor.
"We are very proud to continue our support of the San Diego Opera for another amazing season, and excited about the upcoming promotions," says Maria Nahigian, Audi event marketing manager. "There are so many facets of the opera that resonate with the Audi Brand including our core values — advanced technology, design, performance and emotion."
"Audi's commitment to supporting the San Diego Opera continues to set a new standard in the world of opera," says general director Ian Campbell. "Especially in times of economic uncertainty, to be able to rely on a corporate partner like Audi is invaluable. Audi's global involvement with opera confirms that the arts are a crucial part of our lives and that supporting artistic endeavor is, if anything, more important than ever."
Audi's visionary support includes "A Driving Force" test drive contest, whose winner will receive a one-year lease on the all-new 2002 A4 sedan. The contest starts Jan. 19, (opening night of San Diego Opera's 37th International Season), and concludes with a random drawing April 14. To enter the contest, take a test drive and complete an entry form at any one of the three San Diego County Audi Dealers — Hoehn Audi, Metro Audi or Miramar Audi.
Audi of America is headquartered in Auburn Hills, Mich.
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Members of the San Diego Opera Ensemble will stage Gounod's opera “Romeo and Juliet” at the California Center for the Arts, Escondido.
The six professional singers and music director of the ensemble will present a fully staged, 90-minute English-language version of Gounod's opera based on the play by William Shakespeare.
One performance only is offered at 7 p.m. Jan. 18.
Due to the generosity of an anonymous donor, tickets are just $5 (general admission). Tickets are available at the CCAE Box Office noon to 6 p.m. Monday through Saturday, or by phone at (800) 98-TICKET ($2 surcharge on phone orders).
The San Diego Opera Ensemble consists of soprano Laura Portune, mezzo-soprano Kelly Gebhardt, tenor Andrew Truett, baritones Paul Bower and Scott Toperzer, bass-baritone Mark-Edward Wadley and music director Susan McDaniel.
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The average cost of cell phone service in the United States dropped 0.8 percent in November, reports Econ One, an economic research and consulting firm that studies costs of wireless services.
The average monthly cost of service in 25 major cities, across four typical usage levels (30, 150, 300 and 600 minutes) was $37.08 in November. Average costs decreased in 17 of the 25 cities surveyed; costs rose in eight cities, but the increases in seven of those cities were only about .2 percent.
The greatest increase in November was in San Diego, where the average cost rose 0.5 percent to $38.36.
The largest decreases in November were in Chicago (3.3 percent), Atlanta (2.5 percent), Cincinnati (2.2 percent), San Francisco (1.7 percent) and Los Angeles (1.4 percent).
"The 0.8 percent drop in the cost index substantially mirrors the 0.9 percent drop we saw in November of last year," says Econ One senior economist Charles Mahla. "The carriers continue to jockey for position for new subscribers through plan offering changes that appeal to current and prospective users. The battle for subs is being waged on the margin," he said, meaning that small changes in plan offerings are being used to attract new subscribers or entice current users to change their carrier.
Mahla said the major factors in November's price changes were a $25 service credit offered by Sprint for the first two months of service, which lowered the cost of Sprint calling plans in all 25 cities surveyed, and a new voice and text messaging plan offered by VoiceStream, which lowered the price of some plans in several cities it serves.
Even though Cincinnati had a significant decrease in average costs, it still topped the list, for the fourth month running, with an average cost of $38.40. It was followed by San Diego ($38.36) and three cities — Boston, Philadelphia and Washington — at $37.68.
Chicago had the lowest average costs for the second month in a row — $35.07 — followed by Phoenix, Minneapolis, Sacramento and Detroit.
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At the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, San Diego-based Wingcast and Vista-based Directed Electronics Inc. announced they are teaming to create all-digital CDMA wireless products and services for the automotive aftermarket.
Under the agreement, Directed will develop the hardware platform, which will integrate with the vehicle to provide wireless services delivered by Wingcast.
The first co-developed product will provide advanced automatic vehicle location capabilities, with the ability to monitor, track and control vehicles and vehicle systems via the Web.
Scheduled for release in late 2002, it will be available for purchase and installation through Directed's retailer network of nearly 6,000 car stereo specialists and national superstores. The services will be delivered exclusively over the Wingcast Service Delivery Network.
In a nightmare for teens who borrow their parents' cars, a future service would allow the owner of a car to be automatically notified by phone, pager or e-mail if the vehicle goes beyond prescribed geographic boundaries.
"We are pleased to add the aftermarket solutions we’re developing with Directed to our growing list of telematics products and services," says Harel Kodesh, CEO of Wingcast. "This relationship will expand Wingcast's reach to millions of car owners lacking embedded telematics systems in their vehicles, such as those we’re developing for Ford and Nissan. With the rich feature set and competitive pricing of the aftermarket product we’re jointly developing for this audience, I am confident the Wingcast-Directed partnership will prove to be a huge success."
Directed Electronics, founded in Vista, is now a portfolio company of Trivest Inc., a private equity firm based in Miami.
Wingcast was created by Ford Motor Co. and Qualcomm in October 2000 to provide telematics services — the integration of computing and wireless telecommunications with motor vehicles to enhance safety, security, productivity and enjoyment for consumers in a mobile environment.
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