AUGUST 2005 INDUSTRY NEWS

• INSTRON Expands Calibration Services and Obtains Accreditation for ISO 376 Calibration of Secondary Force Standards
• Symmetricom Reports Fiscal Fourth Quarter and FY2005 Results
• Land Instruments Int'l. Sets New Standards in Temperature Calibration
• New Guide is Timely for Radio Controlled Clocks, Watches
• Agilent Technologies Reports Third Quarter 2005 Results
• Technical Maintenance, Inc. Opens 4th Cal Lab in South Florida
• Laboratory Testing, Inc. (LTI) Expands A2LA Accreditation
• Electro Rent Corporation's Fiscal 2005 Report
• Cannon Instrument Co. Begins NIST Alliance
• Sypris Reports Second Quarter Earnings
• Symmetricom Finalizes Its Acquisition of Agilent's Frequency & Time Standards
• Jeffrey Confirmed by Senate as 13th NIST Director
• Davis Inotek Instruments Establishes Gas Flow Capabilities
• Danaher Corporation Announces Second Quarter Results
• New On-Line Resource for Industrial Test Equipment and Instrumentation
• New NIST Method Improves Accuracy of Spectrometers

INSTRON Expands Calibration Services and Obtains Accreditation for ISO 376 Calibration of Secondary Force Standards

Instron ®, a leading provider of testing equipment designed to evaluate mechanical properties of materials and components, continues to expand its calibration services. In addition to force, strain and hardness, Instron now offers accredited onsite calibrations of speed, displacement, stroke, and temperature. Instron’s calibration team maintains the highest level of quality and complies with internationally recognized standards such as ISO/IEC 17025 and ANSI/NCSL Z540-1-1994.

The Instron North America Calibration Lab (NVLAP Lab Code 200301-0) has also received accreditation for calibration of durometers and force standards to ISO 376 in their new facility located in Norwood, MA. Additionally, Instron has achieved international acceptance by obtaining accreditation around the world from a number of major accrediting bodies: NVLAP (N. America); UKAS and DKD (Europe); NATA (Asia and Australia) and KOLAS (Korea).

Instron ® is a leading provider of testing equipment for the material and structural testing markets. A global company providing single-source convenience, Instron is a full-service materials testing company that manufactures and services testing instruments, systems, software and accessories. Instron’s broad range of service capabilities includes assistance with laboratory management, calibration expertise and customer training in Instron classrooms and at customer sites.

For more information, contact Instron at www.instron.com.

Symmetricom Reports Fiscal Fourth Quarter and FY 2005 Results

Symmetricom, Inc. a leading worldwide supplier of network synchronization and timing solutions, reported results for its fourth quarter and fiscal year ended June 30, 2005.

Fiscal fourth quarter revenue was $45.4 million, an increase of $1.6 million, or 3.6 percent, over prior quarter revenue of $43.8 million, and a decrease of $4.3 million, or 8.6 percent, from the same period last year. For the fiscal year ended June 30, 2005, revenue was $189.1 million, an increase of $16.3 million, or 9.4 percent, over the prior fiscal year revenue of $172.8 million. Strong performance in the wireline and government businesses in fiscal 2005 was partially offset by weakness in the wireless OEM business.

"Fiscal 2005 was a superb year for Symmetricom, marked by growth in sales, gross margins, profits and cash flow," said Thomas Steipp, president and CEO of Symmetricom. "Both of our divisions, Telecom Solutions Division (TSD) and Timing, Test and Measurement (TTM), experienced good revenue growth."

Symmetricom acquired Agilent's Frequency and Time Standards product line on Aug.1, 2005. This high-performance cesium business further strengthens the Symmetricom brand and creates additional market opportunities for the Timing, Test and Measurement division.

Land Instruments Int'l. Sets New Standards in Temperature Calibration

Noncontact temperature measurement equipment manufacturer Land Instruments International has consolidated the leading position of its calibration laboratory by setting new standards of accuracy in temperature calibration.

For blackbody sources in the range -10 to +200C, the laboratory can now achieve a best measurement uncertainty of +/-0.8C - a performance that is matched only by the National Physical Laboratory. The uncertainty figure for thermocouples, radiation thermometers and other blackbody sources is between +/-1 and 4C.

Land Instrument's calibration laboratory was the first to be accredited to issue United Kingdom Accreditation Service (UKAS) certificates for thermal measurements, and to meet the requirements of ISO17025.

Set up originally for the initial calibration of Land's own instruments, the laboratory is used by companies of all kinds whose processes depend on accurate infra-red temperature measurement - and even Land's competitors on occasion.

As well as calibrating and accrediting instruments, Land Instruments advises customers on the best method of achieving traceability for their equipment and can also provide a recalibration reminder service - especially useful for subcontractors to defense and aerospace organizations.

New Guide Is Timely for Radio Controlled Clocks, Watches

Got the correct time? Radio controlled clocks and watches that automatically synchronize to official U.S. time provided by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have become more popular as prices drop and style choices increase. Sometimes called “atomic timepieces,” these devices receive their time from NIST radio station WWVB located near Ft. Collins, Colo., which is indirectly referenced to the NIST-F1 cesium fountain atomic clock in Boulder, Colo. WWVB broadcasts its signal throughout the nation at 60 kilohertz to clocks and watches with miniature radio receivers tuned to that frequency.

A new booklet and accompanying Web page produced by NIST’s time and frequency experts offer consumers advice on choosing the radio controlled clock or watch that best suits their needs. For those already owning a WWVB-tuned timepiece, the guide provides tips on fixing several common operating problems. For manufacturers, the document recommends best practices for clock control, synchronization methods, time-zone settings, daylight savings time practices, hardware specifications and other topics.

Agilent Technologies Reports Third Quarter 2005 Results

Agilent Technologies Inc. reported orders of $1.80 billion for the third fiscal quarter ended July 31, 2005, 1 percent above one year ago. Revenues during the quarter were $1.69 billion, 10 percent below last year. Third quarter GAAP net earnings were $104 million, or $0.21 per diluted share, compared with $100 million, or $0.20 per share, in last year's third quarter.

Excluding a net $38 million composed largely of restructuring charges and tax benefits, Agilent reported third quarter operating net income of $142 million, or $0.28 per share. On a comparable basis, the company earned $154 million, or $0.30 per share, one year ago(1).

"Agilent performed well in the third quarter, despite still-soft markets," said Bill Sullivan, Agilent president and chief executive officer. "Revenues were slightly below our expectations because of weak wireless test and life sciences markets. We were disciplined in our spending, however, and demonstrated excellent cash generation once again. As the world's premier measurement company, we extended our leadership through major new product introductions in both electronic and bioanalytical instrumentation."

Looking ahead, Agilent said it remained comfortable with its prior guidance for the fourth fiscal quarter. With evidence of a rebound in semiconductor-related markets, signs of a bottoming in wireless test, and the assumption of normal seasonality, the company expects fourth quarter fiscal 2005 revenues of $1.79 billion to $1.89 billion.

Technical Maintenance, Inc. Opens 4th Cal Lab in South Florida

Headquartered out of Norcross, GA, Technical Maintenance, Inc. (TMI) opened its fourth calibration laboratory in Miramar, FL to better serve the south Florida customer base and expand their market.  The Miami/Ft. Lauderdale area was targeted for expansion because TMI's Tampa lab was getting so much business from south Florida due to TMI's reputation for service. 

The lab is managed by Glenn Curtis, who previously was the Assistant Branch Manager in Tampa.   The Miramar location is ISO registered and A2LA accredited.  Free pick up and delivery is offered in Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties along with scheduled in-house calibration at the customer's location.   Additional TMI services are on-line calibration certificate reporting and free estimates on repairs.  For a competitive quote, just contact Glenn at 954-438-9310 or www.tmicalibration.com .

TMI's new on-site asset management division encompasses power tool maintenance and repair.  This new service compliments the calibration side of TMI giving the customer "one stop shopping" with tooling and instruments to help control production costs.  Phil Thomas is the Sales Manager for On-site Technical Services and can be reached at 770-331-3457.

Laboratory Testing, Inc. (LTI) Expands A2LA Accreditation

Laboratory Testing Inc. (LTI) has expanded its scope of accreditation in calibration services with the American Association for Laboratory Accreditation (A2LA). Accreditation was previously granted to the company and its calibration division, LTI Metrology, to perform calibration of a wide range of standards, gages, hand tools and torque wrenches and to perform dimensional testing.

Effective July 22, 2005, A2LA approved the renewal and expansion of LTI’s calibration accreditation and also re-approved LTI for dimensional testing. Both accreditation certificates are valid to March 31, 2007.

With the expanded scope of accreditation in calibration, the ranges for previously approved instruments have been increased. LTI also added height gages, radius gages, balances, mass and pressure calibrations, and field calibration of optical comparators, surface plates, and Rockwell hardness testers to the scope of accreditation.

Laboratory Testing Inc. of Hatfield, PA, is an independent laboratory specializing in materials testing, specimen machining, failure analysis and materials-engineering services.  LTI Metrology performs dimensional, mass, pressure, force, torque, and vacuum calibrations traceable to the National Institute of Standards and Technology NIST), as well as field service for surface plates, optical comparators, hardness testers, scales/balances, testing machines and hand tools.

Cannon Instrument Co. Begins NIST Alliance

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has designated Cannon Instrument Company to provide U.S. national measurement standards and to issue calibration and measurement certificates for certified liquid viscosity reference standards. Cannon Instrument Company will participate on behalf of the U.S. in Key Comparisons organized by the Comite Internationale de Poids et Mesures (CIPM). CIPM key comparisons establish levels of equivalence of national measurement standards realized by the National Measurement Institutes of various nations and support calibration and measurement certificate capability claims found in the BIPM Key Comparison Database http://kcdb.bipm.fr. This agreement was confirmed by NIST on February 26, 2004.

Cannon responsibilities pursuant to the agreement include realization of liquid viscosity measurements standards at the highest level of technical competence and experience. Cannon will also assume responsibilities for dissemination of U.S. national measurement standards for liquid viscosity and for compliance with the requirements of the CIPM Mutual Recognition Arrangement. To meet these requirements the company will work closely with NIST to maintain appropriate quality controls and documentation of measurement uncertainty of primary standards and their dissemination. The agreement with NIST includes a required performance review of Cannon’s measurement assurance program control data every two years. Cannon Vice President and General Manager Pat Maggi said that he viewed the new NIST relationship as “indicative of a high level of confidence in the quality processes that have enabled Cannon Instrument Company, as an ISO/IEC 17025 accredited and world-renowned viscosity calibration laboratory, to achieve international prominence as a preferred supplier of viscosity-related products and services.”

Electro Rent Corporation's Fiscal 2005 Report

Electro Rent Corporation announced financial results for fiscal 2005, highlighted by a 102% increase in net income and a 14.4% increase in revenue compared to fiscal 2004. For the twelve months ended May 31, 2005, net income doubled to $24.3 million from $12 million for fiscal 2004. Revenue increased 14.4% to $107.6 million from $94.1 million for the prior year, primarily reflecting solid growth in the company's test and measurement equipment rental and lease business.

Rental and lease revenue increased 14.2%, to $80.3 million from $70.3 million, primarily reflecting solid growth in test and measurement equipment rentals and leases. "Business was especially brisk in the wireless test equipment arena, which employs many of the same products we stock for the aerospace industry. Other general-purpose T&M product lines also expanded at a healthy pace, and there was some recovery in wireline optical systems," said Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Daniel Greenberg. Equipment sales and other revenues increased to $27.4 million for fiscal 2005 compared to $23.8 million for the prior year, primarily due to the large early lease termination and buyout transaction by a data products customer.

"During this past year we took steps to solidify the progress we have made in improving the quality of our business in our core markets in the United States and Canada, opened up the gates to the Far East and made progress in Europe to create what we expect will become new sources of growth for the company. We fulfilled our pledge to have the newest, most advanced equipment available for our customers when they needed it, and stepped up our participation in the used equipment marketplace. We also increased the breadth and depth of our customer base, and moved up the value chain by expanding our leasing activities and launching a new technology resource program for our customers. Our readiness to be aggressive and offer innovative, flexible solutions has improved our ability to help our customers better manage their equipment requirements and made Electro Rent a more comprehensive supplier in our industry," Greenberg said.

Equipment purchases totaled $70 million for fiscal 2005, compared to $53 million for fiscal 2004. The book value of Electro Rent's equipment pool rose to $122.8 million at May 31, 2005 compared to $96.3 million at May 31, 2004. Electro Rent Corporation (www.ElectroRent.com) is one of the largest nationwide organizations devoted to the short-term rental and leasing of personal computers, servers and general purpose electronic test equipment.

Sypris Reports Second Quarter Earnings

Sypris Solutions, Inc. reported revenue increased 31% to a record $125.6 million for the second quarter compared to $95.9 million for the prior year period.

"The results for the second quarter reflected a continued improvement in the Company's operating performance," said Jeffrey T. Gill, president and chief executive officer. "Revenue continued to increase while the costs associated with the investment in manufacturing capacity, launch of new programs and disruption of material deliveries declined during the quarter. The majority of these costs are increasingly behind us and we expect to benefit from an improvement in operating margins going forward."

Revenue for Sypris' Electronics Group was $35.9 million in the second quarter compared to $37.7 million for the prior year period, but improved 1% sequentially from the first quarter of this year. Gross profit for the quarter was $6.3 million compared to $7.5 million for the same period in 2004, reflecting a decline in shipments for data systems products, but increased 28% sequentially from the first quarter of 2005.

Revenue from the Test & Measurement segment remained consistent with that of the prior year period at $11.8 million, but increased 2% sequentially from the first quarter of this year. Gross profit for the Test & Measurement segment increased 12% to $3.0 million from $2.7 million for the same period in 2004 and improved 16% sequentially from the first quarter of this year. For more information about Sypris Solutions, visit its Web site at www.sypris.com.

Symmetricom Finalizes Its Acquisition of Agilent's Frequency & Time Standards

Symmetricom, Inc., a worldwide leader in precise time and frequency products and services, announced that it has closed its acquisition of Agilent's Frequency and Time Standards product line. Under the terms of the transaction, Symmetricom paid approximately $8.0 million in cash.

Agilent's Frequency and Time Standards flagship product is the 5071A Primary Frequency Standard, the world's highest-performing commercial cesium standard available for timekeeping. These cesium clocks are used primarily by official time authorities and metrology institutes throughout the world. The U.S. government also uses these precision timing instruments for satellite communication ground stations and precision navigation.

"This historic product line, which serves as 'the timekeeper for the world's timekeepers,' compliments our offering of precise time and frequency products. Our cesium products now meet an even wider range of mission-critical timing needs, from those of our newest customers in the metrology and calibration markets to telecommunications network synchronization," said Thomas Steipp, chief executive officer of Symmetricom. "We are working closely with Agilent customers, many of whom have existing relationships with Symmetricom, toward a seamless transition."

All 16 Agilent employees supporting the product line have agreed to join Symmetricom. Manufacturing will move to the company's San Jose, Calif. facilities after it has been properly outfitted. For additional information please visit: www.cesium-standard.symmttm.com.

Jeffrey Confirmed by Senate as 13th NIST Director

The U.S. Senate confirmed William Alan Jeffrey, a veteran manager of federal science and technology development, as the 13th director of the U.S. Commerce Department’s National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST).

Jeffrey, 45, was nominated by President Bush on May 25, 2005, to succeed Arden Bement, who was appointed director of the National Science Foundation in November of last year. NIST Deputy Director Hratch Semerjian has served as acting director in the interim.

“I’m very pleased to welcome Bill Jeffrey to the Department of Commerce team,” said Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez. “He brings a strong background in science and technology policy and the practicalities of research management to one of our nation’s finest research laboratories and an institution whose work affects almost every aspect of our daily lives.”

Jeffrey has been involved in federal science and technology programs and policy since 1988. Previous to his appointment as director of NIST he served as senior director for homeland and national security and the assistant director for space and aeronautics at the Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) within the Executive Office of the President. Prior to that he was the deputy director for the Advanced Technology Office and chief scientist for the Tactical Technology Office with the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). While at DARPA, Jeffrey developed research programs in communications, computer network security, novel sensor development and space operations.

Prior to joining DARPA, Jeffrey was the assistant deputy for technology at the Defense Airborne Reconnaissance Office, where he supervised sensor development for the Predator and Global Hawk Unmanned Aerial Vehicles and the development of common standards that allow for cross-service and cross-agency transfer of imagery and intelligence products. Jeffrey also spent several years working at the Institute for Defense Analyses performing technical analyses in support of the Department of Defense.

Jeffrey received his Ph.D. in astronomy from Harvard University and his B.Sc. in physics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The press release can be found at: http://www.nist.gov/public_affairs/releases/jeffrey_confirm.htm

Davis Inotek Instruments Establishes Gas Flow Capabilities

Davis Inotek Instruments, LLC, a subsidiary of JPB Enterprises, has added flow measurement capabilities to its expansive facility, the company recently announced.

Davis Inotek's new high accuracy laminar flow elements allow for calibration of rotameters, mass flow meters and mass flow controllers and covers flow range from less than 1 standard cubic centimeter (sccm) to 80 standard liters per minute (slm). DH Instruments molbox allows for calibration of process gases such as argon, helium, oxygen, propane, methane and numerous other gases mixtures. Laminar elements are gaining wide acceptance in various fieldssemiconductors, fiber optics, pharmaceuticals, energy production, reference gas blending and environmental monitoring. Its high accuracy and range ability are effective when configuring systems to cover wide assortments of devices needing calibration.

Stephan Blitva, Davis Inotek's flow specialist technician, is impressed with its accuracy. Its extremely high accuracy and ease of use allows for exact operations of customer's units for calibration.

Danaher Corporation Announces Second Quarter Results

Danaher Corporation announced that net earnings for its second quarter ended July 1, 2005 including the effect of certain gains of $0.03 per share were $229 million, or $0.70 per diluted share, 25.5% higher than its 2004 second quarter net earnings of $182 million, or $0.56 per diluted share.

Net earnings for the first six months of 2005 including the effect of the gains were $417 million, or $1.28 per diluted share, compared with $327 million, or $1.01 per diluted share for 2004, an increase of 27.5%.. Sales for the first six months of 2005 were $3,755 million compared to $3,164 million for the first six months of 2004, an increase of 19%.

H. Lawrence Culp, Jr., President and Chief Executive Officer, stated, "We are pleased to again report record quarterly earnings. We are particularly pleased to report that growth from existing businesses, also known as core revenues, accounted for 5.5% growth, with all three of our reporting segments delivering higher core revenue growth as compared to the first quarter. Total sales growth for the quarter also includes acquisition growth of 12% and currency gains of 1.5%. Our operating cash flow for the first half of 2005 of $595 million was another record and a 19% increase over the first half of 2004. The broad-based strength we continue to see across our businesses reinforces our confidence in our ability to deliver positive results for the second half of 2005.

New On-Line Resource for Industrial Test Equipment and Instrumentation

Standard Meter Lab, traditionally a brick and mortar based business has recently expanded into the e-commerce arena with their new on-line store - NetToolCrib.com.

New NIST Method Improves Accuracy of Spectrometers

Measurements of the intensity of light at different wavelengths can be made more accurately now, thanks to a new, simple method for correcting common instrument errors. The new method, developed by researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), will benefit fields such as color measurement, lighting development, remote sensing, biotechnology and astronomy.

The NIST method improves the measurement accuracy of spectrometers, devices that measure optical radiation at different wavelengths. Spectrometers are used widely in industrial settings and academic research to analyze the emissions from lamps or other light sources, as well as to analyze optical properties of materials. The NIST method corrects errors arising from the presence of stray light, unwanted scattered radiation within an instrument.

Stray light is often the major source of measurement uncertainty for commonly used spectrometers. It can cause unexpectedly large systematic errors, even as much as 100 percent depending upon the application, when an instrument tries to measure a very low level of radiation at some wavelength while there are relatively high levels in other wavelength regions. The new NIST method nearly eliminates stray light errors, to a level less than 0.001 percent of the total signal, a desirable level for most industrial and scientific applications. This allows very accurate measurement of low-power components of radiation and accurate measurements across a large dynamic range of intensities.

NIST recently began offering a special calibration service to characterize spectrometers for stray light using the new method. Plans are being made to transfer the technique to industry, and a technical paper is in preparation. For further information about the calibration service, contact Yuqin Zong at yzong@nist.gov, or (301) 975-2332.

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