Particles ...
04/01/2000
CMA adds online consulting
Cleanroom Management Associates (Carson City, NV) has added an online advice component to its Internet Web site. The online consulting was added by Anne Marie Dixon, managing partner, who wanted to provide a confidential source of cleanroom information.
"Right now, any of the forums are public knowledge, so there's a public awareness that companies are having problems," Dixon says.
Dixon offers the service as an alternative to online chat forums, which she feels could be sources of misinformation. For example, Dixon says she's read everything on these forums, from people saying its OK to smoke, to people saying it's OK to wear makeup in a cleanroom.
But unlike the online forums, Dixon answers technical questions for an economical fee (fees begin at less than $50). Her responses include information she draws from her 25 years of experience, which includes 25 years worth of documentation such as technical conferences, market information and periodicals.
The questions and responses are encrypted using the latest in encryption technology, which Dixon says has a higher level of security than the technology some credit card companies currently use. The website can be found at www.cleanroommanagement.com.—KS
Federal regs on CD-ROM
A CD-ROM containing 1999 U.S. Federal Acquisition Regulations (FAR) is now available from Solutions Software Corp. (Enterprise, FL). The document collection includes all seven volumes of Title 48 CFR (U.S. Code of Federal Regulations) and 16 volumes from additional FAR-related CFR titles, as well as other supplemental information. Complete text, tables and graphics are also featured. One license per stand-alone PC or per server is required. To order, call Richard Dunkel at (407) 321-7912. —TGW
Product line marks 10th anniversary with record sales
Bacou USA Inc. (Smithfield, RI) and its Uvex Safety division celebrated the tenth anniversary of its uvex astrospec 3000 protective eyewear line by posting sales of more than 100 million pairs, claim executives. The company plans to celebrate the achievement with a promotional campaign and at trade events throughout the year. According to research concern Frost & Sullivan, Uvex Safety has been recognized as the leading provider of non-prescription protective eyewear to the industrial market for the past four years.—TGW
ASTM elects new board
ASTM, one of the world's largest voluntary standards development organizations, has elected its Board of Directors for the year 2000. Serving as new chairman of the board is Harvey P. Hack, a fellow engineer at Northrop Grumman Corp. (Annapolis, MD) and long-time ASTM member; vice chairman is Richard J. Schulte, founder and partner of consulting firm Schulte Associates LLC (Brecksville, OH); and Finance and Audit Committee chairman is W. James Bover, Ph.D., section head of Quality Assurance at ExxonMobil Biomedical Sciences Inc. (Annandale, NJ). Newly elected directors include Jeffrey IEnyart, P.E., vice president of Manufactured Products at ISG Resources (Houston, TX); Stephen W. Hopkins, P.E., senior managing engineer for Exponent, Failure Analysis Associates (Mento Park, CA); Lisa A. Johnson, technical director of the Southern Pine Inspection Bureau (Pensacola, FL); Helene Hardy Pierce, director of Commercial Roofing Systems and Technical Services at Tamko Roofing Products Inc. (Joplin, MO); Leslie Smith, Ph.D., director of Materials Science and Engineering Laboratory at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (Gaithersburg, MD); and N. David Smith, director of the Standards Division of the N.C. Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services (Raleigh, NC)—TGW
Pharmaceutical companies collaborate on drug discovery
DuPont Pharmaceuticals Co. (Wilmington, DE) and 3-Dimensional Pharmaceuticals Inc. (3DP; Exton, PA) have formed a strategic alliance that allows DuPont to use 3DP's proprietary DirectedDiversity technology in the discovery of new drugs for specific biological targets. The agreement calls for 3DP to generate custom combinatorial chemistry libraries based on molecules and information provided by DuPont and to optimize the molecules into preclinical drug candidates. DuPont is responsible for preclinical and clinical development, marketing and sales of the resulting products. 3DP will receive initial payments of up to $9 million Including an up-front technology access fee, R&D funding and milestone payments, as well as royalties on sales of resulting products. The company is also eligible to receive additional payments if more than one target is selected for inclusion in the collaboration.
The two firms have also entered into a separate agreement that grants DuPont a non-exclusive license to 3DP's DirectedDiversity patents to support its internal research programs. DuPont will pay an annual site license fee for each of its facilities using 3DP's technology, which utilizes computer algorithms to design, select and refine combinatorial libraries of novel, small-molecule drugs based on screening hits from 3DP and other libraries, target-protein 3D structures or pharmacophore models derived from lead compounds. —TGW
Apples to oranges
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Now and then it's helpful to get a view of the big picture. True, the semiconductor equipment market is big (about a $17.5 billion business in 1999), but doesn't quite measure up to the $30.6 billion in revenues generated by corporate income taxes. But despair not. If current forecasts hold true, the equipment market will nearly double in size in the next four years, growing to the $34.6 billion level in 2004. — Christine Lunday, WaferNews