Intersil Acquires Kenet!!

It is being reported that Intersil has acquired Kenet for an undisclosed amount. Full report:

MILPITAS, CA, September 30, 2008 – Intersil Corporation (NASDAQ Global Select: ISIL), a world leader in the design and manufacture of high-performance analog solutions, today announced that it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Kenet, Incorporated, a privately-held, fabless semiconductor company with leading technology in the design and manufacture of high speed, extremely low power data converters.

Kenet’s innovative FemtoCharge® CMOS technology yields high performance and ultra-low power analog-to-digital converters in an extremely small die area. The size and power advantages of Kenet’s data converters enable increased functionality in a variety of industrial and communications products such as portable digital oscilloscopes and software defined radios.

“Intersil remains committed to key strategic acquisitions to broaden our product portfolio,” said Dave Bell, Intersil’s Chief Executive Officer. “Kenet has developed the world’s highest performance analog-to-digital converters with power consumption at a fraction of those currently on the market. This gives Intersil important technology leadership and access to many previously un-served markets.”

“We are very pleased to be a part of the Intersil family,” said Phill LoPresti, Kenet’s Chief Executive Officer. “Having access to Intersil’s global resources will accelerate our entrance into the data converter market and provides an innovative technology platform for many new products.”

The boards of directors of both companies have unanimously approved the merger. The acquisition adds an additional two million dollars of operating expenses per quarter, and is expected to become accretive in 2010. Intersil may record a one-time charge to operating income for purchased in-process research and development expenses when the closing occurs. The amount of that charge, if any, has not yet been determined. Closing of the merger is expected to be completed within days. Signal Hill acted as advisors for Kenet on the transaction.

New positions opened with my client in San Jose

I was just contacted by the Sr. Director Engineering for one of my clients in the Bay area. His team is in need of several Verification Engineers including team leads.. I need someone with 10+ years experience who has experience in "verification infrastructure development." C, C++ based transactors or generator/checker development. I am interested in talking with any verification engineers that have this type of experience and are interested in hearing more! Please contact me directly at ross@hightechnh.com

Lots and Lots of hiring!!

Forget the news.... Turn off CNN, MSNBC, ABC, NBC, etc..... This is not the next "great depression!!!" We will not be eating from the same chicken for two weeks! This is simply a bust for the financial services sector. (A great buying opportunity in my view!) But for other industries, they are thriving. Semiconductors, optics, precious metals, alternative energy, household products and others....
As a technical recruiter/headhunter for nearly 12 years now, I have seen the ups and downs. I saw the dot com bust of the late 90's. I've seen the rebound. Our economy works in cycles. I guarantee that I'll be here for the next boom, will you? Are you positioned to take advantage of the next great opportunity?

Below you will find a list of the client companies I am currently working with that are actively seeking qualified candidates. I have immediate access to the hiring Managers and Directors that give me rapid feedback on all candidate submissions. If you are interested in hearing more about any of these roles, please feel free to contact me directly.

AMD (Advanced Micro Devices) Boxborough, MA- 4 Verification Engineers and 3 Circuit Designers
International Rectifier, Rhode Island- IC Design Engineer-Power (Cadence tools)
Infinera, San Jose, CA- Verification Engineer with Packet Processing background
Linear Technologies, Chelmsford, MA- Analog IC Designers (5+) Switching regulators and Controllers
Triquint Semiconductor, MA- RF Designers with GaAs, MMIC design experience
Start-up in Woburn- Analog IC Design (ADC's, DAC's)

Ross Cooper 603-893-9486

I found a great blog and you should check it out!

I came across a great blog that is all about empowering the employee. It is one of the few interactive blogs that deals specifically with your job and career.
Alan L. Sklover has devoted his 25 years of professional life to counseling and representing employees worldwide on how to negotiate and navigate for job security and career success.

As a noted authority on workplace negotiations, Alan has appeared on many media outlets, including CNN, CNBC, National Public Radio, Bloomberg Business Radio, and Court TV. He is frequently quoted by such leading publications as The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Business Week Magazine, Money Magazine, and The New York Post.

Alan is also the author of a number of books and articles, including the most popular text on severance negotiating, “Fired, Downsized, or Laid Off – What Your Employer Does Not Want You to Know About How to Fight Back.” (H.Holt, Publ., 2000)

Alan Sklover and this Blogsite are supported daily by the efforts of Sheree Donath, Alan’s Law Firm Partner, and Phyllis Iturriaga (a.k.a. The Boss), his Executive Assistant.

Please take some time and visit his blog here.

Giving Notice- 6 Things To Do To Prepare To Leave

This article is reprinted with permission.

After days, weeks, months or longer of interviewing, you have received a job offer that meets your needs and have decided to give notice to your employer and resign your current job.

1. Get your job offer in writing. Having the offer in writing is both your legal protection against an employer should they make an attempt to deceive you with the terms of the offer AND your protection against you having made a mistake in hearing the offer. The letter should include both your new salary and position title within it. Some will provide a benefits summary; most large firms will not provide that until employee orientation during your initial phase of employment with their firm.

2. Meet with your boss for a few minutes and tell them personally and provide a written letter of resignation. “May I get a minute with you uttered on a Friday,” has started more discussions about resignation and sent many employers into unhappy weekends and managers into anxiety attacks about how to replace someone than almost any other question.

3. Give two weeks notice. Sometimes three weeks is the right thing to do, but remember, your new job is waiting for you and if you’ve told them you’ll be there in two weeks, do not adjust your start date to accommodate the job you’re leaving. After all, if you died tomorrow, they would still survive without you.

4. Your letter of resignation should be simple.

Dear ____________,

I have decided to resign my position with Mega Company effective today. My last day of employment will be _____________.

Thank you for the opportunity to have worked with you and to have learned from you. (OPTIONAL SENTENCE TO FOLLOW). Please respect me and my decision by not attempting to make a counter offer.

Sincerely,

Your name

5. If you are asked for reason you are leaving, do not be hypercritical and answer simply. “I believe that this opportunity will further my career goals,” is acceptable. If you want to go into details, do not discuss any slights that you received. Focus on objective things, rather than on your (emotional) reactions to decisions. You do not need to disclose the name of the firm you are going to work for although there is nothing wrong about doing so.

6. For most people, do not consider accepting a counteroffer. How did you “suddenly” become worth more money? Because your departure inconveniences your employer. As a result, they will have to delay plans or have work assigned to others less capable and will be adversely impacted. For most people, a counteroffer only addresses and corrects the financial failings of their job and does nothing to improve their job.

Resigning well will allow you to complete your final week(s) of employment well and head to your new job with confidence and certainty.

Permission to reprint given by:

Jeff Altman

Concepts in Staffing

© 2005 all rights reserved.

Financial Crisis and our "Mental Recession"

WOW! Dow down 500+ points yesterday. A number we haven't seen since 9/11/01. First came Bean Stearns, now Lehman Bros. and AIG. Let's not forget about the Fannie and Freddie bailout. I didn't realize it was the Governments job to bail out troubled companies (we'll save that rant for another day!)

So where does this leave us? Are start-ups still going to be able to get the cash infusions they need to expand and continue growing? Are the rules for borrowing that money going to change?

With all this bad news, it's been said that we are in a "mental recession." The economy is growing at 3.3% (source,) unemployment is at a low 5.7% (source,) companies are hiring educated, qualified candidates as fast today as ever before. Fact of the matter is that we are NOT in a recession. We are simply being inundated with bad news after bad news in the housing/financial markets. Nobody is talking about how the solar industry is booming (First Solar, Inc. is up over 100% in the last year.) Fertilizer companies are also booming, just look at Potash (POT) up 100% in the last year. This is just to name a few industries and I think if we look hard enough we are going to continue to see these types of gains in many other industries as well. Why do we keep beating a dead horse? The housing/financial markets are in complete turmoil and things are only going to get worse before they get better. I GET IT!! Why don't we start talking about those industries that are doing well? Why don't the media outlets focus on some of the positive news coming out of the economy?

AMD Employee charged with stealing from Intel

It is being reported today that a former AMD employee has been charged by the FBI for stealing top secret information relating to future chip designs from Intel Corp. Biswahoman Pani who left Intel on June 11, 2008 (but started work at AMD on June 2nd) admitted using his Intel laptop to access the files on the chipmaker’s network out of curiosity during an FBI interview late in July, after it raided his home and found 19 CAD designs and more than 100 other Intel documents. It should be noted that AMD has since terminated Mr. Pani and is cooperating fully with the FBI's investigation. FBI charges said AMD had no involvement in and had not condoned Pani’s actions.

So this begs several questions.
1: Why wasn't Pani's access to these sensitive documents removed when he gave notice?
2: He allegedly printed these documents. How can we be sure there aren't additional copies?
3: How can we be sure that none of these documents were passed along to someone else?

Lots and Lots of Hiring!

Below you will find a list of the client companies I am currently working with that are actively seeking qualified candidates. I have immediate access to the hiring Managers and Directors that give me rapid feedback on all candidate submissions. If you are interested in hearing more about any of these roles, please feel free to contact me directly.

AMD (Advanced Micro Devices) Boxborough, MA- 4 Verification Engineers and 3 Circuit Designers
International Rectifier, Rhode Island- IC Design Engineer-Power (Cadence tools)
Infinera, San Jose, CA- Verification Engineer with Packet Processing background
Linear Technologies, Chelmsford, MA- Analog IC Designers (5+) Switching regulators and Controllers
Triquint Semiconductor, MA- RF Designers with GaAs, MMIC design experience
Start-up in Woburn- Analog IC Design (ADC's, DAC's)

Ross Cooper 603-893-9486

Major Hiring push in Boston area!

Boston area microprocessor company hiring!

I have been contacted by a major player in the microprocessor space that is seeking 4 verification engineers in the Boston area. I am also looking for board level designers that have experience doing boards with microcontrollers in Nashua, NH.

Despite the leaks of bad news coming from the semiconductor industry, we are clearly still in a candidate driven market. We are position rich and talent poor. Companies Nationwide are actively seeking qualified candidates to fill circuit and board level design positions, test and verification. There is just not enough qualified talent to go around!! Please feel free to contact me directly if you would like to hear about any positions specific toy our skill set. Ross Cooper 603-893-9486