A decade of service to the Asian electronics industry

This month is a milestone for EDN Asia, marking exactly ten years since the magazine was created to share timely and useful design information from around the world with engineers in the Asia-Pacific region. Under the stewardship of Michael Markowitz, EDN Asia was launched in May 1992. Understanding that an electronics engineer’s worst fear is personal obsolescence as technology races ahead, our staff has devoted itself to helping our readers stay current, bringing you reports on new products, evolving technologies, and innovative applications for new and mature products. We have done our best to maintain objectivity and neutrality, and I believe we have earned your trust as the comprehensive source of useful information on products, technology, and design techniques.

The Asian electronics design industry has certainly grown in these ten years. Asia has become the world’s fastest-growing electronics market and a center of design excellence. EDN Asia has been the only magazine in the region to show its commitment on the ground by showcasing the best design talent in Asia. In 1993 we began profiling a talented Asian designer in our Innovator section each month, and allowing readers to select one designer each year to receive the prestigious Innovator of the Year Award.

We have honored 110 innovators so far. All of them were highly talented and were chosen for their engineering prowess in solving problems and creating new products in their field of expertise. Among them are a few who especially sparkle. For example, nine years ago we honored Sim Wong Hoo with the Innovator award for his ground-breaking invention—the Sound Blaster card that gave voice to PCs. Did you know that a Samsung design team developed an advanced DVD recorder exactly nine years ago? We profiled the winning team in October 1993. Speaking of home-grown talent, we profiled designer Harvey Wong, the man who invented the DragonKat µC that went to power millions of PDAs and portable electronics. Taiwan’s Realtek is world famous today for its Ethernet controllers. We recognized this prowess way back in February 1995, when we profiled the Realtek design team for its versatile LAN controller.

Did you know that the man who was responsible for making DRAMs go faster was from Taiwan? Yes, it was Nicky Lu (Innovator in April 1996) who made that revolutionary discovery the SPT (substrate-plate trench capacitor) cell that tripled DRAM speeds and made denser DRAMs possible. We hinted at the deadly potential of software viruses by showcasing Steve Chang’s fight against computer viruses (February 1996). We also showed that Asia has cutting-edge technology in power electronics by showcasing Michael Tse (February 1999) and Franki Poon (December 1999) for their invention of Phantom load that solved the problem of powering high-end µPs by maintaining a regulated voltage even when the actual load is changing rapidly. The list goes on….

In 1995, we initiated the annual Component Design Award to recognize the creativity, diligence and perseverance that Asian engineers put into original component designs. Motorola Semiconductors (thrice), Texas Instruments (twice), VIA Technologies, Realtek Semiconductors, and SiS have been the winners so far.

We are planning several events to mark EDN Asia's 10th anniversary. These will include a program at Globaltronics in September in Singapore, at which the 2001-2002 Innovator of the Year will be honored, and the components nominated for the 2002 Component Design Award will be showcased. Watch for other anniversary-related announcements on our Web site.

Ten years in Asian electronics design is a great achievement. Still, there is so much to cover in the exciting world of electronics, we would like to go on for another 90 years, and more. Stay with us on this exciting journey!



What do you think? Send me your comments at
nsmanjunath@cahners.com.hk.