News Briefs

Solar energy manufacturing equipment and optoelectronic component maker Spire Corp. said it has named solar industry technical services provider J.v.G. Thoma GmbH of Freystadt, Germany, as its European sales and service representative in response to increased European demand for its solar photovoltaic manufacturing equipment. J.v.G. Thoma representatives are being trained at Spire's Bedford, Mass., headquarters. The company said Wolfram Jenne, who has also provided service support for Spire in Europe for the last five years, will continue in that position. . . . Daktronics Inc.'s board of directors has elected Byron J. Anderson as an independent director of the Brookings, S.D.-based company. Anderson retired from Agilent Technologies in 2004 and spent most of his career working at Hewlett-Packard. Daktronics is a supplier of electronic scoreboards, computer-programmable displays and large-screen video displays and control systems.