One of the special areas at this year’s electronica India and productronica India 2010 was the Laser Pavilion in hall 1, which featured lasers and laser systems, including: • lasers for semiconductor and display manufacturing • lasers for micro/nano-production • lasers for PCB manufacturing • lasers for product finishing • laser soldering systems • optical equipment and systems for electronics and electrical engineering • optical inspection equipment and systems • optical measurement equipment and systems • laser material-processing equipment and systems • system periphery for laser-based manufacturing • laser writing/marking/engraving equipment and systems • opto semiconductor components Some of those present at the show were Bernstar, NCN Tech, Udupi, Panel Trading, Franlin Indl., Le Champ, Pfarr, KVA, etc. While these are important players in the segment, one felt that the presence of some other players would have acted as a proper representation of the sector. Maybe, we shall get to see a much larger laser contingent at the next edition of this show. Bernstar, based in Bangalore, is providing electronics for emerging green and renewable energy industries such as solar and LED lighting. It has developed high quality LED drivers for AC and DC based applications. Its LED drivers are used by both indoor and outdoor LED lighting manufacturers with power drawn from the grid as well as from solar photovoltaic (PV) panels. In a separate development, NavSemi, along with Infineon, announced the availability of the Sun Flower, a solar charge controller with an Energy Maximizer architecture delivering up to 97 percent system efficient power extraction in solar PV applications and improving battery charge by up to 25 percent. The Sun Flower solar charge controller incorporates Infineon’s state of the art XC800 real-time microcontroller (MCU), voltage regulators, and CoolMOS and NavSemi’s patent pending MCPTTM (Maximum Current Point Tracking) algorithm. Targeted solar PV applications are, for example, solar battery charge controllers and microconverters. Another exhibitor, the ASYS Group, is basically doing automation for electronics. Praveen Madaan, regional sales manager, ASYS Group Asia Pte Ltd. in Singapore, said that the company is also supplying stencil printers for SMT under the Ekra brand name. ASYS is also supplying solar cell metallization lines. It also is displaying depaneling and laser marking machines at electronica India 2010. It is offering the Botest PCN testing equipment, a new addition. ASYS has already acquired Botest. Commenting on the southeast Asian market, Madaan added that the region has been booming and next year will likely be better. Manufacturers are said to be already booking lines for their production capacities, especially in Taiwan, Korea and Japan. Pradeep