Survey Sez 10/24/12

As wireless connectivity attach rates increase in many markets and OEMs continue to push for cost savings, IC vendors like Broadcom, Qualcomm, TI, Marvell and MediaTek have created integrated wireless connectivity solutions to gain market share, dubbed “Wireless Connectivity Combo ICs.” These solutions already have been used in smartphones, and they are slated for inclusion into laptops, flat-panel TVs and automotive infotainment systems. Total annual market shipments are expected to surpass 2 billion units by 2017. According to Peter Cooney, practice director/Semiconductors at ABI Research, “The next phase in market development is the further integration of wireless connectivity technologies into platform ICs. We expect many vendors to follow the path that Qualcomm is setting with its snapdragon 4 platform”…A study conducted by Siemens Enterprise Communications on the state of today’s working business teams found that 79 percent of responders work as part of a virtual team frequently, while only 44 percent find their virtual interactions as productive as working face to face. The study also found that employees don’t have the tools they need to work effectively as part of a virtual team, or they find the tools they have frustrating and overwhelming to use. But wait, there’s more: email (93 percent) and phone (89 percent) are most commonly used by virtual teams, and only 54 percent feel that those tools are sufficient; 72 percent feel teamwork would be more effective via video, yet only 34 percent use it; 75 percent find virtual team members are likely to be distracted; and only 8 percent of businesses have processes in place to manage team performance to help ensure optimal team output.