NEWS DESK
13
Large sized LCD market
eHealth much
may recover in September
closer to reality
IN the framework of Holst Centre,
PROFITABILITY and price plunges have reduce inventories and boost end user IMEC, has broadened the functionality
shaken the large sized LCD market and demand.” and scope of its wireless health
yet the market may recover soon. These developments, along with monitoring technology by linking it to
After nearly three months of recovering demand from the notebook real time extraction of relevant medical
plummeting profitability and precipitous segment, will bring stabilisation to large data. The new technology builds upon
price plunges, the large sized LCD panel sized LCD panel pricing in September. the ‘knowledge streaming’ concept of
market finally is due for a recovery in Some panel prices may even increase by 1 i.Know, a Belgian SME specialised in
September, iSuppli Corp. predicts. to 3 percent especially those which are intelligent applications for automated
“The large sized LCD panel market reaching at or below the cost levels. knowledge extraction and
has been mired in a state of severe China’s consumer spending on LCD representation. The system takes a
oversupply since the start of June, due to TVs was expected to be strong this year central position in the future scenarios
lower than expected panel demand and due to the impact of the Summer Olympic of eHealth and personalised medicine.
high inventory levels throughout the Games in Beijing. However, China The rising cost of healthcare in
supply chain,” said Sweta Dash, director suffered natural disasters in the first half developed countries calls for alternative
of LCD and projection research at of 2008 that have dampened consumer ways of increasing efficiency,
iSuppli. sales. productivity and usability. Future health
iSuppli defines large sized LCD panels On the supply side, LCD makers in the monitoring systems will deliver
as those having a diagonal screen first half of the year shifted production of intelligent services in chronic disease
dimension of 10 inches or larger. After television panels away from sixth management, assisted medical
rising by 6.9 percent in May, global large generation fabs and into seventh, 7.5 and diagnostics, patient compliance
sized LCD panel unit shipments declined eighth generation facilities. Eighth monitoring and emergency response. In
by 9.6 percent sequentially in June. generation fabs are capable of producing all of these scenarios, the availability
Prices dropped by 4 to 7 percent for large sized panels much more efficiently and interpretation of personal medical
mainstream notebook, monitor and TV than sixth generation factories, boosting data plays a crucial role.
panels from May to June and another 3 productivity throughout the industry. Within its Human++ research
to 15 percent in July, and are expected to This rising production contributed to programme at Holst Centre, IMEC
decrease by 4 to 20 percent for the entire declines in average LCD TV panel prices already focuses on building blocks for
month of August. throughout 2008, falling by as much as miniaturised wireless sensor nodes
“Reacting to weak sales and declining 15 to 20 percent from the start of 2008. allowing comfortable and continuous
profitability, panel suppliers began to LCD monitor panel prices for desktop measurement of body parameters.
slash their utilisation rates starting in PCs have already fallen by 20 percent to The technology developed by IMEC
July,” Dash noted. “LCD-TV and desktop 25 percent since May. Panel suppliers and i.Know is illustrated for the case of
PC monitor manufacturers also are reported about one to two weeks of excess ambulatory cardiac monitoring (ECG).
starting to cut their prices in order to monitor module inventory in July. Based upon an incoming stream of ECG
signals, relevant features are extracted
and associated with an objective
Userful Corporation receives
interpretation. For example the heart
rhythm and the shape of an ECG peak
$1 million investment to green the
allow the system to detect abnormal
physiological events. As a consequence,
world’s computer industry
a doctor or call centre can be alerted to
diagnose the status of the patient.
Now that the concept is proven,
CALGARY BASED software company, Userful also enables users to manage IMEC and i.Know will further enhance
Userful Corporation receives $1 million and monitor their desktops through a the system by associating it with
investment to green the world’s computer central administrative web site, which external databases such as electronic
industry. The company helped customers generates significant savings in patient records and PubMed.
cut global CO2 emissions by more than administration. In an effort to expand This will e.g. allow doctors to easier
29,000 tonnes over the last 12 months Userful’s international reach and boost find their way in an abundance of data
(the environmental equivalent of taking sales of its products, AVAC Ltd. has and support their diagnosis. Future
5,000 cars off the road), is preparing to committed a $1 million investment from research also targets the integration of
ramp up sales of it’s ecologically friendly AVAC’s capacity builder programme. data from multiple sensors such as
software that’s already revolutionised AVAC helps Alberta based companies EEG, EMG, physical activity
over 30,000 public and private desktops build capacity and attract commercial monitoring and temperature, allowing
worldwide. investment to advance ideas and products more precise interpretations. The
Userful is a web service that lets users in agri business, ICT, life sciences and concept of knowledge streaming
multiply and manage their desktop other industrial technology sectors. provides a generic framework for data
computers. They can multiply their The fund addresses a shortage of fusion and context aware monitoring,
investment, creating up to 10 independent available funding from third party with other potential applications.
workstations from a single computer. investors for new and existing companies.
Mid-September 2008 www.euroasiasemiconductor.com
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