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PowerLines by Linnea Brush
November 26, 2007
Another Digital Divide
Power Channels: Digital Power, Energy Efficiency, Power Components, Switch-Mode Power
In a week dominated by digital power news, it’s good to maintain some sanity in order to move ahead. People always want direction (or at least confirmation that their direction is correct). The Power-One lawsuit seemingly points in one direction, but others are possible. The Digital Power Europe (DPE) forum, held last week in Germany, confirms certain directions. The lawsuit was mentioned once or twice, but nobody seemed to think it would make much difference regarding the adoption of digital power.
The European perspective on digital power is slightly different than in North America. Americans have a somewhat evangelical approach to things, and technologies are eagerly sought and supported with emotional fervor. European companies are more low-key, with new solutions considered along with everything else. A couple of the delegates at DPE would have fit in at the Digital Power Forum in North America, but there was little of the controversy that typified DPF last September.
In fact, the theme of DPE could have been what several delegates repeated several times over the three days: “Evolution, not revolution.” Were they sending a message to North American companies, who want enthusiastic adoption and immediate profits? One company predicted that “pure digital” solutions would never be more than 70% of the power supply market – the rest would remain analog. No one felt that digital would get to 90-95% of the market.
DPE drew IC makers and power supply companies, primarily. The system maker perspective seemed less relevant to this group, since many of the companies are already integrating digital control solutions and selling products. The Data Center track at DPF has been very popular for the past two years; at DPE, there was only one paper presented on data center demands. One or two delegates were interested in this area, and a couple of companies felt Europe wasn’t giving enough attention to this market. But, overall, the emphasis was elsewhere.
So, where is the demand in Europe? I tend to note the speakers who are eagerly sought out after their presentations. At DPE, the European Commission (EC) was the equivalent of Google. Everyone wanted to talk to the EC guy, and I was asked about him several times. This was not surprising, since the operative words in Europe are “environment,” “regulations” and “efficiency.” In fact, many of the audience questions revolved around efficiency. That was true in North America, as well, but efficiency is linked more with cost (i.e., how much is all this energy costing me?) than with energy consumption (i.e., environmental impact). ROAL, Ericsson and National Semiconductor focused on the efficiency benefits of digital power.
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We would like to hear your comments on the topics discussed in this column. We welcome the opportunity to publish opposing opinions. Please email Jeff Shepard at jshepard@darnell.com.
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