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Cisco, Ericsson, IBM, Intersil, Juniper, & Power-One to Debate the Future of Digital Power at Darnell’s Sixth Annual Digital Power Forum

August 31, 2009 by Jeff Shepard

You will hear what your system engineering colleagues think about the promises of digital power at Darnell’s sixth-annual Digital Power Forum (DPF ’09). The topic, "Digital Power: Oil and Water or Dollars and Cents?" will be debated by engineers from Cisco, Ericsson, IBM, Intersil, Juniper and Power-One during the Round Table discussion at this year’s Digital Power Forum. Challenges to the dominance of analog control techniques are real and growing. DPF ’09, September 21-23, in Santa Ana, California, will help to "close the digital power divide" and bring focus and clarity to the current opportunities for the use of digital power control techniques and digital power and energy management.

"This marks the first time that system makers will dominate the Round Table panel at the Digital Power Forum. In the past, semiconductor makers have invariably dominated the discussions. The increasing commercial traction of digital power technologies has prompted strong interest among system makers," stated Jeff Shepard, President of Darnell Group. "The Round Table discussion is always a highlight of the first day of the Digital Power Forum, and it provides lots of topics for further discussion during the industry reception that follows immediately after the Round Table ends."

This year will see the introduction of third-generation digital control technology, and DPF ’09 is the place you will see all the latest developments. The digital landscape will be recast this year. Darnell’s Digital Power Forum has expanded and includes extensive content on advanced components and materials for power conversion. With more speakers, DPF ’09 provides the broadest coverage of advanced power conversion for embedded system applications.

Another indication of the commercialization of digital power technology is the seminar on "Introduction to Microcontrollers" that will be presented at the close of DPF ’09 by Bob White. Microcontrollers and other programmable digital devices are becoming common in power supply design. Although not often used for the real time PWM loop, they are very useful for housekeeping, protection, data logging and communication. In server power supplies, using a microcontroller for functions like startup sequencing, over-temperature protection, and fan speed control can save 100 discrete parts. Aside from the material cost, this is a significant savings in manufacturing cost and a significant reduction in the calculated failure rate. This seminar will provide an introduction - a roadmap and translation guide to the world of microcontrollers and programmable devices. The overall goal is to provide the attendee with the basic knowledge of the tools and processes needed for developing microcontroller-based circuits and systems.

This focused three-day international conference will serve an audience of decision makers who are interested in learning about and contributing to the latest practical advancements related to the use of digital power control techniques in electronic systems and in power converters, and digital energy management and power management in electronic systems and facilities. For many designers, there remains a false perception that digital power is still an emerging technology. The fact is that digital power controllers have reached price parity in a growing number of applications, and digital power management techniques have reached a significant level of maturity and sophistication.

Complete information on DPF ’09 is available here .