Number 5 september 1998

Editorial Notes   POWER SUPPLY - VIPer20: NEW VERTICAL INTELLIGENT POWER ENHANCED REGULATOR - POWERING A MAJORITY OF TODAY'S APPLICATIONS: TWO PRODUCT FAMILIES FROM ST - FAST PWM CONTROLLER IC SAVES COMPONENTS IN OFFLINE POWER SUPPLIES - FOR VERY HIGH POWER: THE L4981A/B POWER FACTOR CORRECTORS - TECNOLOGY and PACKAGE INNOVATIONS MAXIMIZE MOSFET POWER DENSITY   LIGHTING - FIRE LIGHTER CIRCUITS - LET THERE BE LIGHT - HIGH VOLTAGE CONTROLLER IC PROVIDES ONE CHIP LAMP BALLAST PLATFORM   HOME APPLIANCES - SOMETHING NEW, SOMETHING OLD - THE ST72 RANGE - THYRISTORS IN SURFACE MOUNT PACKAGE   INDUSTRIAL CONTROL - 256Kbit PARALLEL EEPROMs WITH INDUSTRIAL RUGGEDNESS FEATURES - MORE SPEED, REDUCED CHIP COUNT + MAXIMUM FLEXIBILITY - HIGH SIDE DRIVERS IN VIPOWER TECHNOLOGY: VN340SP - VN540/VN540SP - MULTIMEDIA AND INFORMATION SERVICES FOR MASS MARKET AND PRICE/PERFORMANCE

Dear Reader, During 1997, STMicroelectronics sales to the Industrial market segment represented 20% of its revenues &emdash; larger in volume than the high-growth Computer and Telecom sectors. Today, analysts are predicting an annual growth of 12% of the industrial market through the year 2002. This market is currently driven by three innovative forces, increasingly based on system software as opposed to hardware. Firstly, pressure resulting from increased awareness of the environment is leading to the reduction of energy consumption in applications such as lighting, motor drives, home appliances and power supplies. Secondly, with the trend towards decentralization in factory and building automation bus systems, length of wiring is being drastically reduced, with resulting shorter local response times. Thirdly, user comfort is becoming a prime issue insofar as familiar software environments for programmable logic controllers, numeric control and home appliances are fast becoming the norm. The STMicroelectronics smart power processes &emdash; Bipolar-CMOS-DMOS (BCD) and Vertical Integrated Power Technology, together with the most advanced CMOS technologies for microcontrollers and non-volatile memories offer real system integration capabilities both in high voltage (700V) and low voltage industrial environments. High performance, convenience and security are significantly improved, while cost can be dramatically reduced. In this special edition of Product News, ST presents a selected portfolio of products serving the industrial market.