MASTERs series witnesses record attendance at its eleventh year

By siliconindia   |   Thursday, 27 December 2007, 01:43 IST
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Bangalore: Microchip Technology (NASDAQ: MCHP), a provider of microcontroller and analog semiconductors, garnered record attendance at the recently concluded Microchip's Annual Strategic Technical Exchange Review (MASTERs) conference series. Now in its 11th year, the series witnessed nearly 3,000 embedded designers attending 13 separate conferences that were held in four different languages across seven countries. The MASTERs conferences are part of the larger University of Microchip program that also includes a worldwide network of more than 35 Microchip Regional Training Centers, a rich e-learning library of over 100 on-demand Web seminars, and regular hands-on workshops from Microchip and its distribution partners. "The conferences were focused on providing comprehensive technical training sessions for engineers that are delivered by Microchip's resident experts," said Ken Pye, vice president of Worldwide Applications Engineering, Microchip. "For those who were unable to attend any of the 13 MASTERs events we held in 2007, the University of Microchip program offers year-round training opportunities via our local Regional Training Centers and online seminars." Courses covered the gamut of electronic engineering topics, including embedded applications for USB, Ethernet, Controller Area Networks (CANs), wireless (e.g. ZigBee networking), QVGA/graphics displays, capacitive touch sensing, programming techniques, signal conditioning, oscillators, motor control, intelligent power-supply design, and incorporating speech and other DSP-based functions. Additional activities included a host of opportunities for engineers to network with their peers and a wide range of Microchip's experts. The conferences also featured an exhibit area with third-party development tool experts and a simulated wafer fab plant tour. Many of the conferences included evening activities for attendees and their families, such as "Moonbase 2020" interactive demonstrations from the Challenger Space Center, "hover mouse" building and races, magician performances, robot competitions, Scalextric digital slot cars, casino tables, and sports-bar and video games. 2008 Training Opportunities While the 2008 MASTERs schedule hasn’t been set, Microchip regularly adds new classes to each of its 35 Regional Training Centers located throughout the world.

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