Changing name and corporate status

Together, ITA and Innovate have a combined user-base of some 600 systems which include blue chip as well as medium and small sized companies in their client list. The company has delivered about 400 MDAs worldwide, of which 100 are installed in North America. And then a flying-probe Scorpion was launched to the market that operates on an identical system platform, an important decision making factor for users. The company now kicks off a number of strategic and operational measures which aim to establish the group as a leader in the field of board testing and inspection with expanding global presence.

Manfred Buks, the founder of ITA, will assume the position of chairman, steering the strategic engineering team. Peter Becker, who joined ITA in 1999 and completed the aquisition of Innovate, will assume the business responsibility as chief executive officer (CEO). VP sales Mike Rogers, former managing director of Innovate, will have worldwide responsibility for sales activities. As Manfred Buks underlines, „I am very happy that, with the financial backing of our shareholders, the systems can now be more intensily marketed and supported on a global scale“. And CEO Peter Becker adds, „Our product portfolio now fullfills the market requirements throughout the entire process of prototyping and production of PCB assemblies. It is our objective to be the partner of choice in the field of test and inspection. Major focus will be to expand and strengthen our customer support function, be present in all major markets with our own local organization and maintain our technology leadership. Our strategic plan includes co-operations and partnerships and has also got room for further acquisitions.“ As Mike Rogers says, „My personal focus will be to drive our market presence and coverage with primary focus on the North American and Asia/Pacific markets.“ Steve Evans, who was director sales in Innovate, is now responsible for the sales activities in Europe. Local Scorpion teams are present in the U.S., Germany, Italy and U.K. which are completed by partnerships in the rest of the world. gbw

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