Rap Sessions

Tuesday, March 8, 5:00 - 6:30 PM

The APEC 2005 Rap Sessions will be held starting at 5:00 PM on Tuesday, March 8, just after the Exhibit Hall closes for the day.

Rap Session #1: Digital Control Of Power Supplies: Easy As Pie Or Mind Boggling?

Now that digital control is inevitable, the question remains: Will the product offered be simple and user friendly or will it take an IT department to program it? Are you going to be augmenting your 4 power designers with 14 software designers? Will digital control be cost competitive? Are users really going to look at "system cost"? What do you think? What do you know? What do you need? Come and share in this free-for-all "Debate of the Decade"! The future of power supplies is at stake!

Rap Session #2: Will Alliances Help Or Hinder?

What is the force behind the creation of the alliances in the power supply industry? Will the alliances help or hurt the power supply industry? Will they help or hurt the customers? What will be next ac-dc or dc-dc alliance? The PSA (Power Supply Alliance), DOSA (Distributed-power Open-Standards Alliance) and POLA (Point-Of-Load Alliance) are groups of power supply companies making power converters with various levels of compatibility. And what about the PMBusTM open standard effort? Where does that fit in? What happens to the small power supply firms? Do they need to join an alliance to stay in business? Who are the real winners? Are there going to be any losers? These are all important questions for the power supply industry and the discussion promises to be lively between those embracing alliances and those that think that something could be fishy.

Rap Session #3: What Will Power Supply Companies Look Like In Five Years?

What will be left of the power supply industry in five years? Will there only be a few companies left? Will the semiconductor companies be the next generation of power companies? Will we have more alliances, so everyone is making the same products? Will there be any American companies left? Will there be only a few American design engineers? With globalization advancing every day, everyone is concerned about the future of their job. There have even been suggestions that American companies should outsource their CEOs and CFOs to China and India. Come and give your opinion on how you think the industry will evolve in the next five years.