GLEN ARM, MD - Armistead Technologies specializes in the manufacturing of reverse engineered printed circuit boards (PCBs), with the capability to integrate additional features and updated components into fabricated boards to extend the lifecycle of a product.

Over the past 19 years, John Armistead says he has seen many changes. "Technology has actually made things harder," he says. "Some chips now have software on-board, and from a reverse engineering standpoint it's very difficult to extract that software from the chip."

"With today's complex circuit boards, it's a lot more cost-effective for an engineering manager to outsource the job of reverse engineering a PCB to us rather than take one of his engineers off projects," Armistead says. "And, because we're reverse engineering specialists, we can get the job done a lot quicker, too."

Armistead says he looks forward to many more years of serving the electronics industry with innovative, accurate reverse engineering services. "Whenever anyone needs a U.S.-based firm to handle a PCB reverse engineering project," Armistead says, "we'll be here."

STOCKHOLM, SWEDEN -- With legal action pending, the Swedish government lifted its national ban on the use of the flame retardant Deca-BDE in textiles, furniture and some electronic cables. The Swedish government ban was inconsistent with the latest findings of a 10-year EU risk assessment of Deca-BDE. The 10-year risk assessment failed to identify any significant risks to justify restrictions on the flame retardant. The Swedish government’s limited ban went into effect in late 2006 and had no scientific basis and was therefore subject to a legal challenge by EU authorities.

"The EU has established that Deca-BDE is safe for continued use in all its applications, so there is no scientific basis whatsoever for any national or EU-wide restriction on Deca-BDE" said Veronique Steukers, chair of the European Brominated Flame Retardant Industry Panel (EBFRIP). The "EBFRIP firmly believes that Deca-BDE meets the criteria for an exemption from RoHS and that it should therefore either be exempted or deleted from the RoHS Directive. We are working with the European Commission to ensure that this restriction is lifted."

The Swedish Government's press release can be found at: http://www.regeringen.se/sb/d/10626/a/104665.