Teradyne signs Molex, partners with Kaparel.

Teradyne, Inc. Connection Systems Division (Nashua, NH, www.teradyne.com/tcs), and Molex Inc. (Lisle, IL, www.molex.com) have signed a second-source licensing agreement, granting Molex the right to manufacture, market and sell the GbX connector.

Under the terms of the agreement, Molex is licensed under Teradyne's patents, trademarks and technology to manufacture and sell the connector product family worldwide. The two companies will work jointly to deliver interchangeable products by sharing design and manufacturing processes. Molex expects to begin production of the four pair configuration of the connector in September 2003.

The license agreement marks the fourth product generation that Teradyne has licensed to Molex since 1995, beginning with Teradyne's HDM connector family and extending to include its VHDM and VHDM-HSD high-density connector platforms.

The company has also announced that it has formed a supply partnership with Kaparel Corp. (Waterloo, Ontario, Canada, www.kaparel.com) for high-performance circuits (HPCs).

Under terms of the agreement, Teradyne will provide Kaparel with open standard printed circuit boards (PCBs) for Kaparel's backplane designs. The two companies will also participate in a technology exchange that will improve PCB design for use with open standards, such as PICMG 3.0.