Subject: Happy Holidays and Happy New Year !!!

From: "Gabe Cherian" <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 20 Dec 2001 20:08:47 -0800

Hi All, 
In the interest of time, this letter is being sent to all of you at once.
Sorry its not more personal, but at least it is getting to you before Christmas.
Y'gotta give me some credit for that.
I truly do wish you all very Happy Holidays and the best New Year ever.
I'll catch up with you in person next year.
Take care, 
Gabe Cherian

Happy Holidays and Happy New Year Everyone!!!

Hello Good Friends:

The Year 2001 is soon going to be "last year". How time flies!

It was a good year in many respects, but it was also a trying year.

With the events of September 11, it was a terrible year. Let’s hope that all involved parties make the right decision to end this problem soon.

As for my business activities, it was a year with mixed blessings.

I have been working on developing some new products for a while. One of them is a new High-Density Socket for Test and Burn-In of Integrated Circuit Packages. Another is a new Probe. Both are based on the same technology platform. I have filed patent applications on the products.

I presented two papers on these two families of products at a conference in February in Kauai, Hawaii. It was the Pan Pacific Microelectronics Conference. I got some reasonably good response. One potential user, a large world known company, was very interested in using my products.

Then, I gave a presentation to the Silicon Valley Chapter of the CPMT Society, one of the IEEE societies, at the San Jose Convention Center in October, in conjunction with WESCON. As a result of this trip, I hooked up with a company in Texas. We were negotiating a Licensing Agreement for them to manufacture and market my High-Density Socket. Expecting great success.

But then, we stumbled on a problem. We discovered that the German Subsidiary of Yamaichi Electronics Co., which is a Japanese company, is offering, on their German web site, a socket that looks very much like mine. Their Data Sheet was marked "Preliminary". The licensing agreement negotiations with the Texas Company came to an abrupt halt. A few weeks later, I discovered that Yamaichi Electronics USA, is offering the same thing here in the States.

I contacted the US Patent Law Office that handles Yamaichi’s US patents. They were not aware of the deal in Germany. I am trying to work out a deal with them.

This obviously is a disappointing event, but it could turn out to the better. There still may be a "silver lining" somewhere. I will still continue developing new products, but I decided to devote some time also to consulting. I have already responded to a Request For Quote from one potential client and we are in the negotiation process.

On the other hand, it was a great year for my family and me.

My wife, Helma, and I made a great trip to Europe during September and October. We made a nice tour of central Europe, making stops at Munich, Prague, Budapest, Vienna, Salzburg and back to Munich. There, our two younger sons, Thomas and Maurice, joined up with us, and then the four of us, went to Berlin, where we met Helma’s sister, Giesela, her husband, Rolf, and their son, Bernd, where we spent a good three days together. From there, we drove north, to Dargun, the city where Helma grew up and went to school. Helma showed us the houses she lived in and the houses and buildings that her father and grandfather had built. Quite a few. Then, we attended Helma’s 50th School Reunion and Confirmation. Met a lot of her old school friends. Very nice event.

In April, all of us, Helma, Alex, Thomas, Maurice and me, and some friends of ours, spent a week in Cabo Pulmo, a resort place on the Sea of Cortes, Mexico. Other friends, who own a place on the beach, were already there too. It was a great and relaxing vacation for all of us.

My mother is living in Montreal, Canada. My youngest brother and his wife live close by and they take extremely good care of my mother. I’ve just been there and visited with them for a few days for the Holidays season.

My middle brother and his family, children and grandchildren, all live in California and they are all doing fine. Thank God. I have visited them in October, on my way back from WESCON. It was a nice get-together.

Our three children are doing relatively well, considering the economic situation nowadays. Alex’s business has slowed down a lot, but this is a welcome breather for him. Thomas is still working with Avaya, in Denver. Maurice got laid-off about four months ago, and it seems he will have to wait until early next year before he gets a chance of finding a new job.

We hope that next year will bring peace and prosperity and especially good health to everyone.

Gabe and Helma Cherian.