Have you ever wondered how much bulk capacitance you need to support a DC-DC converter in a given application? Have you had problems with converter stability with certain input or output capacitor combinations? Have you had signal-integrity and EMC issues because of DC-DC converters? This panel brings together the views of experts from large OEMs and gives you their laundry list of potential problems and challenges with today's off-the-shelf DC-DC converters. Following the wish-list presentation of OEM experts, the panel will open the floor for discussion. The panel will be accompanied by detailed written material on the conference CD.

Istvan Novak Signal-Integrity Senior Staff Engineer SUN Microsystems

Mr. Novak is signal-integrity senior staff engineer at SUN Microsystems. In addition to signal-integrity system design of high-speed serial and parallel buses, he works with the methodologies, designs, and characterization of power-distribution networks and packages for workgroup servers. Mr. Istvan has 30 years of experience with high-speed digital, RF, and analog circuit and system design and has 22 patents. He is a fellow of the IEEE for his contributions to the signal-integrity and RF measurement and simulation methodologies.

Shaun L. Harris Power System Architect Hewlett-Packard

Mr. Harris works in the Business Critical Systems in the High Performance Systems Lab. His responsibilities include driving technology direction in HP's server products and drive industry initiatives. Prior to HP, Mr. Harris worked at Texas Instruments, where he was an analog and power-supply designer on electro-optical weapon systems. He received an M.S. from Texas Tech University and a B.S. in electrical engineering from the University of Oklahoma. He has 28 patents.

Don J. Nguyen Intel

Mr. Nguyen joined Intel in 1996 as a power technologist, responsible for designing and architecting current and future mobile power delivery subsystems, including the Intel Mobile Voltage Positioning. Prior to joining Intel, Mr. Nguyen worked for Image Quest Technology, designing electronic driver circuits for active-matrix thin-film-transistor liquid crystal displays. Prior to this, he worked for Poqet Computer, designing and testing various battery-operated DC-to-DC converters, battery chargers, and display drivers. He has 25 patents in power and display systems.