International broadband development is accelerating. In a recent report from the analysis firm IDC, the market in Europe alone is expected to be worth in excess of 250 billion euros in 2006. In May, the EU Commission adopted a broad action plan in order to further stimulate the expansion of the infrastructure and the production of broadband-based services.

SWE-DISH® Satellite Systems AB, in collaboration with Ericsson, has developed and designed a mobile base station for satellite telephony in the GSM network. This innovative new product includes all the technology necessary to establish telecommunications capability quickly and easily in remote, difficult-to-access areas or where existing telephone networks have been knocked out by natural disasters or destroyed in war zones.

Exhibited at:International Motor Show (IAA), Hanover. Stand: A:39. Hall 26. 12-19 September.A new hydraulic motor family, developed in accordance with the ISO standard, is to be launched. The motor takes very little space and has a high starting torque, which according to the Swedish manufacturer, Sunfab Hydraulics, makes it suitable for use in mobile systems.  The ISO motor is said to be very reliable and highly efficient. The motor is based on the company's proprietary technical solution with an angled shaft, a so-called bent-axis. This enables a compact design, few moving parts and low bearing loads. The motor has up to seven spherical pistons, which shall provide an action free of pulsation, high pressure and high speeds in, for example, mobile presses and equipment.

Stora Enso Consumer Boards has taken on the role as venture capitalist through the purchase of Activation AB. This Swedish company specialises in cd packages and associated packaging machinery. Through such acquisitions, Stora Enso Consumer Boards wants to speed up technological developments and create new product concepts in strong knowledge clusters.

A new electropneumatic pump module, the AVM 5050, has now been introduced for controlling and monitoring vacuum systems that are designed to move materials using suction cups. The module has been developed by the vacuum technology company Piab to ensure the safe and rapid handling of sheet metal parts, etc., and to minimise expensive downtime and rejects in the automotive and white goods industries.  The module, which can be controlled from a PC or PLC, has a built-in energy-saving feature and ensures that the vacuum is maintained in the event of a power cut.

Europe's leading consumer packaging board producer, Stora Enso, is launching new power brands Cupforma and Trayforma for the cup and tray markets. For the cup market the company seeks growth in promotional and coffee-to-go products, while the main potential in the tray market is in non-food applications. To encourage the design of non-food trays, the company has announced the Trayforma International Design Awards competition.

The Swedish company Somas Instrument AB has designed a new pneumatic actuator(type A) in which the play between the valve and the actuator has been eliminated. This is achieved via a clamping joint that in combination with a commercial bushing leads to high friction between the actuator's drive shaft and the valve's spindle. According to the company, this will considerably increase the possibilities for process optimisation and safer operation.

Moisture damage and unhealthy buildings are a permanently present problem. However there is no reason why people should suffer illness due to poor indoor air quality. Nowadays there is an excellent fund of knowledge about unhealthy buildings, and the problems can often be solved without the need to evacuate residents or to empty an entire workplace. This is the view of the Carl Bro company Sycon Barab, a well-known environmental consultancy which since the mid-1980s has offered expertise on the indoor environment and associated damage to buildings.  "Buildings are always subject to some damage or other. Certain things cause health problems, others don't. What is important in making premises healthy is to find precisely those faults that give rise to health problems", says the company's Managing Director, Erik Winqvist."So as to quickly find the reasons and take the necessary measures it's important to have a good knowledge of construction techniques and a well-defined investigation strategy", stresses Erik Winqvist.

SPCI 2002, 4-6 JuneStockholm International Fairs Stand A21:30 (Alnab)

After the largest investment for more than 30 years, the first paper was reeled off at the Holmen-owned Hallsta Paper Mill in Hallstavik, 100 km north of Stockholm, Sweden. The start was also an impressive display of the advanced planning and time management of a reconstruction and investment project implemented parallel to the mill's ongoing production. A thousand extra workers and perfect "just-in-time-deliveries" were needed during the 70 days available for production stops, which in industry terms is an extremely short period. One result of the now completed investment, which approached SEK 2.3 billion, is one of the world's most modern plants for high-quality paper for newspapers and magazines.