This talk will provide an overview of the ZigBee Alliance and its mission. It will address the basic functionality delivered by the standard, where it fits in the wireless arena, plus next steps for the 230 member strong ecosystem of companies creating applications for use in home, commercial and industrial markets. This talk will consist of an overview of the implementation of the Universal Serial Bus (USB) within a microcontroller chip. The development of supporting drivers and the use of in-circuit debuggers will also be presented. The talk will conclude with a description of the Microchip Design Partner Program which allows consultants to benefit from their high-volume designs. Bruce Himebauch will present a history of the 802.11 standards family, the 802.11n Task Group N (TGn) and the issues surrounding implementation of 802.11 products. He will also describe the driving forces behind the creation of each new standard. Miguel Gomez's talk will provide an overview of the solar power industry, an outline of its technology challenges, and some of the ways in which technology consultants can participate in this important arena. Consultants often find face-to-face networking to be difficult, particularly in a room full of strangers. This meeting's panel will address how to approach this kind of situation, as well as others faced by consultants while they are marketing their services. Many Bay Area companies and startups are at some point approached with attractive proposals for a joint venture. These typically come from foreign companies, and they frequently have disastrous results. This talk will cover the risks of joint ventures, list some of the danger flags, suggest practical ways to minimize the risks, and offer suggestions regarding exclusive licensee risks. IEEE-CNSV will have a booth on the Exhibit Floor at this event, allowing CNSV members with a great vehicle for publicizing their skills as well as the merits of our organization. CNSV members also receive special pricing for this conference, and two CNSV members will be awarded full conference admission as well. Many aspects of this event that are free, so register now on the conference website. This presentation will describe uses of System-on-Chip (SoC) technology in a wide variety of applications, and will include a demonstration of SoC visual embedded design tools. It will also describe how Cypress Semiconductor helps skilled consultants find clients through its CYPros program. This talk will discuss the unique requirements for a real-time operating system running on a system on a chip. In particular, it will go over the options of writing your own RTOS, purchasing an off-the-shelf RTOS, and using a software synthesis tool to automatically generate an RTOS. IEEE-CNSV will be in the IEEE Media booth #1445 on the Exhibit Floor of the San Jose Convention Center during the Embedded Systems Conference. The dates are Tue.-Thu., 3-5 April. Please stop by and see us.