High-tech strategic business consulting and market research

Welcome to the website for Pathfinder Research, Inc.

Pathfinder Research, founded in 1991, continues to assist management with strategic consulting focused on the semiconductor industry. With strong backgrounds in business management, marketing research, product marketing, and engineering, Pathfinder’s staff brings a thorough, management oriented perspective to problems in today’s business environment.

Our Mission

To become the leading supplier of strategic consulting and syndicated research to support critical decisions by senior management in high tech and related industries. Pathfinder Research focuses its research on most aspects of the semiconductor industry.

Company Profile

Pathfinder’s principal service combines market research and custom strategic consulting. In addition, Pathfinder Focus, our monthly publication, focuses on the forces shaping the semiconductor industry.

Pathfinder’s Uniqueness

Research coverage focuses on the convergence of semiconductors, systems, and software. So, whenever decisions in one area depend upon events and trends in the others, Pathfinder’s high performance analysis focuses on all relevant factors. Pathfinder does not place arbitrary boundaries around its information, but instead, provides each client with a comprehensive view of all the important factors shaping the business environment.

The senior staff gained its experience the hard way–in the trenches of the real world. With experience in product management and running business units with P&L responsibility, Pathfinder understands the pressures facing its clients.

Pathfinder’s Premise

Today’s high tech business is more complex than ever. The old rules don’t work anymore. In this new environment, no company is secure. Pathfinder has identified the following trends that are reshaping the industry:

Semiconductors, systems, and software are converging.

Well-managed alliances with customers and suppliers are critical to success.

A new wave of technology is emerging.

Intellectual property is a strategic weapon.

Access to enabling technology is more difficult and expensive.

The semiconductor industry is undergoing significant restructuring and vertical disintegration.

Competition is increasing, forcing many companies to seek productivity and profit improvements by restructuring.

In this turbulent environment, managers need a broader scope and greater diversity of information inputs into their decision making process. To meet those challenging information needs, Pathfinder focuses its ongoing research in areas that present both opportunities and threats to the industry. Pathfinder has creative vision and brings keen analytical skills honed from years of collective industry experience.

Library and Databases

Pathfinder maintains several information bases to aid its research. The Semiconductor Relationships Database, started in 1986, contains more than 4000 records of information about alliances and strategic relationships between semiconductor and other companies. In addition, the semiconductor financial database tracks quarterly financial information about major U.S. semiconductor companies.

Other information bases include worldwide semiconductor manufacturing facilities, information about important products such as microprocessors, chip sets, compression chips, ASICs, DSP, and memory. Pathfinder’s library collection includes product announcements, general company information, general economic trends, and trends in important end use areas such as computers and disk drives. In addition, Pathfinder has access to visionaries and hands-on forward thinkers that serve as valuable resources in many research projects.

Additional Resources

To complement its own resources, Pathfinder has alliances with a tele-research company for telephone surveys and an experienced information broker for rapid searches of on-line databases such as Dialog. To support international business requirements, Pathfinder has research partners in Europe and Japan.

Professional Staff

Pathfinder's greatest resource is its staff of experienced electronics analysts. They combine the depth of understanding developed as managers in the semiconductor industry with breadth of knowledge gained in market research and consulting. The principals all bring to Pathfinder a unique blend of technical expertise and management skills that form the basis for keen insight into the challenges facing high tech executives.

Fred Zieber

Founder and President of Pathfinder Research, Incorporated in 1991, Mr. Zieber offers the unique perspective of more than twenty years in the market research and consulting industry. Before Pathfinder, Mr. Zieber was Executive Vice President of Dataquest for three years and Director of Research for the company for one year. For two years, all Dataquest services reported to him.

Mr. Zieber was a founder of the Dataquest Semiconductor Group and its Director for 12 years. During that time, he established Dataquest's European and Japanese research offices. Widely recognized as the developer of one of the first successful models of semiconductor industry growth, Mr. Zieber focuses on the broad picture of the electronics industry and the interplay between its many factors. His extensive knowledge of the industry has made him a well-known speaker at industry conferences and he is widely quoted in the press.

Prior to becoming an industry consultant, Mr. Zieber gained hands on experience of the semiconductor industry as a Process Engineer, Quality Control Manager, IC Designer, and Product Line Manager. He designed 19 ICs including the first BiMOS chip. He holds two semiconductor process patents.

Mr. Zieber holds an MBA and a BSEE degree, both from Stanford University.

Hal Feeney

Mr. Feeney has broad market research, microprocessor, and systems experience. He brings the perspective of both electronics industry experience and analysis to his role at Pathfinder. Before joining Pathfinder Research, Mr. Feeney was Group Vice President of Dataquest and Director of Dataquest's Semiconductor Group. Earlier he founded Dataquest's Technical Computer Group.

Before joining Dataquest, he held several management positions in marketing, business planning, and design at Intel. As Manager of International Marketing for the Intel Microcomputer Group, he gained wide experience on worldwide microcomputer markets and customers. As manager of Business Planning for Microcomputer Systems and Development Systems, he gained understanding of the information and analysis needs of today's executives.

Mr. Feeney led the design team that built the first 8-bit microprocessor (the 8008).

Mr. Feeney has a BSEE from Notre Dame University and an MSEE from Stanford University.

Patricia Galligan

Mrs. Galligan has extensive experience as semiconductor industry analyst. Her experience includes in-depth analysis of ASICs and microcomponents as well as general semiconductor trends and issues. Before joining Pathfinder, she was a Senior Industry Analyst with Dataquest's Semiconductor Group where she participated in the founding of the weekly "DQ Monday" newsletter.

Mrs. Galligan holds a BA (with Honors) from Trinity College in Dublin, Ireland.

Jean Collonge

Mrs. Collonge is Manager of Pathfinder Focus. She has sixteen years experience in the semiconductor and market research industries. At Dataquest, she was a Senior Analyst in the Semiconductor Group and a founding member of its European, Japanese, and User Services. Other responsibilities at Dataquest included Account Manager for the Strategic Executive Service and speechwriter for Dataquest's President, Manny Fernandez.

Before joining Pathfinder, Jean was Corporate Communication Manager at Vitelic Corporation.

Mrs. Collonge has a BA in English Literature from Open University of London.

Betsy White

Mrs. White is Library and Electronic Research Manager at Pathfinder. Before Pathfinder, she worked in research activities at the Saratoga Community Library and Dataquest, and was active in community service.

Mrs. White holds a BA degree in Fine Arts from Middlebury College in Vermont, a Certificate of Business Administration (with distinction) from Keller School of Management, and a Masters in Library and Information Sciences from San Jose State University

Contact Information

Pathfinder Research is located in the heart of Silicon Valley, just minutes from the San Jose Airport, and we are always just minutes away electronically.

Telephone	408-437-1905
Fax	408-437-8929
Postal Address	Pathfinder Research, Inc. 1620 Oakland Road, D-207 San Jose, CA 95131
Electronic Mail	General Information: info@pathfinder-research.com Webmaster: webmaster@pathfinder-research.com

Send email to webmaster@pathfinder-research.comwith questions or comments about this web site.
Copyright © 2000 Pathfinder Research, Inc.
Last modified: January 03, 2001