Microchip announces the formation of its Medical Products Group. The $100 billion worldwide medical market, which is growing at around 15% a year, is seeing a general trend of personal diagnostic and therapeutic devices becoming mass-market consumer products. Specific application examples include Implanted Devices such as cardiac rhythm management, neural stimulation, drug delivery and bariatric therapy; Portable Devices including diagnostic imaging, oxygen therapy and patient monitoring; Home-Use Devices such as vital-sign monitoring, disease management, rehabilitation, compliance monitoring and medical information terminals; and Security including authentication of consumables and data confidentiality. Microchip has developed a online Medical Design Centre, which includes four main categories: Data Acquisition, User Interface, Processing and Connectivity. Each of these sections contains application notes, design guides, reference manuals, user guides, ‘tips and tricks’ documents, and detailed product and development tool information.