A M P H E N O L C O R P O R A T I O N 2 0 0 4 A N N U A L R E P O R T  Business Segments The Company believes that it is the largest supplier of high performance, military-specification, circular environmental  connectors. Such connectors require superior performance and reliability under conditions of stress and in hostile environments.  High performance environmental connectors and interconnect systems are generally used to interconnect electronic and fiber optic  systems in sophisticated aerospace, military, commercial and industrial equipment. These applications present demanding  technological requirements in that the connectors are subject to rapid and severe temperature changes, vibration, humidity and  nuclear radiation. Frequent applications of these connectors and interconnect systems include aircraft, guided missiles, radar,  military vehicles, equipment for spacecraft, energy, medical instrumentation, geophysical applications and off-road construction  equipment. The Company also designs and produces industrial interconnect products used in a variety of applications such as factory  automation equipment, mass transportation applications including railroads and marine transportation; and automotive safety  products including interconnect devices and systems used in automotive airbags, pretensioner seatbelts, antilock braking systems  and other on board automotive electronic systems. The Company also designs and produces highly-engineered cable and backplane  assemblies. Such assemblies are specially designed by the Company in conjunction with OEM customers for specific applications,  primarily for computer, wired and wireless communication systems, office equipment and aerospace applications. The cable  assemblies utilize the Company's connector and cable products as well as components purchased from others. Interconnect Products and Assemblies.  The Company produces a broad range of interconnect products and assemblies  primarily for voice, video and data communication systems, commercial and military aerospace systems, automotive and mass  transportation applications, and industrial and factory automation equipment. Interconnect products include connectors, which when  attached to an electronic or fiber optic cable, a printed circuit board or other device, facilitate electronic or fiber optic transmission.  Interconnect assemblies generally consist of a system of cable and connectors for linking electronic and fiber optic equipment. The  Company designs and produces a broad range of connector and cable assembly products used in communication applications, such  as: engineered cable assemblies used in base stations for wireless communication systems and internet networking equipment; smart  card acceptor devices used in mobile GSM telephones, cable modems and other applications to facilitate reading data from smart  cards; fiber optic couplers and connectors used in fiber optic signal transmission; input/output connectors and assemblies used for  servers and data storage devices and linking personal computers and peripheral equipment; and sculptured flexible circuits used for  integrating printed circuit boards in communication applications. The Company also designs and produces a broad range of radio  frequency connector products used in telecommunications, computer and office equipment, instrumentation equipment, local area  networks and automotive electronics. The Company's radio frequency interconnect products and assemblies are also used in base  stations, mobile communication devices and other components of cellular and personal communications networks. The following table sets forth the dollar amounts of the Company's net trade sales for its business segments. For a  discussion of factors affecting changes in sales by business segment and additional segment financial data, see "Management's  Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations" and Note 7 in the Company's "Notes to Consolidated  Financial Statements." 2004 2003 2002 (dollars in thousands)  Net trade sales by business segment:  Interconnect products and assemblies  $1,333,838 $ 1,071,968 $ 892,309  Cable  products  196,608  167,536 169,693 $1,530,446 $ 1,239,504 $ 1,062,002 Net trade sales by geographic area (1):  United States operations  $ 674,302 $ 555,918 $ 501,073  International operations  856,144  683,586 560,929 $1,530,446 $ 1,239,504 $ 1,062,002 (1)  Based on customer location to which product is shipped.  17