Increased Power ICs offer includes the award-winning FAN2XXX and FAN5XXX DC-DC controller families

RS Components, the leading distributor of electronic, electro-mechanical and industrial products, today announced the addition of over 900 new devices into its range from Fairchild Semiconductor, a leading global provider of semiconductor technology, to enable greater energy efficiency. The increased offer means RS now has the most up-to-date range of Fairchild power products available direct-from-stock in Europe for design engineers.

The new introductions include Fairchild’s award-winning DC-DC controllers, offering the industry’s best combination of efficiency, performance, power density and size for portable devices. The RS / Fairchild package also includes the Intellimax™ load switches and MOSFET, high-performance optocouplers, diodes, IGBTs, logic and interface products.

Features of Fairchild’s FAN2XXX and FAN5XXX DC-DC controller families include 96% peak efficiency, up to 10A output current over a wide input range of 2.5V to 24V, thermal shut-down and short circuit protection. Low quiescent current, down to 25uA in power save mode, ensures long battery life making them ideal for battery-powered portable devices.

Chris Page, General Manager for Electronics at RS, stated: “RS has worked closely with Fairchild Semiconductor to bring the latest technologies into our offer and give design engineers more choice of innovative products for their energy efficient designs. With the new range available at flexible quantities in production-format packaging, RS has all the devices design engineers require when using Fairchild in development, prototyping and small volume production.”

Jon Harper, European Marketing Manager at Fairchild Semiconductor said: “Customers can now benefit from accessing a wide range of power products from RS. Our collaboration provides a compelling offer for design engineers with the latest technologies and high levels of service from RS.”

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PEI-Genesis continues European expansion with opening of sales office in France

PEI-Genesis, the international distributor specialising in the rapid assembly of multi-pin connectors, has opened a fully staffed sales office in France as part of the company’s plans to expand its operations throughout continental Europe.

Led by country manager Jean-Noel Galliot, the four-strong French team will be based at Bussy Saint Georges, which is located about 30km east of Paris.

PEI-Genesis works in partnership with leading connector manufacturers such as Amphenol, ITT Interconnect Solutions, Glenair and Polamco. The company is able to offer an unrivalled 48-hour connector assembly service by carrying a massive inventory of connector piece-parts and using purpose-designed machines to automate the assembly process.

Commenting on the opening of the French office, Jean-Noel Galliot said: “As a team, we are very excited about the opportunities for PEI-Genesis in France. We believe that engineers and buyers in the industrial, transportation, aerospace and defence sectors will respond eagerly to the company’s rapid connector assembly service and that PEI-Genesis will soon be firmly established in the French market.”

Galliot has over 14 years’ experience in the electronics industry, including 7 years as European distribution manager and key account manager for a leading connector manufacturer.

He will be supported by David Bonamy, who has been appointed as sales manager for the south of France, together with internal sales personnel Jarmila Chaintreau and Nadege Renciot.

In addition, another new French employee, Christel Cavillon, has joined PEI-Genesis at its European headquarters in Southampton to provide purchasing support for the French operation.

The picture shows (from left to right): David Bonamy, Jarmila Chaintreau, Jean-Noel Galliot and Nadege Renciot.

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Aerco supplies Habia Cable Multibend and Flexiform cables in UK

As a UK franchised distributor for Habia Cable, Aerco now supplies both the ‘Multibend’ range of high performance, flexible, coaxial cables and ‘Flexiform’ a hand-formable, co-axial cable used by the RF and communications industries worldwide.

Multibend is designed as a flexible alternative to semi-rigid cables and provides excellent shielding, far better than standard RG cables, has low attenuation losses, is mechanically strong with high resistance to vibration and, because of its high-temperature dielectric, has a very high power capability.

Flexiform cables are used as an alternative to traditional, semi-rigid cables and are now available with an increased range of impedances. A new product, ‘Flexiform L’, is a low-loss version and is available in 0.25in and 0.141in diameter that provide a reduction in attenuation of 15% and 10% respectively and will ensure improved call quality in base station antennas.

» Contact Details for Aerco Limited

RS Hosting Microchip Desginer’s Forum

RS Components is hosting Microchip’s Worldwide Embedded Designer’s Forum on 3rd November 2009 at its Bristol Trade Counter, and on 5th November 2009 at its offices in Corby.

The Microchip Worldwide Embedded Designer’s Forum is a series of one-day technical training events for hardware and software engineers to demonstrate Microchip’s commitment to helping them meet their needs through its continued development of innovative products and technologies.

There will be six focused sessions at each event, designed to give engineers the tools and knowledge needed to take their designs to the next level and help stay ahead in today’s competitive environment.

Delegates will learn about the latest technologies to enhance their next design through lectures and demonstrations led by Microchip’s expert staff. Sessions will be packed with practical information and advice on how to achieve the lowest power consumption, add a more stylish user interface, run more complex software, add USB connectivity and save money on development and system BOM cost.

Hardware and Software Engineers, Engineering Managers and Technical Purchasers with or without pre-knowledge of Microchip products will benefit from this Forum. The cost of attendance is £50, and includes a choice of free Microchip development kit and refreshments throughout the day.

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VAR skills and specialist customer base will ensure success

UR Group has entered into an agreement with Emcore Corporation to supply and distribute Emcore fibre-optic solutions for the RF over fibre, microwave and satellite photonics markets in the UK and Italy.

Emcore’s technologies enable fibre optic transmission of signals from 200MHz to 40GHz, delivering benefits including security of data, immunity to electro-magnetic interference, significantly lighter and smaller cable plant, simpler link design eliminating amplifiers and frequency-conversion components, and scalability to support increased capacity as user demands evolve. Emcore Corporation has a long history of success in projects involving satellite signal distribution, antenna remoting, fibre optic delay lines and signal distribution for both civil and military radar and specialty RF and terahertz photonics.

“The UR Group has a strong presence in the UK and Italy, both of which are strategically important territories for satellite, aerospace and defence markets,” said Davinder Basuita, EMEA regional director of sales. “We sought a partner with a strong customer base in these markets, proven technical support competency and synergy with existing products and franchises. The UR Group was the obvious choice, and we look forward to a successful relationship delivering sustained growth.”

“The Emcore portfolio will complement our high-quality power and networking products. This is a valuable and exciting opportunity to grow important accounts and to expand our customer base in high-value sectors,” said Joe Matano, Managing Director of UR Group.

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Nu Horizons opens purpose-built training facility in Coventry with two full-day seminars

Nu Horizons Electronics will open its brand new purpose-built training facility in Coventry with two training seminars next month. As part of the company’s XpressTrack program of training events, inaugural workshops will be held on November 4th and 5th based on Atmel technology.

The training facility is attached to Nu Horizons’ UK headquarters in Coventry and has been specially commissioned due to the success of Nu Horizons’ XpressTrack training workshops. There are more than 30 XpressTrack events scheduled across Europe for 2009, covering both analogue and digital technologies. The seminars include technology reviews and hands-on laboratory sessions with the latest advanced reference designs.

The training facility’s first workshop will be held on November 4th, on Atmel’s QTouch technology. Presenting technical overviews of QMatrix, QWheel and QSlider, the seminar will be useful for customers with any level of experience with Atmel products. The cost of the QTouch seminar is £99, and attendees will receive development kits including an EVK1040A, an ATAVRTS2080A, an ATAVRTS2080B and an ATAVRISP-mkII. Together these kits are worth around £300. The second training workshop, on November 5th, will be an introduction to Atmel’s cutting-edge 32-bit Cortex ARM microcontrollers, the ATSAM3 range. The day will provide an introduction to ARM Cortex-M3 technology including programming models and the Thumb2 instruction set; interrupt execution, power management and debugging features; and porting to Cortex-M3.

The Cortex seminar will cost £99 and attendees will receive ATSAM3U-EK and ATSAM-ICE development kits worth around £200. For anyone wishing to attend both seminars, Nu Horizons is offering a discounted price of £179 to cover both days.

» Contact details for Nu Horizons Electronics Limited

Sharp becomes Nu Horizons first major European LED, optoelectronics and LCD module franchise

Nu Horizons Electronics has signed a distribution agreement with Sharp Microelectronics Europe for the UK and Nordic territories, effective September 1st. Nu Horizons currently distributes Sharp’s electronic components in North America but this deal marks the distributor’s first major LED, optoelectronics and display module franchise in European markets. Nu Horizons will have rights to distribute Sharp Microelectronics’ lines of optoelectronics, LEDs, laser diodes, CMOS image sensors, power supply devices and RF components in the UK and Nordic region, plus Sharp’s LCD module range in the Nordic region only. In Nordic, Nu Horizons trades as C-88 AS.

“This new agreement builds on a very successful existing relationship between Nu Horizons and Sharp in North America,” comments Rick Fullarton, Distribution Sales Manager Northern Europe at Sharp Microelectronics Europe. “Nu Horizons’ combination of world-class engineering support, technical sales and marketing resources, alongside their clear focus on demand creation, makes them a perfect fit for Sharp Microelectronics Europe.”

“Sharp is a global technology leader and we are delighted to be entering the LED, optoelectronics and display arenas with them as a partner,” said Phil Gee, Nu Horizons‘ Vice President Sales EMEA. “Nu Horizons is a recognised global leader with respect to design-in support and resources. Our customers throughout the UK and Nordic regions will benefit from Sharp’s cutting-edge technology combined with new levels of technical support.”

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Mouser Electronics First to Stock OSRAM OSLON SX LEDs

Mouser Electronics, Inc., known for its rapid introduction of the newest products, today announced it is the first distributor to stock OSRAM Opto Semiconductors’ OSLON SX LED series. OSRAM is a world leader in manufacturing optoelectronic semiconductors for the lighting, sensor, and visualization sectors.

Mounted on a new SMD ceramic LED package specially engineered to enable slim and compact lighting solutions, OSRAM’s OSLON SX LEDs are available in five colors from Mouser. The OSLON SX LED is highly bright and provides a 60⁰ focused beam. This reliable lighting solution lasts at least 50,000 hours, is housed in a small 3 x 3 mm package, allowing cost-efficient, resource-saving designs with fewer LEDs and fewer and smaller peripheral components. Applications for the OSLON SX LEDs are widely varied and include LCD backlighting, camera flash, strobe light, interior and exterior automotive lighting, reading lamps, and display backlight, to name a few. For more information, about OSRAM OSLON SX LEDs, visit http://www.mouser.com/osramoslonled.

Mike Scott, Mouser Vice President of Active Products, says, “We are pleased to be stocking these new OSLON SX LEDs. OSRAM is an industry leader in LED technology, and quickly providing the newest products to the engineering community is what customers have come to expect from Mouser.”

» Contact details for Mouser Electronics, Inc.

Harwin extends Avnet Abacus agreement

High-reliability interconnect company Harwin has extended its distribution agreement with Avnet Abacus to cover the whole of Europe, including Eastern Europe and Spain. The agreement builds on a long term and successful partnership between the two companies.

According to Andrew McQuilken, Managing Director at Harwin: “Avnet Abacus provides exemplary customer service through an extensive network of regional offices covering all major European nations. They have the scale and resources of a large global organisation, allied to the personal service, customer presence and relationships of a local distributor. We are excited about taking our association with them into new geographies.” Alan Jermyn, Vice President of Marketing for Avnet Abacus, added, “This agreement represents a major endorsement from such a prestigious established name in the electronic component industry. Harwin is a responsive and innovative manufacturer with a reputation for coming to market quickly with new solutions as the requirements of new technology emerge. They will benefit very fully from our product to customer approach. We are offering Harwin customers throughout Europe in depth, system level support from an exceptional team of product specialists.”

Avnet Abacus brings together Avnet Time and the associated products represented by the Abacus Group, which was acquired by Avnet in January 2009. Abacus Group was named as Harwin’s Pan-European Distributor of the Year in 2008. Avnet Abacus is a pan-European organisation with aggregate gross sales in 2008 of over €300 million through 45 offices in 19 countries. Headquartered in Poing, Germany, Avnet Abacus has over 450 staff supporting in excess of 13,000 customers with products from 42 pan-European franchised suppliers and complimented by a further range of strong local suppliers. Avnet Abacus is part of Avnet Electronics Marketing, the number one distributor of electronic components to the industrial market in EMEA. Avnet Abacus is served internally by Avnet Logistics, the common integrated pan-European logistical backbone and enjoys Avnet’s industry leading supply-chain services & management capabilities as well as the global corporate power and financial strength of Avnet Electronics Marketing.

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Stock includes RoHS, tin-free, gold-plated, flat-chip diode packages

Mouser Electronics, Inc., known for its rapid introduction of the newest products, today announced it has signed a global distribution agreement with Comchip Technology Corporation, a leader in the design and manufacture of SMD diodes.

Mouser’s Comchip stock includes advanced technology diodes – switching, Schottky, Zener, and ESD – that are RoHS and Halogen-free in flat chip packages with gold-plated terminations instead of tin-plated. Comchip is the only manufacturer that offers RoHS and gold termination. These discrete semiconductors are used for voltage/current regulation and rectification, signal conditioning, and circuit protection. The diodes provide long-term reliability through the use of gold terminations rather than tin, eliminating their susceptibility to tin whiskers.

Mike Scott, Mouser Vice President of Active Products, stated, “Mouser is excited to be offering Comchip’s products in their differentiated “flat pack” SOD packages. These diodes are manufactured with clean, simple substrate technology, not lead-frame, to cut costs and improve reliability.”

Tony Yang, General Manager of Comchip Technology Corporation, says, “Comchip Technology is pleased to partner with Mouser Electronics and bring the latest in packaging technology to the diode marketplace. Our ‘flat pack’ SOD-323, SOD-523, SOD-723 and SOD-923 packages allow state of the art assembly of high quality diode products in a RoHS or leaded solder environment. We are a leader in providing RoHS solutions without tin whisker issues.”

» Contact details for Mouser Electronics, Inc.