Alpha Wire’s low-smoke, zero-halogen communication and control cable (LSZH) is now available from Aerco.  When standard cable and wire burns the insulating materials emit smoke, gas and acid that can be highly toxic.  The Alpha Wire range of high performance cable reduces the smoke and totally eliminates the halogen emitted without compromising on mechanical and electrical performance.

The Alpha Wire LSZH cable has corrosion resistant, tinned copper conductors, stranded conductors for installation flexibility and is available in multipair and multiconductor configurations and in versions that are foil shielded for EMI protection and improved signal integrity.  They also have colour-coded conductor insulation for clear, positive identification.

Alpha Wire LSZH communication and control cables are invaluable in applications such as rapid transit and any industrial and commercial applications where fire in confined space would create a health hazard and possibly endanger life.

» Contact Details for Aerco Limited

Mouser Electronics, Inc., known for its rapid introduction of the newest products, today announced it has been awarded Emerson Network Power Connectivity Solution’s 2009 Top Distributor Award. Emerson is a global leader in embedded telecommunications and data network infrastructures. Two of Emerson’s major connector brands, Johnson and Aim-Cambridge, provide the product lines to Mouser and consist of RF audio/video connectors, cable assemblies, and adapters.

Doug G. Pennington, Emerson Network Power Connectivity Solutions Vice President of Sales, says, “In 2008, Mouser had a terrific year and leaped into our elite “Top 5 Distributor” club for the first time. If anyone had any thoughts that possibly they wouldn’t repeat, well, Mouser is serving notice that it may be in the Top 5 to stay. Over the past several years, our distributors have delivered sales growth that has exceeded that of the market. Even in the challenging 2009 business environment, our distribution network again delivered better than market performance and Mouser was one of the reasons why. They stayed focused on what they do well and they delivered…again.”

Barry McConnell, Mouser Senior Vice President of Products, is pleased to accept the award again, and stated, “Mouser’s second capture of a top five distributor spot for Emerson is a confirmation of Mouser’s commitment to quickly provide the newest products and best customer service for Emerson’s popular and extensive lines of high quality devices. We look forward to another prosperous year with Emerson Network Power.”

Known for its focus on design engineers with its broad product line, unsurpassed customer service, advanced on-line catalog and innovative product marketing, Mouser continuously offers customers the newest products and latest technologies for their new design projects. Mouser Electronics’ website with interactive online catalog is updated daily and searches over 5 million products to locate over a million part numbers available for easy online purchase. Plus, it houses downloadable data sheets, supplier-specific reference designs, application notes, technical design information and engineering tools.

» Contact details for Mouser Electronics, Inc.

Mouser Electronics, Inc., known for its rapid introduction of the newest products, today announced it was awarded Neutrik’s 2009 “Distributor Partner of the Year”.

The prestigious award was presented to Mouser at the annual EDS convention in Las Vegas this month. Reasons cited for selecting Mouser above other distributors was Mouser’s commitment to provide an exceptional customer service experience by rapidly offering the latest products and newest technologies as soon as they are available. Also mentioned was Mouser’s commitment to innovation, such as the interactive online catalog and technical support.

Tom Chudyk, Distribution Manager for Neutrik USA, Inc., presented the award to Mouser, and says, “As a result of their tremendous commitment to promoting, inventorying, and supporting our complete family of products, we at Neutrik USA are honored to recognize Mouser Electronics with our “Distributor Partner of the Year” award for 2009. It is Mouser’s commitment to providing the end customer with quality service and value that makes them a true partner for Neutrik USA. We look forward to continued success as we further develop opportunities for growth within North America.”

Accepting the award on behalf of Mouser was Barry McConnell, Senior Vice President Products; Krystal Jackson, Product Director; and Chris Linn, Product Manager. McConnell stated, “It is a great honor to accept this award from Neutrik. Mouser’s ability to put the customers’ needs first has been the key to a highly effective partnership. It has been a pleasure to promote their vast line of interconnects and we are eager to continue on this successful path.”

» Contact details for Mouser Electronics, Inc.

RS Components today announced the signing of a new distribution agreement with Panasonic, the world-leading manufacturer of electronic components and devices. Supporting this, Panasonic microsites have also been launched across all RS European websites.

RS currently stocks over 4,000 Panasonic products including discrete semiconductors, capacitors, resistors and inductors. The range will be further increased this year, as over 1,200 new semiconductor lines are added to the RS product portfolio. All products are available direct from stock on RS websites, supporting engineers’ needs for low volume samples for design and prototyping and production quantities below standard manufacturer order volumes.

Commenting on the new distribution agreement, Katsuhiko Otomo, President of Panasonic Industrial Europe said: “RS plays a vital role for Panasonic in helping to create demand for our electronics components in new designs. With on-hand stock, increased new products and excellent marketing capabilities, RS has demonstrated it is able to drive our relationship forward across Europe and Asia Pacific.”

For RS, Chris Page, General Manager, Electronics Division said: “Panasonic is a world leader in board-level technology used by design engineers. Our partnership with Panasonic will help customers get fast access to the latest devices and technical information to support their new designs.”

Supporting the agreement, RS has today also announced the launch of dedicated Panasonic microsites across Europe. The sites can be accessed through the main RS website, and contain links to the full Panasonic passive and semiconductor product ranges held in-stock by RS, along with application notes and supporting technical information to help engineers and buyers in the evaluation of Panasonic components. The sites can be accessed at www.rs-components.com/panasonic.

» Contact details for RS Components

Electronic components distributor Digi-Key Corporation, recognized by design engineers as having the industry’s broadest selection of electronic components available for immediate shipment, and RECOM Power, Inc. today announced the two companies have entered into an agreement in which Digi-Key will distribute RECOM Power, Inc.’s products to customers worldwide.

RECOM Power, Inc. is a leading supplier of constant current dimmable LED drivers; DC/DC converters; switching regulators; and single, dual, and triple output AC/DC modules. RECOM focuses on providing dedicated product for the industrial controls, lighting, medical, military (COTS), and telecommunications markets. RECOM products are currently available for purchase on Digi-Key’s global websites and will be featured in future print and online catalogs.

“With this global distribution agreement, RECOM Power, Inc.’s reputation as a leading supplier and Digi-Key’s reputation as a leading global distributor have combined to provide our customers with access to more top-quality product from another world-leading supplier,” said Jeff Shafer, Digi-Key’s vice president of interconnect, passive, and electromechanical product. “We believe this new partnership with RECOM will affirm Digi-Key’s commitment to working with the world’s foremost suppliers of electronic components.”

“As RECOM’s extensive portfolio of high-end modular power supplies continues to grow, so does our need for outstanding distribution partners,” said Christoph Wolf, vice president of sales – Americas for RECOM Power, Inc. “It is with pleasure that we are joining forces with Digi-Key to offer our solutions to a broader customer base, while making their selection and use easier for design engineers and our customers worldwide.”

» Contact Details for Digi-Key Corporation

Lattice Semiconductor today announced that effective immediately Nu Horizons Electronics Corp.  will distribute the full range of Lattice products on a global basis. Nu Horizons currently distributes Lattice products throughout the Asia Pacific region.

“Nu Horizons Electronics is very excited to expand globally with Lattice,” said Kent Smith, President of Nu Horizons Global Distribution Division. “Lattice is one of the world’s leading providers of FPGAs, PLDs, Programmable Clock and Power Management devices, software design tools and IP cores, and our sales and engineering teams around the world are extremely familiar with programmable logic technologies. Lattice is an ideal match, enabling us to provide innovative product choices for our customers in every region.”

“Lattice is extremely pleased to welcome Nu Horizons Electronics as one of our global distribution partners,” said Stacy Fender, Lattice’s Corporate Vice President of Sales. “Nu Horizons is well-known for its demand creation abilities, seamless global infrastructure, world-class logistics, expert technical knowledge and award winning customer service. We are pleased with Nu Horizons’ performance in Asia, and are confident they will provide superb customer support and expand our opportunities to reach new customers.”

» Contact details for Nu Horizons Electronics Limited

Programmable dual USB 2.0 host/slave System on Chip controller offers cost effective solution for lowering design component count

Alpha Micro Components, the independent franchised distributor of electronic components, announced today that it has added the Vinculum VNC2 from Future Technology Devices International Limited (FTDI) to its portfolio of products. The VNC2 is the latest addition to the Vinculum family of USB Host Controller ICs and suits a broad range of USB consumer and industrial related applications including camera, mobile accessories, data loggers, toys, keyboards, game controller interfacing, Point of Sale applications, medical devices and USB to USB bridges.

The VNC2 is a programmable dual USB 2.0 full speed Host/ Slave system on chip (SOC) controller which builds on, and enhances, the capacities and functionality of the VNC1L, the initial member of FTDI’s Vinculum family. This has been achieved while reducing the device cost as well as introducing the capability for designers to develop their own application firmware and programme the host controller themselves.

VNC2 comes with a fully supported software development tool suite which is wrapped up in a GUI Integrated Design Environment (IDE). This is a free of charge and royalty free software development environment – which includes a compiler, driver, libraries, RTOS kernel, linker and debugger, allowing designers to fully utilise the increased memory and multitude of communication protocols handled by VNC2. The software development toolkit is based on the ‘C’ language and provides a comprehensive suite of object files to provide support for USB host functionality including USB Flash Drive (B.O.M.S.) storage, HID, USB COMMs class and FAT File functionality.

Christos Papakyriacou, Managing Director of Alpha Micro Components, commented: “Alpha Micro has worked successfully with FTDI for the past 14 years and we are confident that the newest addition to the Vinculum product range will strengthen our product portfolio offering to design engineers. FTDI and its products have a very solid reputation within the engineering community due to the reliability and robustness of its drivers’. The VNC2 provides easy USB connectivity for a broad range of devices making it an ideal solution for designers across a vast array of industrial, automotive and medical applications.”

Additional features of the VNC2 include:
* Embedded 16-bit Harvard architecture MCU core, with 256KBytes of Flash memory and 16Kbytes RAM
* 2 x Full-Speed / Low-speed USB 2.0 ports supporting independently configurable Host or Slave operation
* 2 x slave Serial Peripheral Interfaces (SPI) and 1 x master SPI
* PWM (Pulse Width Modulation) interface
* Support for reduced power modes
* Multiple packages size options (32-/48-/64-pin QFN and LQFP packages)
* Backwards compatible with VNC1L with 48-pin LQFP package
* RoHS compliant, and extended temperature support (-40°C to +85°C)

» Contact details for Alpha Micro

Farnell, the leading multi-channel distributor, has received the Outstanding Electronic Distributor 2009 award from leading electronics enclosures supplier Hammond Manufacturing. The award has been presented to Farnell in recognition of its ability to successfully bring the latest Hammond products to market and for excellent sales performance during 2009.

Farnell offers a comprehensive choice of over 600 of Hammond Manufacturing’s industry-leading range of enclosures for electronics equipment. The two companies have worked together for 12 years. Through its in-house technical capabilities and by sharing a close working relationship with Hammond Manufacturing, Farnell has been able to help its customers to quickly and efficiently select the most appropriate enclosure systems for their new applications. The company’s own technology portal and eCommunity – element14 – created exclusively for electronic design engineers is already helping design engineers gather relevant information and discuss their applications with others in the industry.

“This prestigious award has been presented to Farnell for its outstanding performance in what was a challenging year for the electronics industry,” said Russell Irvine, European Account Manager, Hammond Manufacturing. “The high availability of both product and technical support means that Farnell is able to give potential users of our products all the support they need to select and purchase the best electronic enclosures for their applications”.

Simon Meadmore, Farnell’s EMCO Supplier Manager said: “It is a great honour to receive this important award from Hammond. We feel it underlines the success of our evolving business model that encompasses product choice and availability, design support, and a range of procurement tools and methods that make the selection and sourcing of the best products as fast and easy as possible.”

» Contact details for Farnell

Distribution agreement now includes North America, Europe, Hong Kong (China), and Southeast Asia

Electronic components distributor Digi-Key Corporation, recognized by design engineers as having the industry’s broadest selection of electronic components available for immediate shipment, today announced it has signed an expanded global distribution agreement with Littelfuse, a pioneer in the circuit protection industry. The expanded distribution agreement will allow Digi-Key to distribute Littelfuse product to North America, Europe, Hong Kong (China), Taiwan, Singapore, Thailand, the Philippines, Malaysia and India.

“By expanding our distribution agreement, Digi-Key is now able to provide Littelfuse products to engineers and purchasers around the globe,” said Jeff Shafer, Digi-Key’s vice president of interconnect, passive, and electromechanical product. “We are confident Digi-Key customers worldwide will benefit from this agreement.”

Digi-Key Corporation stocks Littelfuse fuses, fuseholders, TVS diodes, thyristors, varistors, silicon protection arrays and other circuit protection devices. Littelfuse products in stock are featured in Digi-Key’s print and online catalogs and are available for purchase on Digi-Key’s global websites.

“For over 27 years, Digi-Key has been an important partner with Littelfuse,” said Littelfuse Vice President of Global Electronics Sales, Deepak Nayar. “Digi-Key’s reach and credibility among engineering communities has helped Littelfuse achieve recognition as the top circuit protection brand in North America. The extension of the Digi-Key and Littelfuse agreement expands market opportunities for both companies and offers more options for electronics manufacturers worldwide.”

» Contact Details for Digi-Key Corporation

Rapid Electronics has agreed a deal with electromagnetic components supplier Manutech Europe to become the main distributor of its current transformers range and sensors.

The supplier’s SCT series (Split Core) AC current transformer has an excellent reputation for performance, ease of application and energy efficiency. It is available in 50 input ratings, from 1 to 3000 amps. Output is controlled by a precision resistor fixed at the industry standard of 0.333V AC. The transformer is ideal for distributed measurement systems and can be retrofitted into active installations without the need to remove existing cables. It sets an industry standard for interleaving joints and its self-locking mechanism.

The UCT series (Solid Core) current transformer offers excellent performance over a wide ratings range from 5A to 400A. 33 lines are available in five different diameters, offering accuracy to within +/-1% and a less than 1 degree phase angle. Output is controlled by a precision resistor fixed at the industry standard of 0.333V AC. The rugged epoxy encapsulated construction comes with eight feet of twisted insulated wire leads. These solid core CTs require power isolation before they can be slipped over the power cable application.

The range also includes a 24 inch Rogowski coil, a transducer measuring high frequency current pulses. The design and termination of the coil are such that it acts as a current transformer at high frequencies but has very low sensitivity to power frequency current. The Rogowski coil is available in current ratings from 500A to 5000A and comes with its own integrator for ease of installation.

» Contact Details for Rapid Electronics Ltd.