Acal BFi has been awarded a Performance Excellence Award for Best Product Line Performer 2011 for RF and Fibre Optic products by Avago Technologies.

“Performance Excellence Awards are given only in recognition of exceptional achievement and Acal BFi has earned this award by maintaining three consecutive years of high growth against a back-drop of a difficult and highly competitive market place,” explains Stephanie Kircher, Avago Technologies’ director of distribution, Europe. “The foundations of this growth are based on the strong relationship which exists between Acal BFi and Avago Technologies through which we have been able to nurture and support our end-customers through challenging times.”

“The specialist support provided by Acal BFi has been crucial in enabling leading customers to implement designs using Avago’s disruptive FBAR technology as well as the emerging and innovative WaferCap technologies,” explains Lee Austin, business development director for Acal BFi’s communications division. “By engaging deeply with lead customers, Acal BFi provides a conduit through which customers can feed back their design wish-lists and effectively influence the future direction of Avago’s new products and technologies.”

Acal BFi has provided specialist design support on Avago Technologies’ products to customers in applications which include automotive, test and measurement and communication infrastructure.

Paul Webster, UK managing director, Acal BFi, adds; “Acal BFi’s specialist distribution model allows us to engage with customers from concept to production, touching every aspect of design, procurement, operations, production and contract manufacturing to provide end-to-end service and support.”

The Performance Excellence Award was presented by Avago’s Stephanie Kircher to Lee Austin of Acal BFi’s communications division, at a recent Gala Dinner held by Avago Technologies in Munich.

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Avnet Embedded EMEA has developed a microsite to explain the benefits of Microsoft’s family of software for dedicated devices.

The new site, which is now live at www.avnet-embedded.eu/software, details the available products and their suitability for certain vertical markets. Manufacturers will be shown the benefits of Windows Embedded licensing such as extended product availability, lower cost of ownership and specific features unique to the embedded portfolio. The site also hosts videos that demonstrate, step-by-step, how simple building a Windows Embedded image can be.

Nick Donaldson, Marketing Director Software EMEA, comments: “We recognised a need to raise awareness of a set of products that can dramatically improve the profitability of intelligent systems manufacturers. At Avnet Embedded, we decided to build a resource to help identify the best-fit Microsoft platform for them. This microsite is intended to be the first step in a long-term partnership with our manufacturing ecosystem built on delivery of value and continuous improvement. “

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Rutronik distributes the MEG-Array connectors from FCI featuring 28Gbps for use in next-generation pluggable optical transceivers.

The FCI MEG-Array® connectors are designed to meet the needs of high speed, high density applications such as telecom, datacom and instrumentation. They provide a legacy electrical interface to PAROLI, SNAP-12, POP4, PPOD embedded optical modules and 300 pin MSA transponders. The 28 Gbps high-speed links through 4mm stack height connectors meet/exceed the requirements of the OIF Reach specification (CEI-28G-SR) for insertion loss (IL), insertion loss deviation (ILD), return loss (RL) and integrated cross-talk noise (ICN). In addition, eye patterns, bit-error rate (BER) and bathtub curve (BTC) simulations demonstrate full 28 Gbps performance without signal conditioning.

FCI’s connectors come with a combination of multiple stack heights (4mm to 14mm) and sizes (81 signals to 528 signals) to ensure design flexibility. A BGA (ball grid array) attachment supports low cost, standard SMT assembly processes.

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Avnet Embedded announces as an EMEA distributor of Option embedded solutions the wireless industry’s first 3G PCie module with an integrated SIM card holder and micro SD card holder and optional WiFi.

Markets such as digital signage have traditionally been challenging and expensive to integrate with embedded connectivity. The Option GTM671 WFS is an all-in-one connectivity solution on a single PCIe Minicard, specifically fit for such connected devices which typically don’t have SIM card holders. This solution makes integration of wireless connectivity into connected devices significantly easier, speeding up time to market and keeping costs at a manageable level, while providing peace of mind in terms of security and a seamless end user experience.

Bernard Schaballie, General Manager Embedded Solutions at Option: “Option has a long history of industry firsts. Combining an integrated SIM card and micro SD card holder on a single module is a hugely compelling solution for a wide range of M2M plays where connectivity, storage, security and user experience are of paramount importance.”

Alastair Worth, Marketing Director Wireless, Avnet Embedded “We are delighted that Option has introduced such a ground breaking product. The combination of new features allows our customers to create devices with unique functionality and to seamlessly 3G enable existing designs without any requirement for redesign”

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Premier Farnell plc today announced that it has signed a global distribution deal with Wamco Lighting, the global leader in lighting components and materials technologies for light management.

Wamco offers advanced light sciences, NVIS materials, optical filters, and lighting solutions and components. The company has solutions for the military, defense, aerospace, and transportation industries, which will now enable Premier Farnell to offer a broad selection of products to its worldwide customer base. Customers will also have access to a broad range of Wamco Lighting’s full line of LED lamps (MR, PAR, Luninars), Miniature/Subminiature LED Replacement lamps, Fluorescent (T5) lamps, and Panel Mount indicators (incandescent, Neon, and LED) across all of Premier Farnell’s operating businesses of Farnell element14 (Europe), Newark element14 (USA) and element14 (Asia-Pacific).

“Our partnership with Wamco Lighting reflects our commitment to offering the latest innovations in the lighting and illumination space,” said Mike Buffham, Director of Product and EDE at Premier Farnell. “With this new agreement our global customers will benefit from a breadth of “Green” Solutions with access to related discussions, product-related technical information and collaboration with like-minded peers around optoelectronics at the online element14 community.”

With more than 40 years of expertise and experience in design and manufacturing in the lighting industry, Wamco serves a demanding, best-in-class customer base world-wide. All Wamco products are manufactured to the highest standards and offer proven reliability.

“By offering Wamco’s breadth of LED lighting products, Premier Farnell is providing its customer base with high quality energy efficient lighting solutions in a rapidly changing lighting market.” said Paul Flynn, VP of Lighting, Wamco.

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RAFI now provides ring illuminations in various sizes which match their round, opaque plungers and serve to signal the operation of a keyswitch. Thereby, membrane keyboards under overlay based on RAFI’s MICON 5 micro Keyswitches can be assembled to fulfill individual requirements.

Homogenous illumination of the ring body is achieved by means of merely two LEDs. RGB LEDs can be used if required. Available with an overall height of 9.7 mm and diameters of 20.7, 23.7 and 28.2 mm, the ring illuminations are suitable for plungers with an 11.5, 14.5 or 19 mm diameter.

MICON 5 keyswitches have a 5.1 x 6.4 mm footprint and are 3.85 mm high, thus requiring minimal space. Due to gold contacts, they provide a high switching reliability. Outstanding tactility and a distinctly audible key click ensure high operating comfort. For various applications requiring a range of different operating forces, RAFI supplies MICON 5 models with 3, 4.5, 5.5, or 8 N.

RAFI guarantees a long operating life for all devices: depending on the selected operating force, the Keyswitches endure between 250,000 and one million switching cycles. MICON 5 keyswitches are available with SMT and THT connections. A comprehensive range of plungers and keycaps enables suitable solutions for any application.

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Premier Farnell plc today announced a stocking deal for Linear Technology Corporation’s latest LTC2389-18, the industry’s fastest 18-bit SAR ADC (analog-to-digital converter). Premier Farnell’s customers all over the globe will now have access to the ADC converter that achieves best-in-class signal to noise ratio (99.8dB) and lowest total harmonic distortion (-116dB) at sample rates up to 2.5Msps with no cycle latency.

Linear Technology Corporation designs, manufactures and markets a broad line of standard high performance analog integrated circuits, including a range of applications like telecommunications, networking products, video/multimedia, industrial instrumentation, automotive electronics, factory automation, process control, and military and space systems.

The addition of the LTC2389-18 means customers can now benefit from an all-in-one SAR ADC with the highest AC and DC performance and value added features like pin-configurable input ranges, integrated reference and reference buffer, internal oscillator and serial or parallel interface options that allow customers the flexibility of managing a single part number for multiple applications. The LTC2389-16 is the 16-bit resolution alternative planned to be released following the LTC2389-18. With 96dB SNR and ±0.75LSB INL at 2.5Msps, the LTC2389-16 is also a best in class part in terms of speed and performance. The LTC2389-18 and LTC2389-16 are well suited for demanding designs that require maximum signal swings at low power levels in noisy industrial environments.

Customers will be able to access the latest product via Premier Farnell’s operating businesses of Farnell element14 (Europe), Newark element14 (USA) and element14 (APAC) and participate in discussions, collaborate, watch tutorials and read detailed product information via the dedicated Linear Technology page on the element14 Community.

“We are pleased to work with a leading manufacturer like Linear Technology and offer a product that is well suited for a wide variety of design applications,” said Marianne Culver, Global Head of Product Marketing and Supply Chain at Premier Farnell. “With Linear Technology’s broad application base we will be distributing this product to a wide range of customers across the globe.”

Summary of Features: LTC2389-18
- 2.5Msps Throughput Rate
- ±3LSB INL (Max)
- Guaranteed 18-Bit, No Missing Codes
- Pin-Configurable Analog Input Range:
- ±VREF Fully Differential
- 0V to VREF Pseudo-Differential Unipolar
- ±VREF/2 Pseudo-Differential Bipolar
- 99.8dB (Fully Differential)/95.2dB (Pseudo-Differential) SNR (Typ) at fIN = 2kHz
- -116dB (Fully Differential) /-112 dB (Pseudo-Differential) THD (Typ)fIN=2kHZ
- Guaranteed Operation to 125°C
- Single 5V Supply
- Internal 20ppm/°C (Max) Reference
- Internal Reference Buffer
- 162.5mW Power Dissipation at 2.5Msps
- No Pipeline Delay, No Cycle Latency
- 1.8V to 5V I/O Voltages
- Parallel and Serial I/O Interface
- Internal Conversion Clock
- 48-Pin 7mm × 7mm LQFP & QFN Packages

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RS Components has expanded its electronics offer with the introduction of the new Hercules safety microcontroller platform from Texas Instruments. Designed to help developers obtain IEC 61508 SIL 3 and ISO 26262 ASIL-D system certification for safety-critical medical, industrial and transportation applications, the platform consists of three ARM Cortex-based microcontroller families that deliver scalable performance, connectivity, memory and safety features for applications that require a high level of reliability.

Hercules microcontrollers implement safety capabilities in hardware to detect random faults and protect against systematic faults, thus reducing software overheads. The dual ARM Cortex-R4F floating-point cores in lockstep provide the highest level of on line diagnostics with cycle-by-cycle error checking, while built-in self-test for the CPU and RAM enable periodic diagnostic routines for the detection of potential latent faults.

The CPU features error correction code (ECC) for Flash and RAM to monitor data for corruption without impacting performance. A memory protection unit on the CPU ensures that each bus master is allocated memory to prevent the transfer of corrupt data. Parity on peripheral RAMs, dual analogue-to-digital-converters (ADCs) and timers, as well as voltage and clock monitoring, provide additional diagnostic coverage.

Coupled with robust tools, software and safety documentation, this advanced on-chip functionality enables developers to differentiate their end products and speed time to market.

“The addition of the Hercules microcontrollers to the RS electronics line is a step forward in augmenting the choice of application-specific products to customers, and introduces a new range of safety-critical, high-reliability devices to our offering,” said Fred Knowles, Head of Product Management – Electronics at RS Components. “Our next-day despatch service guarantees fast delivery on parts, enabling engineers to start working quickly on their designs to meet increasingly tough deadlines in bringing products to market.”

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Acal BFi – a division of Acal plc – is the first distributor to sample the new PremierWave®-XN dual-band 802.11n multi-port device server from Lantronix. As part of the award-winning PremierWave family, this 802.11n server combines high-performance WiFi and Ethernet connectivity, with Lantronix’ SmartRoam™ technology for seamless mobile connectivity, and enhanced security within a compact 11cm x 8.9cm x 2.6cm module.

With development kits and a limited number of samples available from May 2012, Acal BFi will enable lead customers to develop next-generation machine-to-machine (M2M) applications featuring increased wireless speed, improved reliability and an extended transmission range over 2.4GHz or 5GHz.

“These new servers allow designers to respond to market demands for enhanced remote monitoring and control of larger and more complex network infrastructures by delivering optimal wireless performance, signal reliability and security,” explains Martin Kemp, European Sales & Marketing Manager, Acal BFi. “The PremierWave-XN device server allows applications with an existing Ethernet interface to easily add WiFi connectivity, with no modifications to the existing code, by using Lantronix’ proprietary Secure ComPort Redirector virtualisation software.”

“The launch of four new products in the past four months highlights the new, more customer-driven, aggressive global growth strategy for Lantronix,” said Martin Poppelaars, Vice President of EMEA Sales for Lantronix. “A key driver in this strategy is aligning ourselves with partners who have the technical expertise, along with established sales and distribution channels throughout Europe. Acal BFi has proven to be exactly this type of partner, and we look forward to working more closely with them to speed our time-to-market and accelerate our growth in the region.”

Acal BFi’s wireless communications team will provide specialist design support to customers implementing advanced M2M applications using the Lantronix PremierWave-XN device server.

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The APC-18W5 from Avalue Technology is a new fanless flat screen multi-touch capacitive Panel PC featuring a fashionable yet industrial-grade design. The display utilizes a Projected Capacitive Multi-touch ready touchscreen with anti-scratch glass and 90% light transmission which makes the screen colours very vivid.

The APC-18W5 is powered by the low power Intel® Atom™ D525 dual-core processor and supports a PWM automatic control function, so it can automatically adjust the LED backlight brightness to reduce power consumption.

The fanless panel PC is a lightweight with a thickness of only 59mm. The design features an easy to clean IP55 front and supports VESA mounting that makes it compatible with most mounting accessories. Programmable front buttons allow users to configure the system according to their needs.

Positioned on the back of the APC-18W5 are: 1 COM Port, 2 USB ports, 1 Gigabit Ethernet port, PS2 Keyboard/Mouse, Line out and a VGA port to drive a second display. The system internally supports additional USB and Wi-Fi and other expansion can be implemented through 2 Mini-PCIe slots. Customized versions are available on request – contact Texim Europe for details .

Features
• Onboard Intel® Atom™ D525 dual-core 1.8 GHz CPU
• Projected Capacitive Touch supports multi-touch
• Onboard 1GB DDR3 with options to upgrade up to 4GB
• 1 Intel® 82574L Gigabit ethernet
• 2x 2W amplified speakers
• 2 external USB ports, 1 COM port
• 2 Mini-PCIe slots internally available for expansion
• Wide voltage input: +12V to +28VDC ErP power
• Over current & surge protection
• Backlight controlled by PWM
• IP55 compliant front panel with programmable function key

Applications
• Digital signage
• POS / KIOSK
• Logistic systems

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