DistiBlog - the EPN Distribution Blog

European Research Highlights Customer Preferences

Research into the perceptions of the European distribution market is thin on the ground. So hats off to Mike Maynard, the managing director of Napier, the UK-based public relations and marketing company.

Chopp Waters Ahead

The financial market seems to have turned against component distribution. Last week both  Arrow Electronics and Avnet saw their shares fall following negative analyst reports. 

That Agreement We Just Signed . . .

Sometimes propositions just look too good to resist, and of course that is the very moment you should walk away.

Don't Go In The Sin Bin

Heads up time, people.  The EU's REACH (Registration, Evaluation and Authorisation of Chemicals) is about to get more serious.

Deals, Deals and More Deals

We are in the run-up to the electronica (not a misprint, the organisers spell it with a lower case e) exhibition which seems to have sparked a flurry of distribution agreements in the past week, and your noble correspondent is here to bring you up to speed.

Mouser on the Prowl in Europe

The pile of catalogues on engineers desks in Europe just got another tier. Mouser from Mansfield (that's Texas, not Notts) has arrived to challenge Farnell, Digi-Key and RS Components.

Cree's Win Double

Has bogof (buy one get one free) come to component distribution? I only ask as Cree, the LED specialist trumpeted two global agreements last week.

Abacus on the block

Abacus Group has confirmed it is talking to prospective buyers. The Newbury, UK-based company has been encountering the market's choppy waters and profits for the half year to end of March were £4.5m, down from £6.8M year on year.

Dipping a Toe in the Channel

I was chatting to Fred Knowles, vice president, technical sales at Future Electronics Europe a few days back and for the first time I recall a senior executive continually used the words "the channel" to describe the business.

Bill Gets a Pill

Now this could cure a few headaches. Sunstone Circuits, a company based in Oregon has developed LiveBOM, an interactive bill of materials functionality, within PCB123 design software.

European Venture

Elmos Semiconductor has gone local to secure its first pan-European distribution deal. It has signed up the Frankenthal-based Gleichmann for its complete semiconductor product portfolio.

Without Whom

I hope a few distributors raised a glass or two to Jack Kilby last Friday; September 12, 1958 was the day Kilby demonstrated the world's first integrated circuit at Texas Instruments.