Distributors are always the first port of call for buyers or engineers trying to hunt down discontinued parts.
Now Rochester Electronics, a long time player in the obsolete component market, is taking up some of the slack. It has established a Design and Technology Group in Maryland, North America which will expand its capability to re-create semiconductors that have been discontinued by the original manufacturer.
It will specialise in ASIC designs. The sweetest feature of this venture, to me at any rate, is the team's ability to reverse-engineer products where original tooling and intellectual property is missing or unavailable. Rochester's design engineers deconstruct and electrically analyse the part, then re-design it for a near-identical and well-matched existing foundry process. Crucially, this service and the resulting parts still retain the authorisation and support of the original semiconductor manufacturer.
"There are many devices discontinued by the original manufacturer that are critically required in systems needing a long-term support solution. In many cases, there simply is insufficient inventory of finished devices or die," said Curt Gerrish, Rochester founder and CEO. "Through Rochester's authorisations and licensing from the original manufacturer, we are able to re-create the device from the manufacturer's IP or through device reverse-engineering. The solution provides an ongoing and continuous long-term supply of these critically required devices," he added.As Gerrish observes if the parts were not available OEMs would face extreme re-design costs, as well as significant engineering time and effort.
Oh and I love Rochester's branding message. It's a cracker and that's why I've reproduced it in the headline. Couldn't have said it better myself.
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