New from Radiall, the R595 Platinum Series DP3T SPDT range complements the R594 Platinum series of high-performance multiport coaxial switches.
New from Radiall, the R595 Platinum Series DP3T SPDT range complements the R594 Platinum series of high-performance multiport coaxial switches. The R595 Platinum series products have several configurations including: DP3T and SPDT in both terminated and nonterminated versions. These products are optimised to provide high-performance switching over an extended lifespan.

An example of the outstanding RF performance includes a guaranteed insertion loss repeatability of 0.03dB over a lifespan of 10 million cycles (up to 26.5GHz).

The products are ‘break-before-make’ and have available options such as: latching, self-cutoff and a TTL driver.

R595 Platinum series products are ideal for high precision applications including automatic test equipment (ATE), as well as signal monitoring devices, and other applications where excellent repeatability is a must.

Arrow has been named as the Tyco Electronics Norwegian distributor of the year for 2005.
Arrow has been named as the Tyco Electronics Norwegian distributor of the year for 2005. The award recognises Arrow’s commitment to service excellence and innovative logistics solutions, in addition to the strong business growth achieved during last year. Arrow generated a significant increase in sales of the entire range of Tyco products in Norway during 2005, making Arrow the country’s leading distributor of Tyco products.

Accepting this award on behalf of his team, Helge Olsen, Arrow Norway’s Managing Director, said: ‘For a number of years, Arrow has focused on the sale, technical support and design-in of connectors and electromechanical parts’.

‘To receive this award from Tyco clearly demonstrates how significant an impact our creative business strategies make on one of our closest business partners’.

‘It also shows we are moving in the right direction, both locally and globally’.

Christer Thibblin, Tyco Electronics Nordic Managing Director, added: ‘Arrow has shown a great deal of flair in its handling of the ever-competitive electronics components distribution market’.

‘Both companies have enjoyed much success as a result and we are happy to name Arrow as our Norwegian distributor of the year for 2005′.

Now available from Tyco Electronics is the T9C AC coil power relay.
Now available from Tyco Electronics is the T9C AC coil power relay. This latest addition to Tyco Electronics’ power relay range gives enhanced versatility for applications such as HVAC, power supplies, domestic appliances and measurement and control. The new device compliments the existing T9A series, which is currently only available with a DC coil.

Using 1.2VA (VDE approved) or 1.6VA (UL/CSA recognised) AC coils, the single pole, flange mount T9C AC coil relay is rated at 20A N/O and 10A N/C and features either a normally open or changeover cadmium-free contact.

Further technical details include an operating temperature range from -40 to +70C, 250V AC rated voltage, a maximum breaking capacity of 5000VA and a mechanical life expectancy of 5 million cycles.

The T9C AC coil relay is fully RoHS compliant.

Abacus Polar has appointed Glenn Jarrett to the newly created position of Marketing Director with responsibility for semiconductors and electromechanical products.
Abacus Polar has appointed Glenn Jarrett to the newly created position of Marketing Director with responsibility for semiconductors and electromechanical products. Commenting on the appointment, Martin Brooks said: ‘Glenn’s experience in technical distribution and management skills make him a valuable addition to the Abacus Polar management team’. Glenn Jarrett joins Abacus Polar from Memec Group, where he spent four years as country director of Memec Unique UK.

He joined the Memec Group as an Area Sales Manager at Kudos Thame, and was subsequently promoted to UK Product Manager at Ambar Components, and European Product Manager at Memec.

Jarrett holds a 2:1 in electronic engineering, and spent four years as an engineer before moving into sales and marketing.

NanoZoom is a high-precision motion technology module for in-focus continuous zoom in camera phones.
New from Johnson Electric, NanoZoom is a high-precision motion technology module for in-focus continuous zoom in camera phones. Together with its recently introduced NanoLens that provides fast and accurate autofocus, the company is well placed to enter the high-end and high-growth camera-module market for camera phones, a sector that has been enjoying double-digit growth annually. NanoZoom, using Tamron optics and driven by Johnson Nanomotion piezo technology, offers unprecedented silent zoom, speed and optical quality in a compact 3x continuous zoom interfaced to a 3Mpixel CMOS sensor.

It operates over a range of more than 10mm at a high speed of 100mm/s or faster while maintaining exceptionally high positioning accuracy.

Johnson Electric also offers an application development toolkit that allows the camera phone designer to rapidly integrate the two modules and the associated ASIC driver within the camera phone’s system.

Jim Dick, Senior Vice President of Johnson Electric said: ‘NanoZoom and NanoLens, together with Tamron optics, represents a new picture-quality threshold for camera phones, one that could transform mass market usage of such phones, from ’shoot-for-fun’ to ’shoot-to-keep’ applications’.

‘Such cutting-edge technology in motion solutions will open up vast possibilities for camera phone makers and users alike’.

‘Consumers today are ready for fast, simultaneous and accurate zoom-and-focus functions in camera phones, and those who are first-to-market with next-generation camera phones will be the winners’.

Dick sees the opportunity for camera-phone handset makers to further differentiate their products with this new and powerful technology, while service providers would also benefit from greater system usage by more serious users such as doctors, engineers, estate agents and others.

Like its NanoLens predecessor, NanoZoom is a technology enabler that opens up all kinds of opportunities for new applications, and consequently increased revenue for service providers in the camera phone industry.

Dick added: ‘Many professionals do not currently use their camera phones for photo-taking and photo-messaging because of poor image quality’.

‘All that will change as issues such as speed, sise, noise and accuracy are overcome by new technologies’.

According to Dick, the possibilities are infinite.

Anyone who happens to be in a situation where a quality photograph would be useful for record purposes or for immediate transmission to a third-party, would benefit from this new technology.

For example, engineers inspecting buildings or equipment could take quality photographs on their camera phones and transmit them to their colleagues for review and discussion.

Such ‘anytime, anywhere’ usage would be just as applicable to doctors, designers and other users who need quality images.

The concept of ‘citizen journalists’ also has huge potential.

South China Morning Post launched its ‘Citizen Post’ initiative during the WTO meetings in Hong Kong last December, inviting readers to send in digital photos for use in the scmp.com website.

The newspaper group is considering making the website a permanent feature as other media groups in the region launch similar initiatives.

High image-quality in camera phones expands the number of citizen journalists into potentially the millions.

NanoZoom was created by the same team of experts who developed NanoLens at Johnson Electric’s Value Innovation centre in Shenzhen, China.

Experts from Johnson Electric’s Nanomotion in Israel, with their piezo motion technology, provided the foundation while Johnson Electric’s Nihon Mini Motor in Japan and Johnson Electric in China took care of microcomponents and production.

As with NanoLens, the end product NanoZoom leapfrogs competition from Japan, USA and Europe.

The alliance with optics specialist Tamron reinforces the high-end performance niche that NanoZoom targets.

A new fourth-generation ultraminiature automotive relay for motor applications is 28% smaller than its third-generation predecessor.
Fujitsu Components Europe has released its fourth-generation ultraminiature automotive relay for motor applications. The new relay is a slim device that is 28% smaller than its third-generation predecessor, the FTR-P3. The FTR-G1 is a PCB-mounting 1 form C single relay that can handle 25A loads at 14V DC for high-inrush applications such as power window and gate lifts, automatic sliding doors, door locks, adjustable seats and intermittent wipers.

Because the FTR-G1 is used in modules typically mounted within the passenger compartment, its maximum acoustic noise level is a low 60dB.

The relay measures a compact 13.7 x 6.6 x 13.5mm.

It features a unique pin layout that contributes to the relay’s reduced size while also retaining sufficient isolation distance for simplified PCB layout.

Coil power is 640mW.

Fujitsu developed an efficient, magnetic circuit to minimise the relay’s size, weight and power consumption.

A highly conductive spring, along with high-temperature moulds and coil wire, increases heat resistance.

A simple, two-piece assembly process requires no insertion moulding to reduce assembly costs and the introduction of contaminants.

The FTR-G1 is RoHS-compliant and available immediately from stock.

Easby Electronics has been named UK and Ireland Distributor of the Year 2005 for Tyco Electronics.
Tyco Electronics has awarded the title of UK and Ireland Distributor of the Year 2005 to Easby Electronics. The Richmond (North Yorkshire) based distributor has recorded a POS growth of 7% on the Tyco Electronics product line in 2005, and had 26 design registrations accepted. ‘Easby Electronics has earned this award’.

‘They have worked very hard over the years supporting and concentrating on our passives, relays and switches product ranges’, comments Stephen Peacey, Account Manager at Tyco Electronics.

‘The number of design registrations Easby achieved in 2005 really shows the level of hard work they have put in’, he adds.

Shaun Goundry, General Manager of Easy Electronics remarks: ‘We have an excellent working relationship with Tyco Electronics which goes back more than ten years’.

‘We enjoy outstanding support from their team and carry in excess of 2500 line items from the Tyco Electronics portfolio’.

Tim Morris, Managing Director of Easby Electronics states: ‘Tyco Electronics is highly focused on their distribution efforts and offers very good support’.

‘Their design registration system really protects and rewards the design-in work of the distributor’.

‘Our sales force is very motivated to win those design registrations and increase sales of the Tyco Electronics line even further in the next year’.

Morgan Electro Ceramics and Apex Microtechnology have signed a joint marketing agreement designed to leverage their combined expertise in piezoelectric-based drive circuits.
Morgan Electro Ceramics and Apex Microtechnology have signed a joint marketing agreement designed to leverage their combined expertise in piezoelectric-based drive circuits for the benefit of electronics designers looking for effective, high-precision movement control. The agreement comes in response to the growing popularity among the design community for piezoceramic drivers - in applications such as ink-jet printers, high accuracy actuators, photonic devices, laser control systems and valve actuators where the ability to provide small, precise movement is critical. Both companies are world-leaders in their respective fields.

Morgan Electro Ceramics is a specialist developer of piezoelectric and dielectric materials used for transducers, actuators and capacitors.

Apex designs and manufactures high power analogue electronics.

The two companies have worked together closely in the past and are now formalising their collaboration.

‘It is about working together to educate our customers about the benefits of designing with piezoceramics’, explains Greg Brennan, Apex Vice President of Sales and Marketing.

‘Our goal is to make it as easy as possible for customers to gather the design and product information they need to create successful drive circuits’.

‘Integrating our marketing efforts will enable Morgan Electro Ceramics to better serve its customers by offering innovative design solutions’, says Jack Gray, Vice President of Sales for Morgan Electro Ceramics.

Specifics of the marketing arrangement call for the two companies to develop technical application articles and reference designs; provide crosslinks on key areas of each company’s website; print media promotion; and trade show participation.

Omron Electronics’ European components operation is now fully RoHS compliant, and has removed all remaining noncompliant stock from its European warehouse in the Netherlands.
Omron Electronic Components Business - Europe is now fully RoHS compliant, and has removed all remaining noncompliant stock from its European warehouse in the Netherlands. The company has eliminated cadmium as well as lead from all of its devices - and does not require the benefit of the period of grace that the EU has granted the industry on the use of cadmium in switch contacts. Omron ECB Europe Chief Operating Officer Nigel Blakeway commented: ‘From today, all ECB components shipped by Omron in Europe to its customers and distributors fully comply with the RoHS Directive’.

‘On the issue of cadmium, Omron made a global, company-wide commitment to become a cadmium free company, and all OCB products designed in the last 10 years are cadmium free as a standard’.

‘We have been eliminating Cadmium from our remaining switch and relay ranges since April 2005, and have not encountered significant issues in matching the existing performance’.

‘As a result, our customers are assured that there are no further changes required to our components to comply with the current directive’.

Commenting on the status of the supply chain, Victor Viveen, Product Marketing Manger at Omron ECB Europe added: ‘We have been shipping only compliant products to our distributors since October 2005, and over 90% of our products have been fully compliant since April 2005′.

‘Although Omron’s distribution customers should check the exact status of their product with their supplier, almost all distribution shipments now also comply with the directive’.

He continued: ‘For direct customers, we have only shipped compliant products since January’.

‘There are some very minor exceptions, where customers receive non-ECB devices as specials, and these customers have been contacted in writing and notified of the status of these products’.

According to Blakeway, the European RoHS Directive is only the first stage in an on-going global process.

‘California’s laws, mirroring RoHS legislation, take effect in early 2007, while China and Japan are also imposing restrictions’, he explained.

‘There are signs that the directives will be extended to cover other toxic substances’.

‘As part of its commitment to building a sustainable business, Omron is keeping production and operating practices under continuous review’.

‘This will help ensure minimum disruption to our and our customers businesses as new regulations are implemented’.

Premier Farnell has signed a global franchise agreement with Coto Technology to bring design engineers in Europe and Asia Pacific an extended range of world leading reed relays and reed switches.
Premier Farnell has signed a global franchise agreement with Coto Technology to bring design engineers in Europe and Asia Pacific an extended range of world leading reed relays and reed switches. Premier Farnell is extending its already broad offering of small switching signal products via its European subsidiary Farnell InOne. The agreement with Coto provides more choice to engineers in a wide range of sectors including the automatic test equipment, data acquisition, instrumentation, telecommunications and medical and security markets.

The products will be available in the Farnell InOne 2006 catalogue and via its website.

Jeff Bentley, Vice President of Sales and Marketing at Coto Technology, comments: ‘We’re very excited to add Farnell InOne to Coto Technology’s family of franchised distributors’.

‘Coto products have been distributed with great success for many years by Newark InOne, Farnell InOne’s sister company based in North America.

‘Farnell InOne is recognised the world over as a top-rated international distributor, servicing their customers by means of product availability, competitive pricing, fast delivery and overall responsiveness’.

‘Farnell InOne will advance Coto’s market presence globally by allowing us to reach more customers in more areas in their native languages than ever before’.

Marianne Culver, Group Director, Global Supplier Management at Farnell InOne, comments: ‘The new range of Coto products now available at Farnell InOne gives designer engineers more choice than ever before when designing in reed relays and switches’.

‘We’re delighted to have extended an already successful relationship with Coto and look forward to bringing the latest Coto products to market first’.