National, Ohmite and Vishay named global sponsors for Premier Farnell's 2008 Live EDGE Electronic Design Competition
July 31, 2008, Chicago & London, England
Premier Farnell plc (LSE:pfl), the leading multi-channel, high service distributor and its companies (Newark, Farnell, Premier Electronics, CPC, Farnell-Newark and MCM), today announced that National Semiconductor, Ohmite Manufacturing and Vishay Intertechnology have become global sponsors for its 2008 Live EDGE Electronic Design Competition for the global environment.
"With the growing worldwide trend towards energy conservation, National is pleased to support Premier Farnell's global Live Edge design competition with its PowerWise® product portfolio," said Jennifer Bleakney, vice president of National's Worldwide Distribution and Customer Support. "Both of our companies share a common vision of helping designers create more energy-efficient systems that have a positive impact on the environment."
"As a global supplier to Premier Farnell of quality resistor products, Ohmite is proud to sponsor Premier Farnell's innovative global Live Edge design competition," said Gregory P. Pace, Director Global Sales and Marketing of Ohmite Manufacturing. "Premier Farnell's commitment to servicing the global design community and promoting green designs is consistent with Ohmite's desire to provide energy efficient products to the global marketplace."
"Vishay is delighted to partner with Premier Farnell's global Live EDGE challenge," said Greg Mefford, Vice President Worldwide Distribution Sales of Vishay Intertechnology, Inc. "This competition fits perfectly with Vishay's strategy of reaching out to the design engineer with its broad offering of leading-edge semiconductor and passive technologies. The energy-saving theme demonstrates total commitment to delivering a product that benefits the global environment."
"We are delighted to see the commitment from our global suppliers to support this year's 2008 Live EDGE challenge," said Marianne Culver, Head of Global Supplier Management at Premier Farnell plc. "Through their sponsorship, it is clear that they too have a strong interest in enabling students, hobbyists and engineering professionals to design environmentally-friendlier products that will make a positive difference for the future of our planet."
Design submissions begin October 1 through the Live EDGE website; registration for news, updates and activities is available now at www.live-edge.com or on the Live EDGE Design Challenge group on Facebook or LinkedIn. The Live EDGE website will soon feature a blog from the 2007 Live EDGE winner John Noble, social networking tools, a challenging engineering game, and a unique interactive virtual environment.
About LiveEdge:
Electronics engineers, students and inventors around the world are invited to submit designs for an innovative product that utilises electronic components and has a positive impact on the environment. Entries can be submitted between the 1st of October 2008 and the 31st of January 2009. Judging will start on the 1st of February 2009 and winners will be announced on the 2nd of April 2009. The competition is open to anyone aged 18 or over.
The winning entrant for both the full-time student and the general/open category will receive a cash prize of $25,000 USD as well as a design support package valued at an additional $25,000 to move their design towards production. The support package will include the services of an electronic design consultancy to help develop the design to prototype stage, assistance with legal matters and IP registration, some marketing and publicity, as well as Premier Farnell's help in securing investment funding. The group will actively market the end product to millions of customers globally through their leading edge website, catalogue and direct marketing.
In addition, up to 3 entrants for the full-time student category and 3 entrants for the general/open category will be eligible for 'honourable mentions', each receiving a cash prize of $5,000 USD.
More information about Live EDGE is available at www.Live-EDGE.com.
About Newark
Newark, a subsidiary of global distributor Premier Farnell Ltd, is North America's leading small-quantity distributor of electronic components and test equipment, and its #1 source for RoHS compliant parts and information. RoHS is the acronym for the European Union's Restrictions of certain Hazardous Substances directive, which took effect July 1, 2006.
Visited by thousands of engineers and electronics buyers each week, Newark's RoHS Express site at www.element14.com/community/community/legislation provides critical information to help companies transition to compliance, including: the latest news, on-demand lead-free soldering webinars, downloadable step-by-step guides to compliance and updates on US and Canadian green laws.
In addition to offering the broadest electronics selection from 440+ top manufacturers for same-day shipping, Newark provides a unique range of value-added services at no charge, including, RoHS Bill of Materials updates, eProcurement implementation and support, and automatic re-reeling for components.
With multiple sales channels, customers do business with Newark through contact centers, a local branch network in the US, Canada, Mexico and Brazil, a dedicated field sales force and a world-class website at www.Newark.com. The holder of a General Services Administration schedule (#GS-06F-0044M,) Newark also supports federal government customers through a dedicated website, www.teamgov.com, and a specially trained team of representatives.
Newark's parent company, Premier Farnell Ltd, is a leading global marketer and distributor of electronic, maintenance repair and operations (MRO) and specialist products and services, trading in more than 100 countries with a database of 2 million customer contacts. For general information, visit www.Newark.com and www.premierfarnell.com. Also, you can reach Newark's media contact, Janice Fleisher, at 773.907.5941 and at jfleisher@Newarkinone.com.
© Copyright 2007. Newark is a service mark of Premier Farnell Corp. All other trademarks, product or service names displayed in this release, registered or unregistered, constitute the intellectual property of their respective holders.