element14 is part of the Farnell group of businesses, a global technology leader with over 80 years in the high service distribution of technology products and solutions for electronic system design, production, maintenance and repair. Farnell uses this experience to support its broad customer base, from hobbyists to engineers, maintenance engineers and buyers as ‘The Development Distributor’, working with leading brands and start-ups to develop new products for market, and supporting the industry as it seeks to develop the current and next generation of engineers. Mr. Ankur Tomar, Technical Marketing Manager, element14 India shares more about distribution services and latest products.
element14, is “the Development Distributor”, what does “Development Distributor” mean?
The survival and growth of a distributor relies on being able to address customers’ needs successfully, and the best way to achieve this is by providing the support that customers require as they bring products to market. Being the Development Distributor is about the support we give to our customers throughout their journeys, as they develop products and their businesses. We also support them as they develop on their own, using the extensive learning materials available on the element14 community, or learn to code with the BBC micro:bit.
It also means our customers can work with a lower number of suppliers, reducing hand-offs from company to company, ensuring consistency of knowledge throughout the design process and accelerating speed to market. Customers can also benefit from no minimum order quantity, contract pricing, and flexible pricing options as well as scheduled and consolidated orders.
element14 provides technical support 24/5, as well as free access to online resources, data sheets, application notes, videos and webinars. Technical hubs on the element14 website, including the IoT hub and the Embedded Hub, provide access to technical articles on topics such as the Internet of Things (IoT) and Artificial Intelligence (AI), as well as exclusive tools such as the IoT Battery Calculator and AI Configurator to help tackle early stage design challenges.
But it doesn’t stop there. When a customer is ready to scale their product and needs broad distribution support, element14 customers have access to Avnet’s broad ecosystem. Whether they need specialist design services, manufacturing support or life cycle services, the support they need throughout their product development journey is there, with no requirement to engage with new partners.
element14 and Avnet offer support at every stage, saving customers time and money, and speeding up their design to production journeys.
Why should customers come to a distributor for design services and manufacturing?
Distributors such as element14 are able to support customers way beyond traditional distribution services. Experience working with the largest manufacturers designing and manufacturing development kits and boards, provides customers of all sizes with experience which can be applied at any stage to accelerate time to market – from research and design support, to prototype and test right through to production services.
Tell us about your association with Raspberry Pi?
element14 has been working with the Raspberry Pi Foundation since the Raspberry Pi was first launched in 2012, including the launch of the Raspberry Pi 4 Model B in June 2019 and we have now sold over 15 million Raspberry Pi devices.
element14 stocks all Raspberry Pi models, alongside a diverse ecosystem of accessories, which supports users as they build devices for home, education or commercial applications. element14 continues to champion Raspberry Pi through its element14 Community where members participate in vibrant informative and educational threads, are inspired by fellow members’ ideas, and can get involved in Raspberry Pi-based design challenges.
