2010-09-14

Premier Farnell and FTDI sign global franchise distribution agreement for USB technology

Global agreement adds FTDI solutions for enabling USB connectivity to Premier Farnell’s extensive USB product offering

14 September 2010, London - Premier Farnell plc (LSE:pfl), in line with the company’s focus on Electronic Design Engineers (EDE), driving business to the web and growth in emerging markets, announces a global franchise distribution agreement with Future Technology Devices International (FTDI), a leading specialist in the design and supply of silicon and solutions for Universal Serial Bus (USB) connectivity.

Premier Farnell customers will now have global access to FTDI Chip’s expansive portfolio of USB ICs and connectivity products including converters for legacy RS232, RS422 and RS485-based applications and technologies that enable USB connectivity within embedded designs. Most products will be offered from stock. In this agreement FTDI will extend their marketing support to Premier Farnell and collaborate on new product information via element14, Premier Farnell’s innovative information portal and online community exclusively created for electronic design engineers to globally collaborate, share and access new information to support them in their design work.

Through Premier Farnell’s global distribution network and element14, FTDI products can be ordered in bulk and are available for next-day delivery. Local language websites and regional offices ensure that Premier Farnell’s customers receive excellent sales and technical support on all its product lines.

FTDI designs and supplies complete silicon, hardware, and software solutions for enabling USB connectivity within customer products. The company’s silicon solutions include their industry leading range of USB converter ICs, providing flexible connectivity to a wide range of devices and applications. More recently, FTDI have expanded their portfolio with the Vinculum II USB Host / Slave controllers designed to provide USB Host level functions and capabilities within embedded applications. FTDI’s mission is to provide designers with complete low-risk, ready-to-use USB connectivity within their products while providing benefits of reduced development cost and faster time to market.

“This global distribution agreement with FTDI is an integral part of our business strategy to enhance the Premier Farnell value proposition by continually developing and growing our already extensive line card of leading technology suppliers to satisfy the evolving requirements of our customers worldwide,” said David Shen, Group Senior Vice President and Global Head of EDE and Technical Marketing of Premier Farnell. “We are excited by the opportunity this new distribution agreement with FTDI affords us to attract new design engineering customers worldwide”.

“FTDI offers solutions that significantly simplify and speed both the migration of legacy designs to USB and the integration of USB into new applications,” said Fred Dart, CEO of FTDI Chip “We offer the easiest route to USB migration by combining USB Serial and USB FIFO silicon solutions with our ready-to-go royalty free USB drivers and our "total" solution offers customers reduced development and debug costs with a quick time to market. Through our new global agreement with Premier Farnell we will be able to support and service the worldwide design community with the technology to address legacy peripherals to UBS for the next generation of innovative technology applications.”

Information about the company: Farnell Components AB