ECD: As a major component supplier to OEMs, what new or changing trends have you identified in the embedded marketplace?

KOSTALNICK: Within the embedded space we’re seeing more OEMs looking for COTS products to help avoid the costs associated with board layout, manufacturing, and the life-cycle management of discrete components. In addition, OEMs want reduced footprints (shrinking the physical size of board and/or reduced component counts), coupled with lower power requirements and improved thermal management.

Beyond hardware development, we’re also seeing more customers looking for a complete ecosystem of support for their applications – specifically, supply-chain support, integration services, and post-sales support, including reverse logistics. Another area of support our customers look for is flexibility. This flexibility includes a portfolio of processing solutions (x86, ARM, MIPS, and so on), form factors, technologies, and integration for not only complete system builds, but also the ability to match SBCs with LCD displays, touch screens, and storage.

We’re also seeing a rise in requests for combinations of hardware, software, remote content management, installation, and repair for digital signage applications.

ECD: Avnet offers a free seminar series on solid-state drives. What other educational opportunities do you provide for embedded designers?

KOSTALNICK: One of the biggest values any distributor can bring to their customers is access to technical education. Avnet’s technical training offerings are segmented into the following three types: Speedway Design Workshops, On-Ramps, and Behind the Wheel webinars.

Speedways are daylong, hands-on workshops taught by Avnet technical experts covering a range of technologies. We just concluded the solid-state drive seminars and trained nearly 200 engineers in six cities around North America. We’re currently holding Speedway seminars throughout North America and Europe focusing on the Nano-ITX/Spartan-6 Development Kit. During these workshops, designers learn how to develop Microsoft Windows Embedded images optimized to take advantage of the features in the Intel Atom E600 series and Xilinx Spartan-6 series FPGA. Engineers leave the workshop able to develop custom I/O in their embedded applications via the FPGA while simultaneously leveraging the robust Windows software libraries.

Our On-Ramp technical sessions feature live, solutions-oriented presentations and demonstrations conducted by Avnet subject matter experts at the participants’ offices. These technical sessions typically focus on new products from an Avnet supplier and are facilitated by an Avnet field applications engineer.

The Behind the Wheel seminars are available free of charge at www.AvnetOnDemand.com. We also recently teamed up with Digital Signage Today and Intel to produce a webinar titled, “Choosing the Right Platform to Power Your Digital Signage.” Running through the end of 2011, this webinar teaches design engineers how to choose the right platform to power their content, covering requirements for everything from low-end applications with static images all the way up to high-end deployments with streaming HD video and anonymous analytics, as well as everything in between. The discussion also includes a high-level overview of platforms based on market and a look at typical applications such as digital menu boards, retail, point-of-sale, and advertising.

All of Avnet’s technical training offerings can be accessed at www.em.avnet.com/embedded.

ECD: Give us an example of how an embedded device manufacturer utilized Avnet’s integration services.

KOSTALNICK: Send A Message, Inc. (SAM), a hospitality kiosk manufacturer, approached Avnet in June 2010 seeking what many embedded device manufacturers are looking for: integrated components that not only meet their price/performance requirements, but also interface properly with their proprietary software. Avnet Embedded worked with SAM to source embedded boards, interactive LCD touch screens, and hardware to power the company’s digital postcard kiosks and Lobby EDGE (Elite Digital Guest Experience) kiosks, shown in Figure 1.

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Avnet Embedded was able to meet the demands of SAM in part due to our global integration centers. Avnet currently has five global facilities around the world, with three operating in North America. Each facility is ISO 9001:2000 certified and capable of handling integration needs from PC and server integration to flat-panel display integration, custom enclosures and storage, and display subsystem manufacturing.

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Chuck Kostalnick is senior VP of Avnet Embedded, where he oversees embedded distribution activity in the Americas. He is a seasoned distribution industry executive with more than 20 years of experience, most recently joining Avnet with the acquisition of Bell Micro, where he served as president of North American distribution.

Avnet Embedded 800-332-8638 www.em.avnet.com