electronica 2018 day one highlights

On a crisp morning at Messe Munich there was an excited buzz around the exhibition centre as electronica 2018 opened its doors. The Avnet stand looked fantastic, with each business unit’s area in great shape thanks to the hard work of our internal events team, and the stand builders.

It wasn’t long before the Avnet Abacus space was bustling with customers and suppliers arriving for meetings. We managed to catch up with Peter Kokot, Director of Technical Marketing for Central Europe, who was excited to welcome us into the dedicated technology zone and show us NetCom’s NCA255 (watch the video). This communications module was designed specifically for fire control, and NetCom had to ensure that it was able to make emergency calls with no access to a landline or IP network.

“This required an ultra-reliable wireless transmission system”, explained Peter. “We collaborated with wireless technology supplier Pulse to offer a reliable, cost-effective antenna solution.”

Before leaving the technology zone, we got a chance to speak to Tobias Nakel about Parking Pilot by Smart City System. The German startup’s smart parking sensor solution is designed to be fixed to the road, which means it is often exposed to sunlight. The product required a battery that could handle extreme temperature variables.

“We designed specific temperature tests to find the most suitable battery solution, and handled the complex battery legislation and logistics so the guys at Smart City System could focus on the product”, said Tobias. He even gave us a demo of the product in action, noting its potential to help reduce CO2 emissions. Check out the full demo.

By now day one at electronica was in full flow, and Artesyn Embedded Technologies’ Eddie Gallacher took to the stage to talk about trends in power supply design and answer questions. A great audience heard Eddie’s point of view on fans and fanless design, efficiency and power density.

Following Eddie’s Q&A, we headed over to Samtec’s stand to speak to Doug Wathen about their latest technology developments. Doug was especially excited to talk about Samtec’s recent developments in high speed connectivity and flyover technology, noting, "We have to keep innovating not just the products, but how we're getting the products designed in and shipped out."

As the day drew to a close we got the opportunity to speak to Eddie Gallacher directly. This time he was keen to talk about power architecture for horticultural applications, an area of considerable growth in recent years, and how Artesyn and Avnet Abacus' partnership can support customers in this space.

And with that our first day at electronica 2018 ended. Watch our recap video below to catch up on the highlights, and make sure you stop by stand C5 101 today to experience our demos, tech talks and more. We’ll be back with a highlights from day two tomorrow morning.

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