Semiconductors drive the electronics industry, and the connection between semiconductors and connectors spans more than three decades. The semiconductor industry has grown from roughly $10B in 1980 to $300B in 2013. Along the way it transitioned from analog to digital, ECL and Bipolar to CMOS, and has featured sizes from 100s of nm to as lowRead More

Converting an electrical signal to optic pulses has been a costly option that consumes too much PCB space and power. That’s changing now, as mid-board optical transceivers light up the datacom market. Demand for faster internal and external system interconnects has begun to push the limits of copper, especially in lengths of more than a fewRead More

Bel Fuse to acquire Emerson Network Power Connectivity Solutions for $98 million, its third major acquisition in the past 14 months. Bel Fuse Inc. announced it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire the Emerson Network Power Connectivity Solutions (ECS) business of Emerson Inc. Bel will pay approximately $98 million in cash to acquireRead More

The real advantages of solid-state lighting are realized when lamp designers shake off limitations imposed by traditional lamps and take advantage of the low power, low heat, and low profiles of LED light sources, as LED arrays light the way. Alternatives to the incandescent lightbulb have come a long way over the past 10 years. DemandRead More

Connectors play a variety of roles in LED lighting systems. Here, Mill-Max looks at headers and sockets used in coplanar board mating, providing a complete guide on how to specify connectors for LED applications. Connectors play a variety of roles in LED lighting systems, depending on the application. In many cases, they provide the electricalRead More

So far, 2014’s facts and figures show the connector industry in a sweet spot: The first three months suggest the full year is going to result in high single-digit growth. There are three issues that can create turmoil in the connector industry and cause a serious drop in profitability when they are experienced: Decline in connector demandRead More

The results of Bishop & Associates’ annual distributor customer survey have been tallied and presented at EDS. Read on to find out which distributors are the best for service, breadth of product, delivery, and price. Bishop & Associates conducts an annual survey of the original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), contract manufacturers (CEMs), and cable assemblers (CAs) inRead More

LED connectors are not the “sexiest” of design components in a lighting fixture, but they can have a major impact on thermal path design, efficiency of production, and LED fixture certification time. Avnet’s Mark Mousseau shares design tips for better LED connector selection. Design decisions in the eco-system of an LED fixture are numerous and haveRead More

Every year, Bishop & Associates surveys distributors’ customers to learn which distributors provide the best service, product lines, added value, and more.  This year, Bishop & Associates’ survey names Heilind as Best Distributor. For the third time in as many years, Heilind Electronics was chosen as the best connector distributor in a Bishop & AssociatesRead More

The Direct Attach method removes the jack and patch cord from a typical Ethernet connection on the far end and attaches the device directly to a modular plug on the end of the horizontal Ethernet cable. Karl Griffith of Graybar explores the benefits of this solution. Graybar has identified an alternative method for network connectionsRead More

Top-of-the-rack architectures offer a clear access-layer migration path to an optimized high-bandwidth network and cabling facilities architecture that features low capital and operating expenses and supports a “rack-and-roll” computer deployment model that increases business agility. This article is excerpted from a white paper published by Cisco. Forward-looking IT departments are preparing their data centers forRead More

Unscrupulous sellers have found many ways to cut costs on cables, drawing customers in with the low price. L-com shares the “Seven Deadly Counterfeit Cable Sins” and advises how you can avoid them. What scares you more than a faulty, overrated, counterfeit cable? If you’re like us and work with cables on a daily basis, thenRead More