RS Components celebrates one year of DesignSpark success
Phenomenal growth in DesignSpark online design community to 50,000 members and over 100,000 downloads of free DesignSpark PCB tool
OXFORD, UK, July xx, 2011 - RS Components (RS) the world’s
leading high service distributor of electronics and maintenance products and the
trading brand of Electrocomponents plc (LSE:ECM), has celebrated the first
anniversary of its online DesignSpark electronics design community and resource
centre, and its free DesignSpark PCB design software tool.
Since its launch in July 2010, DesignSpark has become the fastest growing
online community for electronics engineers, with more than 50,000 members now
registered. Recent user testing confirmed the demand among design engineers for
trusted and reliable online resources that bring together design information,
user generated reviews and free-of-charge tools to accelerate the design
process.
The free, fully featured DesignSpark PCB tool, which has been the key driver
for visitors to the online community, has logged in excess of 100,000 downloads
since its introduction one year ago. Providing access to a full suite of video
tutorials, examples and a parts library, the professional tool is valued highly
by engineers who are converting from other industry products to DesignSpark PCB.
Version 1 of DesignSpark PCB won the New Product Introduction of the Year
award from Printed Circuit Design & Fab (PCD&F) magazine and in March 2011, RS
released version 2 of the PCB tool with additional 3D view capability. These new
features, along with other updates, were implemented as a direct result of
feedback on the DesignSpark community from users of the tool.
Glenn Jarrett, Head of Electronics Marketing at RS Components commented,
“One year on, the unprecedented growth achieved for the adoption of DesignSpark
and DesignSpark PCB shows indisputable evidence that design engineers want
access to free downloadable tools, the ability to read reviews and blogs, and to
communicate with their peers, manufacturers and industry experts. A recent
survey conducted among 1,000 DesignSpark members across the globe revealed that
engineers are not only using the community to download information but are
actively engaged in sharing knowledge and creating new content.”
Further information about DesignSpark and DesignSpark PCB is available at
www.designspark.com .
20111002214.10.2011SoftwareRS Components GmbH