Nordic Semiconductor Expands Distribution Agreement With Rutronik To Whole Of Europe

Ultra low power (ULP) RF specialist Nordic Semiconductor ASA recently announces that it has expanded its distribution agreement with leading European broadline electronics distributor Rutronik (Ispringen, Germany) to cover the whole of Europe.

The enlarged 28-country agreement covers all of Nordic Semiconductor's ISM (Industrial, Scientific & Medical) band 2.4GHz transceiver solutions, including the wireless networking nRF24AP2 ANT and interoperable ANT+ range, plus Nordic's sub-1GHz radios (433MHz, 868MHz, and 915MHz), along with all supporting design tools and solutions.

"We have wanted to represent Nordic across the whole of Europe for some time," comments Reto Wachter, Nordic Semiconductor line manager at Rutronik. "Nordic is the leading global supplier of ULP wireless solutions and this new agreement allows us to supply these solutions to our entire European customer base, regardless of where each project originates from or moves to within Europe.

"The all-encompassing nature of this arrangement also frees our local sales and technical support teams within our dedicated Wireless Technologies division to focus on what customers need, regardless of where they happen to be located in Europe. As a result, we have already embarked on a number of major medical, consumer, home automation, and sports ULP wireless design projects within the new countries we now cover."

"We expanded our franchise agreement with Rutronik to the whole of Europe because we have been impressed with the company's wireless knowledge and expertise, and its desire to provide its customers with the best ULP wireless solutions available," comments Geir Langeland, Nordic Semiconductor's Directors of Sales & Marketing.

"Rutronik's track record to date, ambitious pan-European business plan for Nordic, and local proximity to customers – including a large number of fully-trained technical support engineers, made expanding their agreement with us to all of Europe a fairly straightforward decision. It benefits both Rutronik and Nordic, but most important of all – it benefits our European customers in the field."

About Rutronik
Rutronik Elektronische Bauelemente GmbH is one of Europe's leading broadline distributors for semiconductors, passive and electromechanical components in addition to wireless products, displays, and embedded boards. To round off the product portfolio Rutronik also offers storage technologies from its subsidiary company Discomp. The markets that the company primarily targets include the automotive, telecommunications, consumer goods and industrial electronics industries. Wide-ranging services, competent transfers of expertise in the areas of product development and design, as well as logistics and supply chain management solutions round off its customer and future-orientated range of goods and services. The company was established by Helmut Rudel in Ispringen, Germany, in 1973, and today employs about 1,200 staff throughout Europe and achieved sales of EUR 587 million in fiscal year 2008. For more information, visit www.rutronik.com

About Nordic Semiconductor ASA
Nordic Semiconductor is a fabless semiconductor company specializing in ultra-low power (ULP) short-range wireless communication..

Nordic provides RF silicon solutions including:

• Highly integrated RF silicon
• Sophisticated and flexible development tools
• Application specific communication software
• Complete reference designs

The company's innovative range of wireless solutions includes:

• The nRF24LE1 single-chip, ultra-low cost and power, fully integrated 2.4GHz transceiver with radio, microprocessor, flash memory and MultiCeiver technology supporting up to six simultaneous wireless devices;
• The nRF24L01+ ultra-low cost and power 2.4GHz transceiver with MultiCeiver technology supporting up to six simultaneous wireless devices;
• The nRF24LU1+ single chip 2.4GHz transceiver with full-speed USB, microcontroller and flash memory enabling ultra-compact USB dongles for wireless peripherals;
• The nRF24AP2 ultra-low power 2.4GHz transceiver for wireless communication with Dynastream Innovation's production-proven low-power network protocol, ANT;
• The nRF24E1 and nRF24E2 low cost transceivers paired with an industry standard 8051 MCU core, and leading peripherals to create the world's first complete low cost SoCs for global 2.4GHz operation;
• The nRF24Z1 single-chip system for CD quality audio streaming of up to 16-bit, 48-kHz audio;
• The nRF905 single-chip multiband radio transceiver for the 433, 868 or 915MHz ISM band;
• The nRF9E5 low-cost, single-chip system with fully integrated RF transceiver for the 433, 868 or 915MHz ISM band.

Nordic Semiconductor's nRF24xx range of 2.4GHz transceiver and transmitter devices are aimed at applications such as PC peripherals such as wireless keyboards/mice, game controllers, intelligent sports equipment and wireless audio (for example, mp3 and portable CD player headphones and PC speakers). The latest nRF24LE1 family, for instance, is targeted at ultra-low cost and power applications such as wireless desktops and intelligent (for example, wristwatch-based) sports equipment.

Nordic is an associate member of the Bluetooth SIG and has contributed core expertise in ultra-low power RF design to the forthcoming specification for Bluetooth low energy wireless technology (formerly ultra low power Bluetooth). Bluetooth low energy wireless technology is a short range RF communication technology featuring ultra-low power consumption, a lightweight protocol stack and simple integration with Bluetooth wireless technology chips. Bluetooth low energy wireless technology ushers in the next generation of RF communications by opening up many new opportunities for wireless data links between suitably equipped mobile phones or personal computers (PCs) and coin cell battery-powered devices such as sports and health sensors.

Nordic's products are all manufactured in ultra modern semiconductor process technologies through strong relationships with world-best manufacturing facilities. Sales are primarily made through a carefully selected worldwide distribution network. The company has offices in Trondheim and Oslo, Norway, the US (west coast), Hong Kong, Korea and Japan. All operations are managed according to the ISO 9001:2000-approved quality assurance system

SOURCE: Nordic Semiconductor ASA