2009-11-10 16:25:07 -

The Avnet Electronics Marketing Americas : business region of Avnet, Inc. (NYSE.

AVT) announces the release of the BF518F FMC Development Kit : . This new, VITA57 compatible development platform features the Analog Devices : Blackfin® BF518F processor. This kit runs the Microsoft .NET Micro Framework : operating system,

making it ideal for use in embedded industrial automation applications where low power and convergent processing are essential. This is the first development platform on the market which combines the benefits of the Blackfin architecture with the .NET Micro Framework operating system.

The Analog Devices BF518F FMC Development Kit offers hardware/software design engineers the flexibility they need by providing an I/O mezzanine card, electrically compatible with the FMC VITA57 specification. This feature enables the connection to FMC carrier cards and facilitates the development of applications using the Analog Devices BF518F Blackfin processor with field programmable gate arrays (FPGA). The result is a modular, convenient development platform ideal for integrating hard-wired control applications with a flexible and familiar software environment and network connectivity for industrial automation and smart energy management applications.

"Designers today are challenged to integrate software and hardware components without extending design cycles or incurring additional development costs," said Stephen Daly, Director, DSP and Embedded Processors Channel Marketing, Analog Devices. "Working collaboratively with Avnet and Microsoft to provide a seamlessly integrated development platform, we're enabling designers to achieve significant time and cost efficiencies while taking advantage of Blackfin's renowned performance and power attributes. The BF518F FMC Development Kit exemplifies ADI and Avnet's ongoing strategy to provide designers with the reference designs/boards and comprehensive support that they need to get to market quickly."


”Programmer productivity and time to market are key areas of focus for all of us. This unique development environment put together by Avnet and Analog Devices offers the hardware power and flexibility to address a full range of applications,” said Colin Miller, Product Unit Manager, Microsoft. “By enabling the .NET Micro Framework on this board, the developers now have access to modern programming models and tools (including Visual Studio) that have made the desktop environment so productive while maintaining the access to the underlying hardware that is needed.

The virtualization of the hardware ‘future proofs’ the applications so that work done on these development platforms can migrate easily to the eventual products.”


“Embedded devices continue to become a more common part of the larger design solution. Integrating technologies such as the BF518F FMC Development Kit into applications gives designers the capabilities and enhancements they need, without having to acquire a new set of skills and tools for different parts of the solution,” said Jeff Ittel, senior vice president of business development and marketing for Avnet Electronics Marketing Americas. “Integrating the .NET Micro Framework into embedded development gives customers the capabilities they need to help speed their time to market and cut cost.”


The Analog Devices BF518F FMC Development Kit is available from Avnet for $349 – or $499 with the add-on debug agent board. Orders can be placed now with shipments beginning in early 2010. For more information and to purchase, please visit em.avnet.com/bf518ffmcdevkit : .

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About Avnet Electronics Marketing

Avnet Electronics Marketing is an operating group of Phoenix-based Avnet, Inc. that serves electronic original equipment manufacturers (EOEMs) and electronic manufacturing services (EMS) providers in more than 70 countries, distributing electronic components from leading manufacturers and providing associated design-chain and supply-chain services. The group's Web site is located at www.em.avnet.com : .
Avnet, Inc. (NYSE:AVT), a Fortune 500 company, is one of the largest distributors of electronic components, computer products and embedded technology in the world. Avnet accelerates its partners’ success by connecting the world’s leading technology suppliers with a broad base of more than 100,000 customers and providing cost-effective, value-added services and solutions. For the fiscal year ended June 27, 2009, Avnet generated revenue of $16.23 billion. For more information, visit www.avnet.com : .


Avnet Electronics MarketingJody LaRoque, Public Relations,

480-643-2547 jody.laroque@avnet.com : mailto:jody.laroque@avnet.com