When I first met the Hamilton-Avnet and Time Electronics folks back in the 80s, I learned they were leaders in educational seminars and open houses for buyers and engineers. We have since folded our groups into the {complink 577|Avnet Inc.} name and grown in over 80 countries, but the legacy is still there.
One of the most important ways we are of value to the electronics community is education. We still have seminars, magazines, videos, open houses, partner conferences, and solutions training programs, including X-Fest and now ARM-fest, which is the only global seminar program in tech history.
Being a thought leader, Avnet invested in AvnetOnDemand.com two years ago to provide another method of spreading the information that can benefit your knowledge, career, and company. No one else has such a robust tech showcase of videos, from computer products to electronic components. No one.
If a picture is worth a thousand words, what is a video worth? To Avnet, it's over $1 million of your time, based on the average of $50 per hour. You and your peers have voted with over 20,000 hours of watching supplier videos on our unique portal. Not to be outdone, EBV-TV was created by one of our outstanding divisions in Europe.
The best-watched videos are the ones we added value to, such as Xilinix’s boards, or the CIO Tech series created by Steve Phillips, which has been quite a hit. I think Steve is getting a bit full of himself; he is now demanding a dressing room and is always getting makeup, even when he has no show! Another top-viewed program was on Avnet's sustainability efforts by our chief financial officer. The real key to success is that our valued suppliers consistently add new videos for your education and pleasure. Thanks for watching.
If somebody asks me, to make a selection of companies do I choose as an innovative .My answer will include Avnet for sure. I checked out the videos and are very interesting with a lot of information and Knowledge.Â
I've used the videos for research. No matter how many times someone explained an embedded system to me, I couldn't grasp the concept. Finally, found a demo on AvnetOnDemand that helped me figure it out.
Can't say I was really aware of this! I do think your statement that no one has such a robust tech showcase of videos such as these is completely valid. I certainly can't think of anyone off the top of my head that is doing anything like this with the same level of quality and at the same level of scale that Avnet is…
Al Maag,
 Thanks a lot for the link. Let me confess, I was not aware of this site before. But when I visited the website I found lot of informative stuff that too in video format.  I am sure I will keep visiting this site regularly.
Al Marg, we can say such seminars and education series are value added service for the customers. I had attended the X-Fest last year and I feel that it’s comfortable way to interact with different vendors and service providers. The one best think I liked is demo part and opportunity to evaluate certain chips and on boards.
Al Maag,
Avnet has been touring different ways to establish great support to their customers, one such is the website they launched.
Its very sensible to have such a site because things get in fast when we visualise than just by reading. Presentations Rule is reduce the content as much as you can and try to add pictures/graphs etc.
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Excellent article. I was unware of this website and all of the videos and information. I checked some of them out and they are done very well. It is great to know there is at least one company helping make sure their customers and other interested parties stay informed and help further their knowledge.
I enjoyed reading Al's post. Like Barbara I too spent many hours getting my brain wrapped around electronics terms and technology. In my “cub reporter” days, the bulk of my education was at a diner along the Rt. 110 corridor on Long Island where I'd get full conceptual understanding of EEPROM mechanics on a napkin sketch over breakfast.
I was also unaware of this website. Looks like a great site for learning resources!
Another thought comes up in looking at this site; as a learning tool it handles one of the biggest barriers to learning or study tech – lack of mass. When you have someone come into your organization who has vague ideas of what you're trying to discuss, you'll see some very specific indicators: boredom or exasperation for example. When you have the ability to bring the person in contact w/ the object, the problem resolves. In lieu of that, you need to have photographs or videos at hand because they now represent the promise or hope of the mass of the object. Written or spoken words are symbols that don't fill the void.
May sound trite, but don't ever understimate the impact this can have on productivity.
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Architects are basically over-worked, came up short on. We are not given sufficiently about credit by the front office, and we are viewed as a cost, not a benefit. We are gradually being supplanted by outsiders (working here and abroad).
On the off chance that you work in the industry, you'll be taking every necessary step of 5 designers furthermore the work of non-specialists also. We are compelled to be venture administrators, bookkeepers, engineers, model manufacturers, CAD chiefs, without any end in sight.
In the event that you need to be a specialist, study hardware or software engineering.