Re: Microprocessor question

From: budgie (me_at_privacy.net)
Date: 11/04/04 

Date: Thu, 04 Nov 2004 09:35:17 +0800

On Wed, 03 Nov 2004 15:32:34 -0600, geneguy <gene@nothx.biz> wrote:

>Good reason to stay away from "independent" distributors - No
>warranty, suspicious circumstances re how they get their product.
>Stick with the "franchised" distributors. They get their parts
>directly from manufacturers.

Not always the case. Here in down-under-land, Maxim (as one example, also
LinearTechnology) are officially distibuted by Arrow Electronics Australia,
AFAIK a wholly owned subsidiary of Arrow Electronics in the U.S. Arrow Aus
order through Arrow in U.S. who in turn order from the factory. While that
distinction may sound minor, the US-based parent won't move until it has factory
MOQ orders in hand from its downstream. That means we can wait an indefinite
time for parts through "our" franchised distributor simply because of their
organisational structure. We had to wait 14 weeks for a Maxim eval kit that
was ex-stock Maxim throughout the entire waiting period because of this "food
chain". We also have to order factory MOQ as this sytem does not warehouse or
break down factory MOQ at any point.

As an alternative, there is a Maxim distributor next door (in N.Z.) who doesn't
seem to have the same hangups. His delivery is typically a couple of weeks vs
many months via the "official" chain - AND we get to order 20 chips instead of
500. So when we needed 20 chips for a pre-production run, guess which small
distributor got the business.

>They also receive full technical support
>from manufacturers (as opposed to having to ask questions on Usenet)

Not with Arrow Aust. If it isn't on the chip manufacturer's website then you
may as well forget it - or ask on usenet. Maybe they aren't representative of
authorised/franchised distributors elsewhere, but they certainly don't support
your model.

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