Avnet Online Communities Reach One Million Members
element14 and Hackster.io comprise world’s largest community to support creators, professional engineers and entrepreneurs in technology product development
One million members have joined Avnet’s online communities, element14.com and Hackster.io, creating the world’s largest collaborative networks of engineers, entrepreneurs and developers who learn from each other’s product ideas. element14 and Hackster help product developers all over the world get work done faster and more effectively. Instead of scouring several sources for answers, members turn to the communities of Avnet (Nasdaq: AVT) for consolidated information on new technologies as well as access to experts.
“The most exciting part is that our members get hands-on with the latest products, working on real designs,” said Bill Amelio, Chief Executive Officer, Avnet. “Because they learn from real-world project examples, industry experts and each other, our community members are more likely to find the right path to get their idea from prototype to mass production.”
Amelio added, “Today we celebrate our community members and say ‘thank you!’ Your contributions add enormous value to Avnet’s connected ecosystem. By sharing information, best practices and know-how you’re helping to bring better products into the world.”
Avnet acquired both element14 (as part of Premier Farnell) and Hackster.io in 2016. Since then, the two online communities have continued to experience rapid growth as technology advancements such as IoT introduce more learning opportunities as well as complexity into the product development process. Combined membership grew by approximately 48 percent year over year and details about both communities are depicted in this infographic.
element14 is a discussion-based online community where engineers collaborate to solve one another’s design challenges. Members can see what other engineers are working on, learn from their experiences as well as online training, and get help to optimize their own designs. Seeing technology in action and having the ability to road test their projects is one of the main benefits for element14 members.
“element14 is a prime example of how the consistent sharing of information is driving the democratization of design,” said Dianne Kibbey, global head of community and social media for element14. “Our members are more active than ever, and with the support of Avnet’s ecosystem we’ve been able to get more technology into their hands.”
Hackster.io is a project-based online community for anyone who wants to learn about programming and building hardware. One of the world’s fastest growing communities, the site also hosts in-person workshops and meetups to help individuals, whether or not they have previous engineering or design experience, take their hardware ideas to the next level.
“With the support of the Avnet ecosystem, we have been able to accelerate our outreach to more people in more places and offer better learning tools for hardware creation,” said Adam Benzion, co-founder and CEO at Hackster.io. “It’s been fascinating to see our members’ skills evolve as they pursue projects in emerging areas such as blockchain and artificial intelligence, or specific components like FPGAs.”
With a collective membership of one million across element14 and Hackster.io, Avnet continues to engage engineers, entrepreneurs and developers online and guide them through each stage of the product lifecycle, from prototype to mass production. To learn more about Avnet and its one million member strong communities, check out this related infographic and visit Avnet.com.
Farnell Global is a fast and reliable distributor of products and technology for electronic and industrial system design, maintenance and repair. From research and design through prototype to production, Farnell helps its customers access the products and services they need 24/7. With more than 80 years of experience, 47 localised websites, and a dedicated team of over 3,500 employees, Farnell provides every component its customers need to build the technology of tomorrow.
Farnell Global trades as Farnell in Europe, Newark in North America, and element14 in Asia Pacific. It also sells direct to consumers through its CPC business in the UK.
Farnell Global has been part of the established global technology distributor, Avnet (Nasdaq: AVT), since 2016. Today, this relationship allows the company to support its customers at every stage of the product life cycle, offering a truly unique distribution model, as well as expertise in end-to-end delivery and product design.
For more information, visit http://www.farnell.com/
