Avnet Electronics Marketing Americas, a business region of Avnet, Inc. (NYSE: AVT), and semiconductor provider ProlificUSA have signed a distribution agreement. ProlificUSA’s universal serial bus (USB) and global positioning system (GPS) products are now available from Avnet in the Americas.

ProlificUSA is a leading USB to serial chip solution provider offering low-cost, high-performance USB to serial bridge controllers. The convenient PL-2303 series is a single chip internal 64-bit USB that doubles processing speeds (over traditional 32-bit devices), while providing a versatile solution for connecting serial devices to any USB host. This product is ideal for use with digital cameras, modems, and integrated services digital network (ISDN) terminal adapters. Prolific’s line of GPS baseband processors provide fast acquisition of satellite signals and the ability to track up to 16 satellites simultaneously – making them ideal for use in navigation, fleet management, asset tracking, locator, and timing reference applications.

“Avnet has built a reputation as a well-established global electronics distributor that provides deep local market knowledge and excellent demand creation and supply chain expertise,” said Jim Kenney, director of sales in the Americas for ProlificUSA. “We are delighted to partner with Avnet to make our products more readily available to customers throughout the Americas, and provide the leading-edge technologies they need for their USB and GPS applications.”

“Prolific’s line of USB devices gives designers the ability to easily migrate and port existing, or newly developed, COM port-based applications, and be instantly USB-ready on systems where actual COM ports don’t exist,” said Alex Iuorio, senior vice president of supplier management for Avnet Electronics Marketing Americas. “Additionally, their unique postage stamp-sized GPS engine provides data logging that designers can use as the basis for any GPS application. All of this adds up to the design flexibility and functionality engineers need to implement their applications in a quick and cost-effective manner.”

For more information about Avnet and ProlificUSA products, please visit www.em.avnet.com/drc.