Rutronik and Infineon expands cooperation

Rutronik Elektronische Bauelemente GmbH and Infineon Technologies AG have decided to extend their distribution agreement as per January 1, 2007: The new countries are the UK, Ireland, Spain and Portugal, along with South Africa. In this way, both companies are emphasising their long-term, successful partnership, which already covers Germany, Switzerland, Italy, France, the Benelux states and Eastern Europe. This means that Rutronik serves Europe's four largest distribution markets (Germany, UK, Italy and France) with Infineon products, thus taking an important step in the pan-European harmonisation of its linecard. In return, Infineon hopes to achieve an enhanced market penetration in it's target markets of automotive and industrial; Rutronik has been a proven partner in succeeding in this area by substantially increasing it's turnover with Infineon over and above the market average. In the newly franchised regions Infineon also plac es it's trust in the distribution strength and the local customer support offered by Rutronik: In the UK, Rutronik is represented with a team of 6 FAEs and 32 sales specialists. On the Iberian Peninsula, the broadliner has outlets in Vila Nova de Famalicão (Portugal) and Barcelona, Madrid and San Sebastián (Spain) and a 13-person-strong FAE and sales team. Rutronik services the South African market with a distribution partnership. Additionally, the manufacturer expects further demand creation through design-in projects and Rutronik's technical resources. The agreement covers the entire semiconductor range by Infineon, including among other things micro-controllers, wireless and sensor modules. The pan-European operations of the Rutronik Development Centre for Power Supply, Wireless Technologies and Sensors focus this support of these specific areas of application in the main headquarters in Ispringen in addition to the local FAE resources and the central product marketing. RUTRONIK has been a strong partner for Infineon, previously Siemens, for over 10 years. The expansion of this distribution agreement to cover the UK, Ireland and the Iberian Peninsula means that we once more see confirmation of out extensive dedication in these distribution regions", explains Thomas Rudel, Vice President and Managing Director Marketing & Sales. Just recently, in Autumn 2005, Rutronik significantly expanded it's activities and presence in the UK by hiring 33 new employees. The industry and automotive markets are very promising starting points for Infineon products in the UK. Level 2 and 3 suppliers for automotive and heavy duty vehicles represent a strong customer potential in the UK. The 8-bit flash microcontroller family and the extensive product range of the automotive power modules in particular open up a series of interesting areas of use in this segment. Jezel Hardern, Country Manager UK & Ireland, adds: "Naturally, we want to incorporate ourcompetence as a systems and solutions provider, and not just our product spectrum. Customers from the automotive industry especially do not need individual modules, but instead complete packages. Thanks to our balanced linecard, we are capable of guaranteeing our customers objective consultancy and a complete spectrum of components for their applications "