Trimble Selects Digi-Key To Distribute Its Embedded UHF RFID Modules

Digi-Key Corporation to Offer ThingMagic Mercury 6e and Mercury 5e Series Modules to Support the Growing Demand for Embedded RFID

Trimble announced recently a global distribution agreement with Digi-Key Corporation, the industry leader in electronic component selection, availability and delivery, to offer Trimble's ThingMagic Mercury 6e Series and Mercury 5e Series of embedded UHF RFID modules. The ThingMagic family of award winning embedded RFID modules is used worldwide to reduce development costs and speed the time-to-market for RFID solutions by offering rich functionality and predictable performance in compact and easily deployable form factors.

Hundreds of companies—from printer and handheld manufacturers, to asset tracking, supply chain, healthcare and transportation organizations—are using ThingMagic Mercury 6e Series and Mercury 5e Series of embedded RFID modules to drive innovation and benefit from business process improvement.

"Partnering with Digi-Key represents an ideal fit for Trimble ThingMagic at this time given the growth we are seeing for our embedded RFID reader modules. Digi-Key's reputation for best-in-class service aligns with our commitment to superior customer support. We are impressed with the quality support and broad reach Digi-Key brings to the developer and OEM markets and are very excited to begin this relationship with Digi-Key," said David Emma, vice president of Sales, Marketing and Engineering for Trimble's ThingMagic Division.

?We?re always seeking ways to strategically expand our line card, particularly with innovative wireless solutions," said Chris Beeson, Digi-Key executive vice president, Sales and Supplier Development. "The ThingMagic Mercury Series products are easy for engineers to work with, giving them the foundation for RFID innovation."

Simplified Embedded Designs combined with ThingMagic's Firmware Advantage

ThingMagic's embedded UHF RFID modules support high read rates as well as market leading RF transmit levels to allow for reading tags at over twice the distance of competing solutions, reading smaller tags without forfeiting read distance and enabling OEMs to incorporate smaller antennas into their products without sacrificing read performance.

ThingMagic firmware also adds valuable real-world features to the primary functions delivered by RFID reader chips. This functionality gives customers an enhanced set of capabilities to develop innovative and customized RFID solutions for worldwide deployment, including:

• Multiprotocol support
• Multi-regional support
• Advanced data collection for each tag inventory
• Tag write, lock and kill features, and custom command support for a variety of RFID tags

Trimble's ThingMagic RFID modules, paired with its advanced software and firmware capabilities, have led to the development and implementation of a number of new and innovative products and solutions.

ThingMagic's Commitment to Ease-of-Use
With a goal of driving the barriers for deploying RFID technology as low as possible, the development tools available with all ThingMagic RFID modules include the ThingMagic Universal Reader Assistant utility used to initialize readers and perform common tasks such as selecting application specific performance settings and the Mercury API Software Development Kit (SDK) with sample applications and source code to help developers get started demonstrating and developing functionality.

Availability at Digi-Key
ThingMagic's embedded UHF RFID modules are now available from Digi-Key. To learn more about the Mercury series from Trimble, visit any of Digi-Key's global Websites.

About Digi-Key Corporation
Digi-Key Corporation, based in Thief River Falls, Minn., is a global, full-service provider of both prototype/design and production quantities of electronic components, offering more than three million products from over 650 quality name-brand manufacturers. With over one million products in stock and an impressive selection of online resources, Digi-Key is committed to stocking the broadest range of electronic components in the industry and providing the best service possible to its customers. For more information, visit www.digi-key.com.

About Trimble's ThingMagic Division
Trimble's ThingMagic Division is a leading provider of UHF RFID reader engines, development platforms and design services for a wide range of applications. ThingMagic develops products for demanding high-volume applications and provides consulting and design services to create solutions for challenging applications. ThingMagic customers include some of the world's largest industrial automation firms, manufacturers, automotive companies, retailers, and consumer companies. Located in Woburn, Massachusetts, the ThingMagic business was founded in 2000 by a group of visionary PhD graduates from Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Media Lab. ThingMagic is The Engine in RFID. For more information, visit www.thingmagic.com.

About Trimble
Trimble applies technology to make field and mobile workers in businesses and government significantly more productive. Solutions are focused on applications requiring position or location—including surveying, construction, agriculture, fleet and asset management, public safety and mapping. In addition to utilizing positioning technologies, such as GPS, lasers and optics, Trimble solutions may include software content specific to the needs of the user. Wireless technologies are utilized to deliver the solution to the user and to ensure a tight coupling of the field and the back office. Founded in 1978, Trimble is headquartered in Sunnyvale, Calif.