SINGAPORE, Nov. 26, 2012 (ANTARA/PRNewswire) -- RS Components, the trading brand of Electrocomponents plc (LSE:ECM), the world's leading high service distributor of electronics and maintenance products, today announces the sale of GR-SAKURA, an easy-to-use and low-cost development kit for Gadget Renesas. Gadget Renesas is a project of Renesas Electronics Corporation (hereinafter "Renesas") to offer a series of boards with easy-to-use cloud-based software environment for people who have no embedded programming experience as well as experienced embedded professionals to do rapid prototyping. The new GR-SAKURA is available through all RS Components Asia Pacific websites and is stocked locally for next-day delivery to most major cities in the region.

(Logo: http://www.prnasia.com/sa/2011/05/04/20110504368830.jpg )

GR-SAKURA is an Arduino-compatible board based on the Renesas' high performance, 32-bit RX63N series of microcontroller (MCU). The entire software environment is web-based and development can be done entirely through a web browser. Built to encourage design and innovation, the board is user-friendly enough even for non-professional engineers to embark on interesting electronics projects.

The GR-SAKURA board is designed for all interest levels, from hobbyists looking to start building electronics projects to professional electronics design engineers who develop sophisticated electronics systems, such as a home server.

The two models currently available are the GR-SAKURA and the GR-SAKURA-FULL. Both models utilise the USB connection with a PC, tablet or smart phone to connect to the internet and also support Ethernet connections. Features and specifications include:

GR-SAKURA (approximately US$49):
RX63N MCU Evaluation Board:RX63N (R5F563NBDDFP) (Operating frequency: 96MHz, Flash Memory: 1 MB, RAM: 128KB, FPU internal (floating point)) Ethernet support, USB function/host support, Digital I/O pins: 55, Analog input pins: 16, XBee's support, JTAG support

GR-SAKURA-FULL (approximately US$65):
All the specifications of the GR-SAKURA with the addition of a pin header, LAN connector (RJ-45), DC power jack and a microSD card socket

"We are very excited about GR-SAKURA because it puts the power of a sophisticated microcontroller into the hands of engineers at a very affordable price. To complete the eco-system, we have also made programming so easy that even young engineers with almost no programming knowledge can get started with it," said Jeffrey Soh, Director of Renesas Electronics Singapore. "We hope this will encourage more people to take up electronic design."

"Our ability to connect and support engineers across the whole of Asia Pacific is the key reason why RS Components was selected as the online distributor for GR-SAKURA," said CM Lim, Head of Product Marketing, Asia Pacific, RS Components. "The product fits our mission, which is to help make it easier for engineers to create great products and to help develop the engineers of the future."

GR-SAKURA from the Gadget Renesas series is hardware compatible with most of today's popular electronic development platforms for hobbyists and professional engineers. For more information about Gadget Renesas, please visit www.rs-components.com

* All product names and service names in this release are trademarks or registered trademarks belonging to each of the owners.

About RS Components

RS Components and Allied Electronics are the trading brands of Electrocomponents plc, the world's leading high service distributor of electronics and maintenance products. With operations in 32 countries, we offer more than 550,000 products through the internet, catalogues and at trade counters to over one million customers, shipping more than 46,000 parcels on the same day the orders are received. Our products, sourced from 2,500 leading suppliers, include electronics, automation and control, test and measurement, electrical and mechanical components.

Electrocomponents is listed on the London Stock Exchange and in the last financial year ended 31 March 2012 had revenues of GBP1.27bn.

For more information, please visit the website at www.rs-components.com.

About Renesas Electronics Singapore Pte Ltd

A wholly owned subsidiary of Renesas Electronics Corporation (TSE: 6723), the world's number one supplier of microcontrollers, Renesas Electronics Singapore Pte Ltd, is a premier supplier of advanced semiconductor solutions including microcontrollers, SoC solutions and a broad range of analogue and power devices for the South, South-East Asia and Oceania markets. In addition to device sales, the company also provides design services including reference solutions, embedded systems and tools development.

For more information about Renesas Electronics Singapore, please visit www.sg.renesas.com

Further information is available via these links:


Twitter: @RSElectronics; @alliedelec; @designsparkRS
Tweet: RS Components
Hashtags: #ecommerce #electronics

RS Components on Linkedin
http://www.linkedin.com/company/rs-components

Electrocomponents plc
www.electrocomponents.com

RS Components
www.rs-components.com

Editorial Contact:

RS Components
Tan Soo Chun
Public Relations Manager - Asia Pacific
Email: soochun.tan@rs-components.com
Tel: +65-6391-5745

The Hoffman Agency
Rasheed Abu Bakar
Senior Account Executive
Email: rscomponentsteam@hoffman.com
Tel: +65-6361-0250

Editor: PR Wire
Copyright © ANTARA 2012