As a member of the embedded trade media I must admit that at times it’s difficult to find information about particular products. In fact, it’s often difficult to know where to start, especially when you’re looking for a quick reference of component quantity and cost or immediate access to datasheet specs. For all the progressive tools and technologies produced by our industry, finding parts is typically relegated to repeated Google searches, numerous browser tabs, and a waste of everyone’s most valuable commodity – time.

In an effort to redeem ourselves for the part we play in this frustrating process, we at Embedded Computing Design are pleased announce the Embedded Computing Design Inventory Search Tool, Powered by Octopart. The Embedded Computing Design Inventory Search Tool, Powered by Octopart is a comparative quick reference tool for design engineers and product managers looking to efficiently compare the real-time inventory of millions of electronic parts from thousands of manufacturers across hundreds of distributors, including device datasheets, available quantity, cost per unit and at volume, and direct links to the product page of a chosen distributor’s website for ordering. Searches can be as specific or as general as needed, making the tool a great resource for engineers just beginning to evaluate parts or those looking to go to production with the lowest bill of materials (BoM) cost possible.

Using the Embedded Computing Design Inventory Search Tool

Using the Embedded Computing Design Inventory Search Tool is as simple as a Google search. Simply navigate to embedded-computing.com/part-search, enter the desired query in the linear search field, and hit enter (or “Search Part(s)”). Now start comparing based on the results.

At the risk of condescension, the devil lies in the details with the Inventory Search Tool, just as it does with any web search. Therefore, a search on “Intel Atom” will return both processors and single-board computers (SBCs) based on the Intel Atom, so it’s important to tune your search to something like “Intel Atom Processor” if that’s the desired result.

Of course, if you already know the specific part number you’re looking for, the Inventory Search Tool is useful in and of itself as a means of comparing multiple distributors available inventory and cost for that product. However, perhaps the greatest utility of the Tool can be found when evaluating common parts from multiple manufacturers. For example, the 1N4148 is a standard switching signal diode produced by more than a dozen vendors, and by leveraging the Inventory Search Tool engineers can quickly reference the stock and pricing of each, as well as compare datasheets to ensure the listed products meet their overall design specifications.

Electronic solutions with the click of a button

The Embedded Computing Design Inventory Search Tool, Powered by Octopart was developed in partnership with Octomyze and syndicates the Octopart search system so that users can be confident that results displayed on the Inventory Tool are up to date and reliable, every time. For our part as Embedded Computing Design’s content team, we have already begun integrating relevant product results from the Inventory Search Tool at the end of articles, blogs, and news stories in an effort to make it even easier to evaluate new solutions, so be sure to reference that section before moving on to additional content.

Until then, we hope that the Embedded Computing Design Inventory Search Tool, Powered by Octopart becomes a complementary resource as you build out embedded and Internet of Things (IoT) systems.

To get started, click here.