PHOENIX - May 29, 2019 - Bringing a product to life, especially when prototyping, requires many types of tools and support. For engineers already leveraging the new Ultra96-V2 development board to jumpstart their Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Internet of Things (IoT) applications, global technology solutions provider Avnet (Nasdaq: AVT) now has even more resources available, including technical training and add-on boards.

Avnet's Ultra96 is a low-cost, easy-to-use platform based on the Xilinx Zynq UltraScale+ MPSoC. Avnet offers Technical Training courses for engineers looking to broaden their knowledge of designing IoT and AI applications with the Ultra96 development board, and ultimately to reduce the time and complexity of prototype development. Both introductory and advanced courses are available, offered online and in numerous cities nationwide by Hackster.io, an Avnet Community, and comprised of educational presentations plus hands-on labs. The labs are built on Avnet's Ultra96, and support both the V1 and V2 boards, the latter of which Avnet announced earlier this year.

To provide engineers with expanded capabilities for the Ultra96 platform, Avnet released the 96Boards Click Mezzanine. This low-cost, add-on board enables designers to connect the 96Boards low-speed (LS) header to Click Boards™ by MikroElektronika, and easily add sensors, controls, relays and more to their MPSoC. These Click Boards™ also offer personalization for any end application, reducing the risk of designing on custom boards, and efficiently leveraging engineering resources throughout the design process.

"At Avnet, we're committed to helping developers bring their designs to life by providing accessible resources throughout every stage of the product development lifecycle, but especially during the early and critical prototyping stage," said Jim Beneke, vice president, products and emerging technologies at Avnet. "Together with Hackster.io, our technical training courses will help engineers tap into both the software and hardware capabilities of the Ultra96 boards. And with our new mezzanine card, we're providing another easy-to-use opportunity to reduce the complexity, time and risk of bringing new IoT and AI projects to life."

The trainings are available through Hackster.io, Avnet's project-based community for anyone who wants to learn about programming and building hardware. Introductory courses are available immediately at hackster.io/workshops/ultra96. Advanced courses will be available in June. The introductory three-course bundle is available for $59, and each advanced workshop will be an additional $99.

More details on the Technical Training Courses, including specific hardware and product requirements, live event dates, and more can be found at http://avnet.me/U96-TTC.

• The 96Boards Click Mezzanine is now available for $16. For more information and to order today, visit: http://avnet.me/click-mezz.

• The Ultra96-V2 development board will be available this summer for $249. For more information and to pre-order, visit: http://avnet.me/NewUltra96V2.

• The 96Boards Click Mezzanine Starter Kit bundles the 96Boards Click Mezzanine with three Click boards for $49. For more information and to order, visit: http://avnet.me/click-mezz-bundle.