SAN FRANCISCO, December 8 /PRNewswire/ -- EE Times Group [formerly TechInsights], a division of United Business Media [LON: UBM], announced today a new and improved focus on electronic products and components as it aggressively responds to the needs of its audience and advertisers. The first iteration of this strategy is a robust vertical search platform powered by Octopart as part of a new EE Times Product content area of eetimes.com. To lead this effort, EE Times is promoting Allan Yogasingam to a newly created position to oversee the EE Times Products development.

Products are the lifeblood of the electronics industry and are introduced at an incredibly fast pace. With the help of Octopart, EE Times is bringing an innovative and fresh approach to this key information need by combining vertical search technology with a wealth of unparalleled content. This includes design articles, technical papers, online courses, and dynamic product comparison tables. Led by Yogasingam, a former purchasing engineer, the new content initiative will focus on all aspects of product information gathering needs from distributor sourcing to editorial product reviews, from semiconductors to electromechanical components, from search to online design tools.

The beta version of the Octopart powered search engine launched December 7 and enables fast access to critical information from electronic component manufacturers (including datasheets) and franchised distributors with links to distributors to order samples or order your entire supply.

A further integration of relevant content across the EE Times vast network of digital information, such as courses, tutorials, and relevant technical papers, will be incorporated in a phased approach early next year.

The online universe offers many opportunities to provide designers with timely and useful product information and tools to accelerate their design process, said Paul Miller, CEO of the EE Times Group. With this re-energized focus on products by EE Times, our goal is to provide all the knowledge and tools an engineer can want in one centralized location, making it easier for them to do what they do best, design.

EE Times Product search functionality is powered by Octopart, a vertical search engine that streamlines the process of finding parts by providing access to manufacturer and distributor data at one central location. Part buyers and engineers can search millions of parts by availability or technical specification.

Octopart provides part search to hundreds of thousands of design engineers and part buyers around the globe, said Sam Wurzel, CEO and co-founder of Octopart. We are very proud to be partnering with EE Times, the industry's flagship publication. This partnership will benefit the users of eetimes.com and furthers our position as a leader in the electronic part search arena.

About EE Times Group

EE Times Group, a division of United Business Media [LON:UBM], is the global leader in media and marketing services for the electronics industry. We deliver results for the key influencers and decision makers involved in the design, development and commercialization of technology through our market leading brands. More than 1.1 million engineering professionals engage with the EE Times Network - EE Times, TechOnline, DesignLines, and Embedded.com - across the globe. The technology community comes to our market leading events to share, learn, discuss, and advance the critical issues and challenges facing the electronics industry. As well, EE Times Group provides end-to-end services ranging from next-generation marketing, integrated media and research.

About Octopart

Octopart Inc. is a leading vertical search engine focused on electronic parts. Octopart indexes parts from over 3000 manufacturers at http://octopart.com and also provides an open API. Octopart was started in the fall of 2006 by two physics graduate students who were tired of searching for identical electronic parts in lots of different paper catalogs. The website launched to the public in March of 2007.

For more information on EE Times Group please contact: Felicia Hamerman, Group Marketing Director T: +1-516-562-5652, email: felicia.hamerman@ubm.com For more information on Octopart please contact: Sam Wurzel, CEO, Octopart T: +1-415-254-2063, email: sam@octopart.com Related links: EE Times Products eetimes.com EE Times Group

SOURCE: EE Times Group

CONTACT: Felicia Hamerman, Group Marketing Director, +1-516-562-5652,felicia.hamerman@ubm.com, for EE Times Group; or Sam Wurzel, CEO ofOctopart, +1-415-254-2063, sam@octopart.com