SINGAPORE, Sept. 28--Xinhua-PRNewswire-AsiaNet/InfoQuest Range of Low, Medium and High-end Embedded Solutions Based on Winbond/ARM Technology Avnet Electronics Marketing Asia, a leading distributor of electronic components and a division of Avnet, Inc. (NYSE: AVT), and independent design house (IDH), GodSend Inc, are collaborating to provide a range of point-of-sale (POS) tax-control solutions for Chinese retailers. China's State Administration of Taxation has standardised the tax management process, making it mandatory for all retailers in China to use tax/POS terminals to help them compute sales tax at the point of sale, and make it easier for them to report the amount of sales tax owed. Currently in production, the POS designs, which are based on embedded Winbond /ARM ICs, will enable manufacturers to mass produce a range of low, medium and high-end solutions to cater to the needs of the millions of retailers throughout China, who must comply with the new regulations from February 2006 onwards. The first tax-POS public bidding for each province will be finished by the end of October 2005. (Avnet/GodSend tax-control POS solution: http://xprnnews.xfn.info/avt/20050926/cpuboard.htm ) "This collaborative project with GodSend highlights our strong supply chain and demand creation capabilities," said Andy Wong, Director for Asia Pacific, Segment Marketing/Avnet Design Services, at Avnet Electronics Marketing Asia. "It is a clear demonstration of the key roles we play -- not only as a bridge between IC vendors like Winbond, and IDHs like GodSend -- but also between the IDH and the manufacturers. In this case, we have helped to introduce these new designs to most of the 88 licensed tax POS manufacturers throughout China, and we have already helped to broker agreements with many of them." The range of tax POS system designs include the general features of an electronic cash register but also compute sales tax at the point of sale and store the data on a SIM card or USB stick. The range starts with a simple, low-end 8-bit MCU solution. The mid-range system, which includes Ethernet and USB host port that are required in the latest China tax-POS standard, is based on a 32-bit ARM7 architecture, while the high-end system is based on ARM9 architecture and includes a graphical user interface, suitable for future finance tax-POS machines. "As an independent design house, we look to our distribution partners to provide us with rapid access to state-of-the-art technologies with excellent price/performance," said Professor Liu HanLiang, President, at GodSend Inc. "Avnet Electronics Marketing is providing us with the technology and know-how required to design and build tax POS solutions for our customers in China. We have been very impressed with their strong technical support and competitive pricing. With their help and supply chain expertise, we are really able to speed our time-to-market." Avnet Electronics Marketing is one of the largest distributors in China of Winbond Electronics Corporation, Taiwan's largest supplier of integrated circuits. Winbond licences microprocessor core technology from ARM, the industry's leading provider of 16/32-bit embedded RISC microprocessor solutions. Avnet Electronics Marketing has development centres in Singapore, Shanghai and Shenzhen. The company also partners with approximately 20 IDHs for development projects, and offers complete product design for networking, consumer audio and video products, and digital graphic markets. Beijing GodSend has partnered with Avnet Electronics Marketing since 2004. About Godsend Beijing GodSend is an independent company that develops design solutions, based on embedded technologies, for electronics manufacturers. The company also provides related training partners. GodSend employs approximately 20 engineers many of whom graduated from Tsing Hua University, with which the company partners. About Avnet Avnet, Inc., (NYSE:AVT) enables success from the centre of the technology industry, providing cost-effective services and solutions vital to a broad base of more than 100,000 customers and 300 suppliers. The company markets, distributes and adds value to a wide variety of electronic components, enterprise computer products and embedded subsystems. Through its premier market position, Avnet brings a breadth and depth of capabilities that help its trading partners accelerate growth and realise cost efficiencies. Avnet Inc, a Fortune 500 company, is one of the world's largest technology marketing, distribution and services companies. Avnet and recently acquired company, Memec, generated combined revenue in excess of US$13 billion in the past year through sales in 68 countries. Avnet Electronics Marketing is the largest operating group of Avnet Inc., serving a wide range of customers including original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), electronic manufacturing services (EMS) providers, and small-to-medium customers in 68 countries, distributing electronic components from leading manufacturers and providing associated design-chain and supply-chain services. The company's web site is located at http://www.em.avnet.com . For further information please contact: Lai Peng Tan: Tel: +852-2410-2735 Email: [email protected] SOURCE Avnet Electronics Marketing Asia --Distributed by AsiaNet (www.asianetnews.net)--