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RS Components (RS) the world's leading high service distributor of electronics and maintenance products and the trading brand of Electrocomponents plc (LSE:ECM), has celebrated the first anniversary of its online DesignSpark electronics design community and resource centre, and its free DesignSpark PCB design software tool. Since its launch in July 2010, DesignSpark has become the fastest growing online community for electronics engineers, with more than 50,000 members now registered. Recent user testing confirmed the demand among design engineers for trusted and reliable online resources that bring together design information, user generated reviews and free-of-charge tools to accelerate the design process. The free, fully featured DesignSpark PCB tool, which has been the key driver for visitors to the online community, has logged in excess of 100,000 downloads since its introduction one year ago. Providing access to a full suite of video tutorials, examples and a parts library, the professional tool is valued highly by engineers who are converting from other industry products to DesignSpark PCB. Version 1 of DesignSpark PCB won the New Product Introduction of the Year award from Printed Circuit Design & Fab (PCD&F) magazine and in March 2011, RS released version 2 of the PCB tool with additional 3D view capability. These new features, along with other updates, were implemented as a direct result of feedback on the DesignSpark community from users of the tool. Glenn Jarrett, Head of Electronics Marketing at RS Components commented, "One year on, the unprecedented growth achieved for the adoption of DesignSpark and DesignSpark PCB shows indisputable evidence that design engineers want access to free downloadable tools, the ability to read reviews and blogs, and to communicate with their peers, manufacturers and industry experts. A recent survey conducted among 1,000 DesignSpark members across the globe revealed that engineers are not only using the community to download information but are actively engaged in sharing knowledge and creating new content." Further information about DesignSpark and DesignSpark PCB is available at www.designspark.com
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