Kudos to Molex for Connector.com

As one of the undeniable 800-lb. gorillas of the connector industry, Molex has now come up with a great portal aimed squarely at connector suppliers and engineers and others involved in the field of connector assembly. The social media website Connector.com is billed right up front as The place to connect with the connector experts. Well OK, Molex! And indeed, the site launches with a trio of insightful articles housed in topic areas for Power, Environmental and Connectors 101.

On the topic of Power, Molex product development manager Ken Stead talks about the time-honored practice of derating power connectors -- and why it has always been absolutely critical to do so, nothwithstanding the industry's present flash ahead to the 21st century where space and cost are king. Stead notes that if a backplane or I/O connector blows up, you're looking at a call to the Help Desk...but that power connectors can literally go up in flames, resulting in a different kind of call...like to 911.

On the Environmental front, Molex product compliance expert Joe Stainbrook asks the questions: So what's the big deal about halogens, and what is Molex doing in terms of raw materials choices?

Finally, in Connectors 101, Molex director of technology marketing Herbert Endres tackles questions of applied cost and design. I won't try to paraphrase too much now, but will say that it is fascinating to read an in-depth take on this subject matter from a true industry veteran.

I spent a significant portion of my morning today reading all three of these articles. So, kudos to Molex for coming forth with a great conduit for getting their people's connector expertise out there in a big way. From an audience standpoint, you can bet that other connector manufacturers and distributors will be following suit with similar sites.

Case in point, Farnell-Newark's element14. Another great resource...and subject for a forthcoming blog post!