New Microcontroller Central website – changing the world bit-by-bit

How exciting… a new microcontroller-based website has just launched. With a tagline of “Changing the world, bit by bit" (how cute), Microcontroller Central looks like being the “place to see and be seen”. It’s also highly interactive with a Blog Roll, Message Boards, and Live Chat facilities.

I’ve known about the plans for this new site for some time (of course, did you ever doubt me?) but I’ve been sworn to secrecy until now. What’s really exciting is that the Editor in Chief – Richard Quinnell – has invited me to write guest blogs for Microcontroller Central without restricting me in any way. It’s almost like being a “Blogger without Portfolio” … the problem (as Richard will soon discover) is getting me to stop :-)

But enough of my waffling … the official announcement is as follows:

NXP Semiconductors, DeusM, the integrated marketing services arm of UBM, and UBM Electronics, the daily source of essential business and technical information for the electronics industry's decision makers, today launched the Microcontroller Central site (www.microcontrollercentral.com), a new online community devoted to inspire and empower users of microcontrollers and showcase their successes. The new community-based Website will consist of blogs, message boards, live chats, whitepapers, and other educational resources to help readers address the joys and challenges of microcontroller-based design. The community will be supplemented by a presence on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn.

With Microcontroller Central, NXP provides an open platform for sharing and learning – a site where embedded engineers can celebrate success stories, discuss design experiments, and create an environment for change. With its industry-leading microcontrollers, including the latest 32-bit Cortex™-M0, Cortex™-M3, and Cortex™-M4 product families, NXP is already changing the embedded landscape and will further expand its support to the industry through this community.

"Microcontroller Central is an exciting opportunity for anyone involved in the electronics industry – allowing engineers to get together and share their passion, experience, and knowledge on microcontroller design," said Sander Arts, Vice President, Marketing and Communications, NXP Semiconductors. "Working in tandem with our other digital channels, such as nxp.com, Twitter, Sina Wiebo, and our iPhone/Android product selector apps, we'll continue to push the boundaries of engagement with this new site."

"UBM Electronics' clients are looking to create long-term marketing engagement with their customers and potential customers," added Paul Miller, CEO of UBM Electronics. "We deliver this engagement by using a proprietary system of best-practices to build unique online communities that use high-quality, original content to attract qualified audiences, and keep them involved with the community in the long term. The new NXP site is a great reflection of this, and we're delighted that NXP has partnered with us."

Longtime technology journalist and former embedded systems designer Rich Quinnell has been named Editor-in-Chief of the new Microcontroller Central online community. Quinnell was most recently a contributing editor at EDN and Test & Measurement World; he was also executive editor at Silicon Strategies and has held editorial positions at EDN, Electronic Design, and Computer Design magazines.

"Microcontrollers are at the core of virtually every electronics device, and can enable designs that can change our world bit by bit," said Quinnell. "Microcontroller Central will be the go-to community for anyone – professional, student, or hobbyist – developing such devices. They will be able to share insights and success stories, keep abreast of changes in technology, and find educational resources to help them solve design problems and have fun doing so."

Microcontroller Central (www.microcontrollercentral.com) is produced by DeusM, a UBM company, and UBM Electronics.  The online community was created from the Community Activation Platform (CAP), an integrated marketing program that enables electronics marketers to drive deeper engagement with engineers by generating meaningful conversations, customer leads, asset downloads, and market research. The core of the CAP program provides exclusive sponsorship of an online community that delivers the voice and sole ownership of a targeted community of professionals. The CAP program utilizes core functionality deployed in UBM's "Community in a Box" platform.

About NXP Semiconductors
NXP Semiconductors N.V. (Nasdaq: NXPI) provides High Performance Mixed Signal and Standard Product solutions that leverage its leading RF, Analog, Power Management, Interface, Security, and Digital Processing expertise. These innovations are used in a wide range of automotive, identification, wireless infrastructure, lighting, industrial, mobile, consumer, and computing applications. A global semiconductor company with operations in more than 25 countries, NXP posted revenue of $4.4 billion in 2010. Additional information can be found by visiting www.nxp.com.

About DeusM
DeusM is an integrated marketing services company owned by UBM plc, targeting the fastest growing segment of the online publishing industry: business social media. The company is led by Managing Director Stephen Saunders, Min's Marketer of the Year 2010. He and the other DeusM principals have built and delivered more than a dozen successful sites and online communities over the last 10 years. DeusM's service is based on a unique platform, called Community in a Box (CiaB), which employs a structured system of proven B2B Web publishing best-practices, combined with a breakthrough integrated multimedia publishing platform ("n-Server") to enable marketers to quickly and profitably set up specialized communities for their target customers.

About UBM Electronics
UBM Electronics is the global leader in media and marketing solutions for the electronics industry.   UBM Electronics delivers results for the key influencers and decision makers involved in the design, development and commercialization of technology through its market leading brands, peer communities and professional education services.  More than 1.7 million engineering professionals engage with UBM Electronics brands which include EE Times, EDN, Design News and Test & Measurement World, TechOnline, Designlines and Embedded.com across the globe to accelerate technology sales. The international electronics community gathers at UBM Electronics market leading events such as the Embedded Systems Conferences, DesignCon and ARM Technology Conference to share, learn, discuss, and advance the critical issues and challenges facing the electronics industry. Additionally, UBM Electronics provides end-to-end services ranging from next-generation marketing, integrated media, custom solutions and research.  UBM Electronics is part of UBM (UBM.L) a global provider of media and information services for professional B2B communities and markets.

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