Last week, element14 launched The Drawer, an innovative content storage tool for users to capture and collect information as they navigate through the element14 community. Jeff Jussel, senior director of global technology marketing at element14, discusses solving engineering pain points with our sister publication PD&D.
PD&D: How have engineers been affected by incomplete/inaccurate information from relevant sources? What sources were they using?
Jeff Jussel: Typically searches are done using a generic search engine such as Google. These searches can return thousands or millions of hits on a given search term and most often do not understand the technical meaning of the terms. This requires designers to sift through the load of data to find the relevant information. There is also the risk that certain data is from old sources, or might return biased results driven by SEM/SEO. The end effect is that designers must spend valuable time validating the results from these searches instead of using the data to further their designs.
PD&D: How are engineers using element14 to address sourcing question and concerns?
Jussel: The Knode on element14 provides a technology-aware search engine on a database of technical information that is kept current to return the most relevant information for an engineer’s design project. The element14 community also allows engineers to discuss technology experience with peers and experts so they can find the best solutions for their problems. With all these resources, element14 brings together the latest products, development tools, and services on an innovative online community and is a trusted source for engineers to find the right design solutions, right from the start.
PD&D: What insight would you provide design engineers looking to source components?
Jussel: Design engineers need more than a list of product SKUs and datasheets. They need the ability to start with reference designs or development kits that help them evaluate the technology products in the right applications. The things that engineers need to know about a product extend far beyond what most distributors can provide. You need real engineering experience, product roadmap information, and the ability to compare product capabilities in the applications you care about. And in the end you need to be able to get those parts and build them into a system.
The Knode on element14 provides the information to help engineers research, source and build their systems. The Drawer enables design productivity in this process by providing an online data management system that is personalized to the engineers needs.
PD&D: What is The Drawer?
Jussel: The Drawer is an innovative and customizable content storage tool that allows design engineers to capture, collect, and store information, parts and content as they navigate through the element14 community and the Knode. This past June, element14 introduced the Knode, the industry’s first tool of its kind designed to help engineers accelerate design and development and bring products to market faster than ever before, as part of their commitment to improving how engineers research, design, develop, and manufacture.
The Drawer enables community members and the Knode users to collect data and save it online under the user’s account name where it remains accessible for viewing and comparison on future visits to the element14 community.
PD&D: How did element14 conceive of The Drawer?
Jussel: As part of an ongoing effort to better understand the needs of design engineers, element14 commissioned a global study from Technology Forecasters, Inc. (TFI)that revealed several pain points that engineers face during the design process, including increasing time pressures, incomplete/inaccurate information from relevant sources, and difficulty comparing options. The functionality of the Drawer gives engineers an easy way to store and compare relevant news, videos and product information from across the entire element14 community, in turn, streamlining the research phase of the design process.
PD&D: How can the tool improve a design engineer’s workday?
Jussel: Design engineers are faced with an ever-present need to perform targeted searches for specific design solutions, and many design engineers attribute a lack of consolidated online tools and databases to hindering their ability to make timely design decisions. The Drawer provides a single, safe and secure place to collect technology information and compare alternative solutions, thus significantly reducing the amount of time and resources expelled researching a project or design. Users are able to store multiple file formats and data types, store relevant news, videos and product information from across the entire element14 community.
PD&D: How does the Drawer address increasing time pressures?
Jussel: By offering simple online location to store collected information, element14 helps design engineers save time in the research process by accessing information on the Knode, and saving relevant data in one place where it can be stored and referred to in the future to avoid repeating searches.
Jeff Jussel is the senior director of global technology marketing and is responsible for identifying global customer requirements for design engineering products and information supporting the emergence of element14 as a provider of world-class engineering design solutions. Jussel joined the company in 2010 from the EDA industry, bringing over 20 years of experience in design engineering, technical marketing, and the development electronic system design solutions.
Originally a design engineer, Jussel began his career developing electronic products and systems in the semiconductor, communications, computing, and defense industries. Jussel holds a Master’s degree in electrical engineering from UCLA and a BSEE from the University of Nebraska.
