Community Content Elevates Part Catalogs

摘要

Sam Wurzel, cofounder and CEO of Octopart would love to see the name of his company become a household word synonymous with searching for electronic components online. He said: "People now say 'Google it' to look up something. All design engineers might one day say 'Octopart it' - some already do." If it were up to Bob Noftle, president and chief evangelist of TraceParts Inc. U.S.A., engineers would say "TraceParts it." Xerox and Google are among the few companies whose names became transitive verbs due to their pervasive influence. The use of data and content from catalog aggregators like Octopart and TraceParts Inc. is certainly pervasive in design engineering, but they're often integrated deep inside CAD and PLM (product lifecycle management) programs, so their brand recognition may not rise to the same level as a Xerox or Google.