Avnet and Arrow team up online

Rivals Arrow Electronics and Avnet are to team up with a Web site to distribute chips and other components. The on-line semiconductor supermarket, ChipCenter LLC, will be developed with software maker Aspect Development and up-for-sale publishing house CMP Media. An announcement is expected today, and the Web site should be up and running by July, according to today's Wall Street Journal. ChipCenter will include vendor product information, distributor pricing and availability, as well as news and advertising. The report said the joint venture by the two US distributors may become a public company, but no details of funding were released. The site will list offerings by other distributors and was described as a joint effort to fend off new, online competitors from outside distribution. ®