Long Term Supply and Full Lifetime Support

Modules are designed for long-term availability with a 10+ year processor life and a multi-sourced, industry-standard LCD form factor. Reach Technology supports and supplies customers with board-level products (BLP) in accordance with the following long-term stable supply (LTSS) business practices.

High-Level Design

Modules are designed to provide high-level LCD control functionality. By adopting our application programming interface (API), customers are insulated from technology changes in the BLP hardware and LCD interface. In other words, if a hardware change is required on a BLP due to an end-of-life component, the change will generally be transparent to the customer application.

Reach Technology selects suppliers of materials used in the fabrication of BLP’s who support the embedded electronics business model, as opposed to the consumer model. This means that the non-commodity parts we select have a minimum five-year life standard.

Evidence of LTSS effectiveness and future commitment:

The following graph shows our past ability to support production volume for the long term, as well as our future commitment to BLPs. We have been manufacturing BLPs for over 20 years, with many products having 10 to 15-year lifetimes. In almost all cases, we have stopped manufacturing a product only when the demand has stopped.

Periodically, a supplier may request Reach Technology to accept end-of-life, part specification change and/or upgrade, or manufacturing change. In such cases, Reach Technology will modify the BLP to accommodate the change with the goal that the revised BLP meets the original unit’s form, fit, and function criteria. When such change is necessary, the new BLP must be re-qualified by the customer, and the following will apply:

• At least 30-days notice of engineering change
• One or two engineering samples to the customer at no charge for testing.

The goal is that the BLP meet form, fit, and function criteria of the original part. If the revised BLP does not work well in the customer application, we will work in good faith to assist the customer, but if changes to BLP are needed, we may have to request an NRE or tooling charge.

End of Life Notification

Because the high-technology market is fast-paced and driven by change, there may be events beyond our control in which we cannot achieve the desired “form, fit and function” goal, and we, therefore, will discontinue the sale of an existing BLP product. When possible, our business practice is to offer a last-time buy. At the same time, as notice is given, Reach Technology will make samples of the alternative BLP for evaluation available, along with the specification sheet, and any helpful application data that can assist the evaluation process. If you have any questions regarding our LTSS business practice, please do not hesitate to contact us.