Freescale’s Freedom Development Platform for Kinetis® L Series MCUs
now orderable at element14
element14 is first to market with ecosystem solutions and the only distributor to take pre-orders for the
new low-cost ARM® Cortex™-M0+ processor-based platform featuring Freescale Semiconductor’s high
performance, low-power Kinetis L series 32-bit MCUs
20 June 2012, Singapore – element14, the first collaborative community and electronics store for
design engineers and electronics enthusiasts and part of global electronics distributor Premier
Farnell [LON:PFL], today announced the supply of the new Freescale Freedom development
platform for Kinetis® KL2 32-bit MCUs. Working in close collaboration with Freescale, element14
becomes the first and only distributor to take early orders for the Freescale Freedom development
platform. To make it easy for designers to use this platform, element14 also provides a full
ecosystem solution with complete technical data and easy access to design tools and engineering
experts.
The company is first to offer the board on a pre-order basis, allowing designers to secure first
access to the newly manufactured boards immediately upon availability in Q3, 2012. The new lowpower, ultra affordable development board will allow for quick application prototyping and
demonstration of this new technology, which is poised to dramatically transform consumer and
industrial applications that currently employ legacy 8- and 16-bit architectures.
The Freescale Freedom development platform is a small, low-power, cost-efficient evaluation and
development system for quick application prototyping and demonstration based on the Kinetis L
series, the industry’s first microcontrollers built on the ARM Cortex-M0+ processor. The
development platform combines an industry-standard form factor with a rich set of third-party
expansion board options. Using this platform to speed development, applications such as small
appliances, gaming accessories, portable medical systems, audio systems, smart meters, lighting
and power control, can now leverage 32-bit capabilities and the scalability needed to expand future
product lines, all at 8- and 16-bit price and power consumption levels.
“We are delighted to partner with Freescale in the launch of their groundbreaking technology,” said
David Shen, Chief Technical Officer, element14. “By combining the Freescale Kinetis Freedom
development platform with the technical data and tools designers need, element14 provides users
with the ideal opportunity to migrate their legacy systems to this 32-bit architecture improving
performance without increasing power consumption. Our unique design ecosystem for engineers
will make it easy for designers to adopt the Kinetis L series MCUs.”
“Legacy 8- and 16-bit architectures simply can’t keep up as the Internet of Things gains traction,”
said Geoff Lees, vice president and general manager of Freescale’s Industrial & Multi-Market MCU
business. “As designers move to the enhanced performance, low power, and scalability of the
Kinetis 32-bit portfolio, access to the design ecosystem, technical resources and community of
engineers from element14 will help speed adoption.”
The Freescale Freedom development platform is form-factor compatible with popular third-party
hardware designed to work with Arduino™ and Arduino-Compatible boards, providing engineers
the “freedom” to connect to a broader range of expansion boards to achieve even greater
technological breakthroughs. Access to additional design tools available from Freescale, include
Processor Expert® software, and the Kinetis MCU Solution Advisor, plus all the detailed
information necessary to perform new evaluations using the development system, are also
available at the knode on element14.
element14 is displaying the Freescale Freedom hardware at its booth during Freescale’s annual
technology forum, FTF Americas, June 18-21 in San Antonio, Texas. The development platform
will also be center stage in an upcoming Webinar series at the element14 community, featuring
how-to sessions and technical support for real-world applications and design environments.
About element14
Launched in June 2009, element14 is the first information portal, collaborative community and
electronics store specifically built for electronic design engineers. The community recently unveiled
its element14 knode, a unique automated platform that enables engineers to quickly research,
design, develop and prototype in a single, intelligent environment. element14 is an innovative
offering from Premier Farnell plc (LSE:pfl), FTSE 250, a leader in multi-channel electronics
distribution trading throughout Europe (Farnell), the Americas (Newark) and Asia Pacific
(element14). The company had group sales of £990.8m and underlying profits of £93.3m last year.
About Premier Farnell
Premier Farnell plc (LSE:pfl) is a global leader in high service distribution of technology products
and solutions for electronic system design, maintenance and repair. Its differentiated proposition
includes 29 local language transactional websites, and the critically important element14
Community for design engineers – an industry first (www.element14.com). With sales last year of
£973.1m and underlying profits of £104.6m the Group distributes its comprehensive portfolio of
products and services throughout Europe, North America and Asia Pacific, supported by a global
supply chain and an inventory profile developed to anticipate and meet its customers’ needs.
While global in scope, Premier Farnell recognises the individual needs of each market and has
continued to internationalise its model accordingly. It trades locally as Farnell in Europe,
Newark/element14 in North America and Farnell Newark in Brazil. Across Asia Pacific the business
trades as element14.
Key Facts

Operations in 35 different countries

4,100 employees

Over 2 million customer contacts in 156 industries

Over 400,000 products stocked with access to over four million more on demand

Global leader in legislation RoHS, WEEE, REACH
For more information visit the website at Premier Farnell.
For news updates from element14 visit:
Premier Farnell News Centre – www.premierfarnell.com/media-centre
Twitter - @element14news; @element14
YouTube – element14
Facebook – /element14page
Or contact:
Email: pressoffice@premierfarnell.com
Global Contact:
Ken Leitch
Global Head of PR
Premier Farnell plc
Tel: +44 (0) 20 7851 4145
E-mail: KLeitch@premierfarnell.com
European Contact:
Aakriti Kaushik
European PR Manager
Farnell element14
Tel: +44 (0) 113 279 0101
Email: akaushik@premierfarnell.com
APAC Contact:
Christina Loh
Communications APAC
Tel: +65 6671 8769
E-mail: cloh@element14.com
Americas Contact:
Janice Fleisher
Communications Americas
Tel: +001 (1) 773 907 5941
Email: jfleisher@newark.com
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