CENTENNIAL, Colo. & SYDNEY--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Arrow Electronics, Inc. (NYSE:ARW), a Fortune 500 leading technology solutions and engineering provider, and Freelancer.com (ASX:FLN), the world's largest freelancing and crowdsourcing marketplace by number of users, today announced the launch of ArrowPlus powered by Freelancer.com.
The new platform allows Fortune 500 companies and innovative technology creators to design and build hardware products through access to over half a million skilled electronic and electrical engineers. ArrowPlus powered by Freelancer will transform the way products will be designed, manufactured and delivered to market. On-demand engineering from ArrowPlus and Freelancer will catalyze a step change in research and development, cutting times from years to months through access to a global network of highly diverse technical skills and reduce cost to market. Now next year’s “new products” for CES Las Vegas are just a click away.
Arrow Electronics guides innovation for over 200,000 leading technology manufacturers and service providers. With 2018 sales of $30 billion ranking #113 in the 2018 Fortune 500, Arrow brings to the collaboration a large volume of high-quality, high-value projects, from established companies with a real demand for innovation and talent. Arrow has built a proprietary Certified Engineering network which has been a key differentiator in helping its customers win with technology. This new platform is designed to solve sophisticated technology problems spanning consumer electronics, transportation, healthcare, industrial, Internet of Things (IoT), telecommunications, biomedical, cloud security, firmware, hardware, and connected products in every industry.
Freelancer.com is the world’s largest freelancing and crowdsourcing marketplace with more than 32 million users around the world and over 15 million jobs posted in over 1,350 skill areas. Freelancer.com is used by companies from startups to global giants. Freelancer.com brings to the collaboration the platform and the world’s best expertise in running global online services marketplaces, allowing Arrow to transform its services business into a dynamic, connected talent cloud.
Together, the exclusive strategic alliance is a category definer for how hardware products are designed and electronics & electrical engineering services are delivered.
Businesses that need technology help from concept to scale can leverage ArrowPlus powered by Freelancer to find highly qualified experts, utilize Arrow technology concierge services that ensure project success, and go to market faster and more cost effectively.
The full lifecycle of hardware product development can be accomplished through ArrowPlus powered by Freelancer including, but not limited to:
- Ideation & prototyping
- Analog & digital design
- Printed circuit board design
- Bill of Materials (BOM) part selection
- Custom requirements to product delivery
- Component consolidation and cost reduction
- Redesign for smaller size
- Documentation & translation
- Development of firmware, drivers and middleware
- Real-time embedded software development
- Integrated circuit design
- Manufacturing
“This breakthrough strategic alliance with Arrow Electronics represents the first launch of Freelancer Enterprise. We are absolutely delighted that Arrow chose to team with Freelancer.com on this landmark initiative,” said Freelancer.com CEO and Chairman Matt Barrie. “Freelancer.com is the number-one marketplace for talent and skilled workers. We have seen increasing demand to solve difficult and complex technology problems from larger organizations. For example, NASA and the United States Department of Energy are using Freelancer.com to crowdsource technology solutions. We are excited to form an exclusive alliance with the most trusted guide in technology creation, Arrow Electronics, to break down barriers for larger companies with more complex needs to utilize our platform to accelerate technology."
“ArrowPlus brings the serious know-how of Arrow’s 80 years of engineering, tools, technology, and services into the platform economy with Freelancer. Arrow has become one of the world’s largest technology solutions companies in the last five years and beyond our own engineering we have built a proprietary network of certified 3rd party Arrow Certified engineering partners. Our Arrow Certified Engineering network has worked with marquee Fortune 500 clients to make products and technology,” said Arrow’s Chief Digital Officer Matt Anderson. “We anticipate in the future that up to 30% of R&D spend could leverage a model where Arrow provides a technical concierge and project management to a vast network of high-end engineering talent. The products and services Arrow has helped design are helping people every day from paraplegic veterans regaining their sense of freedom and independence to mothers in undeveloped regions of the world giving birth more safely. If you are a company that wants to build a product, there is no better way to get started than with Arrow and Freelancer.”
About Arrow Electronics
Arrow Electronics (NYSE:ARW) guides innovation forward for over 200,000 leading technology manufacturers and service providers. With 2018 sales of $30 billion, Arrow develops technology solutions that improve business and daily life.
Learn more at FiveYearsOut.com.
About Freelancer®
Eleven-time Webby award-winning Freelancer.com (ASX:FLN) is the world’s largest freelancing and crowdsourcing marketplace by total number of users and projects posted. More than 32 million registered users have posted over 15 million projects and contests to date in over 1,350 areas as diverse as website development, logo design, marketing, copywriting, astrophysics, aerospace engineering and manufacturing. Freelancer owns Escrow.com, the leading provider of secure online payments and online transaction management for consumers and businesses on the Internet with over US$4 billion in transactions secured. Freelancer also owns Freightlancer, a global enterprise freight marketplace.
Forward-looking statements
This document contains certain "forward-looking statements". The words "anticipate", "believe", "expect", "project", "forecast", "estimate", “outlook”, “upside”, "likely", "intend", "should", "could", "may", "target", "plan" and other similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. Indications of, and guidance on, future earnings and financial position and performance, including Freelancer’s FY19 outlook, are also forward-looking statements, as are statements regarding Freelancer’s plans and strategies and the development of the market. Such forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors, many of which are beyond the control of Freelancer, which may cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied in such statements. Freelancer cannot give any assurance or guarantee that the assumptions upon which management based its forward-looking statements will prove to be correct or exhaustive beyond the date of its making, or that Freelancer's business and operations will not be affected by other factors not currently foreseeable by management or beyond its control. Such forward-looking statements only speak as at the date of this announcement and Freelancer assumes no obligation to update such information. The release, publication or distribution of this document in jurisdictions outside Australia may be restricted by law. Any failure to comply with such restrictions may constitute a violation of applicable securities laws.
