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Preparation Time Eases EOL Transition While Ushering in New Product Lines

March 2, 2023
 

Legacy Products EOL Announcement Offers Extensive Transition Period

 

The past year, 2022, marked a year of high activity for AMETEK Programmable Power, as our new Asterion AC and Asterion DC lines gained momentum and we launched our Sequoia Series and Tahoe Series of programmable power sources. Our plans for 2023 are no less exciting and momentous as we announce a phase out of some of our legacy product lines, the reasons for this End-of-Life announcement, and our careful planning and preparation to assist our customers with this transition.  

In fact, the words caring and concern, planning and preparation define our approach to an End-of-Life (EOL) announcement. Our main consideration is and always has been the customer and their needs. The changing landscape for power supplies and electronic components has forced the difficult decision to EOL legacy product lines. At the same time, we strive to give customers as much notice as possible to manage the changeover.  

Our legacy low-power DC products have reached a point of obsolescence and are being phased out. At the same time, our new flagship programmable power line, Asterion® DC, offers a higher power density in a more compact form, greater product and programming flexibility, lower selection complexity, and, importantly, is designed to provide backward compatibility with our legacy product lines. 
 
Overall, we planned this phase out to allow customers a full year to formulate a thoughtful transition. We are committed to working with our customer base, where relationships can stretch back 25 years or more, to fulfill final orders or last-time purchases.  

Asterion AC_1U2U

 

Thorough Planning Eases the EOL Transition Period 

As technology evolves, inevitably, innovation will impact the product life cycle. With enough time and planning, the transition should not cause undue stress. The team at AMETEK Programmable Power has decades of test engineering experience, and have developed a complete EOL checklist to accommodate the impact to test programs involving factors such as cabling, timing, etc. We approach all of our work, including this transition, as a power supply group embedded within your company rather than as an impersonal outside vendor.   

Legacy products require components that are increasingly more difficult to source. There is a limited capability to add features to these legacy products when new designs can accommodate these new features more quickly and easily. Our goal with the latest product development is to replace these legacy products with a new line that limits the risk to customers in terms of form, fit, and function. As another objective, we streamlined the number of unique parts utilized in the Asterion design to create a more manageable lead time while offering the most significant degree of flexibility.  
Asterion DC_1U2U_smaller

 

New Asterion Line Boosts Power Density, Reduces Complexity 

The new Asterion line of high-power density components, which started roll-out in 2021, offers customers a more concentrated power supply in a compact form. The new line offers power ratings of 1.7, 3.4, 5.0, and 10 kilowatts, with power supplies up to 5 kW housed in a 1U chassis and the 10 kW solution housed in a 2U chassis.  

As a key consideration in its development, the Asterion product line, both for AC and DC products, was designed specifically to alleviate transition issues by offering our customers alternative models with similar output and more advanced controls, with capabilities beyond that of our legacy line or other, competitive products.

Streamlining parts and production makes the system faster and easier to build, allowing us greater control over lead times. Functionally and economically, this technology establishes the Asterion line as a foundational building block for future upgrades with the least disruption.  

The new Asterion DC Series fixed range supplies are an economical option for traditional rectangular wave output power supplies, with nine different output options of up to 600V. The Asterion DC line also offers various autoranging models in the 1.7kW to 10kW power range. This expands the current and voltage range at the full output power level to satisfy a more comprehensive testing need without purchasing additional models. An intuitive color touchscreen display provides operators full control in multiple languages for global adoption.  

The new product portfolio overall:  

  • Standardizes the I/O, controls, look, and feel for a true product family
  • Reduces the portfolio complexity, providing more comprehensive and nimble solutions
  • Offers flexibility for power levels
  • Improved power density decreases rack space requirements
  • Reduces the factory complexity for supply chain and inventory for more reasonable lead times 
  • Helps customers avoid oversizing to meet power specifications 

 

ASTDC_3-Channel_Unit_3Q_Left_HIGH_ON_DS10257 smallerSave space. A more compact programmable power supply can make a huge difference when every square foot counts. The Asterion DC ASA and Asterion DC ASM Series feature up to three outputs in a 1U chassis, with 1800W or 5100 total power, respectively. This is a New-to-the-World product providing the highest power and channel density in the market.  The product will make more rack space available, allowing customers to add more components to the existing rack and/or eliminate factory floor space and devote the space to other purposes.   

Save money. The new units are programmable to supply customers' needed power without forcing an unnecessary upgrade and expense. For example, let’s consider a customer’s product operating on a nominal 48VDC at 1700W but test system characteristics and requirements dictated the power supply to have a 52VDC maximum output.  Under normal conditions, DC programmable power supplies would be available in 40V or a 60V versions. The original test requirement would be 52V and 32.7A (1700W).  This would require the customer to buy a 60V but the available current with a 60V@1700W is only 28.3A thus requiring them to buy a 3400W unit to supply the current they need.  With SELECT, all they need to do is request 52VDC at 32.7A and we can provide a 1700W power supply saving more than 60% in price.  

The EOL product phase-outs will occur in stages. Products being consolidated as part of phase 1:  

  • The XG 1500 and XG 1700 Series 
  • The XFR 2.8K Series 
  • The DCS 3K Series 
  • DLM 3K and DLM 4k Series will have a partial EOL  
  • AMETEK Programmable Power offers one-year last time buy for all models through 9/30/23, with service support through 9/30/28.  

Phase 2 Product consolidation:  

  • SGe and SGI  
  • Last time buy for all models through 12/16/23, with service and support through 12/16/28.  

Phase 3 Product consolidation:  

  • To be announced.

The Asterion product line offers customers an advanced tool that will serve customer requirements and programmable power needs for the next ten to fifteen years. We invite discussions with customers unable to upgrade within this 12-month timeframe to decide on a plan of action. A transition to the newer product line can supply the best and most efficient cost outlay instead of custom or special builds. We can help you plan this business decision for the most significant cost-effectiveness, least risk, and most reward for your business goals. Take a look at our new white paper to learn how product lifecycles can affect any end-of-life transitions you receive from a supplier and how you manage those transitions effectively and efficiently. Or, contact us today to learn more!