Premier Farnell is rebranding its catalogue and online component distribution business as Element14.
The new brand went live in the Asia Pacific region in October and the European and North American markets will follow.
"We are on a branding journey and it is accelerating," Marianne Culver, head of global supplier management for Element14 told Electronics Weekly at Electronica this week.
"Since October 20th we have been trading as Element14 in Asia Pacific," said Culver.
Culver confirmed that rebranding is total and that the catalogue in Australia as well as the websites across the region all have the new name.
Asia Pacific is the smallest of the distributor's regions, representing 20% of the global business, and it is the most web-centric market. So it was logical that this would be the first region to rebrand.
"We launched in Taiwan and Korea in the summer with Element14 websites only and that told us that the new brand would work," said Culver.
Culver would not give any timescale for a name change in Europe or North America.
"All I will say is we have an end in mind, but there is no definite milestone plan yet," said Culver.
" A lot of engagement with customers and suppliers will be required," said Culver.
The change has already started in the US where the company has launched an Element14 store where products can be bought. In Europe the transactional website is still separate from the Element14 design community website.
"We do not want to surprise anyone in the supplier community and so we will be laying out our web credentials," said Culver.
"Many suppliers already buy in to the web as part of our multi-channel sales strategy," said Culver.
The multi-channel strategy is one thing which is not changing. Culver indicated that Element14 will be as wedded to the print catalogue as Farnell is.