[time-nuts] HP Cesium Standards in the International Atomic Time Scale, the legend of Felix Lazarus, and the "top cover

[Hal Murray]

jimlux at earthlink.net said:
> and the "market lifetime" of parts today is much shorter.  There are  lots of
> parts from Hittite that were essentially "run on this line  only", and when
> they moved geometries, they're never to be seen again. 

Most vendors make a lot of noise before they pull the plug on a part.  The 
usual deal is that they fill all orders placed by a specified date - lifetime 
buy.  Distributors typically send a note to anybody who has purchased them, or 
maybe only purchased significant quantities.

If a part isn't expensive, you can afford to buy extras beyond what you expect 
to need to cover some what-ifs.  That probably doesn't cover something like 
the 5071 being in production for 30 years.  But it could give you a few years 
warning - maybe enough time to find a substitute and/or redesign that section.



-- 
These are my opinions.  I hate spam.