IHS Engineering yesterday launched CatalogXpress at his.com/catalogxpress, a collection of 16,000 electronic catalogs of manufacturers that aim to make life easier for time-pressed, discerning design engineers, purchasing agents and corporate librarians.
The catalogs cover industries like aerospace, electronic components, telecommunications, hardware, and construction, among others.
“It’s a value-added tool,” said Joe Kroog, marketing manager at Englewood, CO-based engineering and technical publisher. “Ideally what this will do is take the place of navigating through print catalogs or searching through traditional Web search engines.”
The site will allow companies to find parts, products and components through keyword searches or manufacturer name. Searches can be customized to user requirements. The database will be continually updated — another attraction for engineers who often are forced to look up old catalogs.
CatalogXpress will also give users access to 400,000 supplier profiles and contact information, and links to their Web sites. In addition, it offers information on 600,000 international distributor and sales offices.
Free to manufacturers, the site is password-protected and is priced between $5,000 and $25,000 a year for subscribers.
In mid-April IHS Engineering will kick off an e-mail campaign to 60,000 addresses, followed shortly by a direct mail drop to another 80,000 engineers. All names are part of an in-house database. Print ads in engineering trade publications will support.
