In 1989, Michael Galinski founded America II Electronics, Inc. with a dream of establishing a successful distributorship in the integrated circuit market. Today, America II stands as one of the largest, and most preferred,* independent distributors of electronic components in the world, keeping the dream alive.

At the heart of the America II dream lies a commitment to total customer satisfaction. A devoted electronic commodity purchasing department, semiconductor sales specialists, and global online product sourcing connect customers with one of the largest semiconductor inventories in the world. The company also offers a variety of inventory management programs to provide solutions to customers attempting to manage mature or excess product, including a strategic alliance with franchised electronic component distributor Avnet Inc. that puts America II's logistics and inventory management expertise behind an online market exchange (launched October 2001).

A focus on growth - without compromising quality - helps define America II's dream. The year 2000 saw much growth for the company as domestic and international expansion drove America II to meet rising customer demand and achieve its first $300 million year. This expansion included adding a 156,000-square foot warehousing facility to its St. Petersburg, Florida corporate campus and establishing international operations in the UK, Mexico, and Japan. America II completed construction on another warehousing facility in St. Petersburg in May 2002 and added international operations in Belgium and Germany before year end. The expansion continued into 2003 with start-up operations in Singapore and representation in China and Israel. Moving into 2004, America II added representation in Italy.

Attesting to the quality management practices guiding these facilities, America II has been ISO 9002-certified since 1994 and is the only component distributor to date, including franchised and independent distributors, to achieve ANSI/ESD S20.20 certification (#0020628-011675 and #0020628-025063). In 2003, America II was certified to the ISO 9001:2000 standard (#0017892-006693).

Underlying the America II dream is the pride of being an independent distributor. The America II team and its customers understand that independent status allows for making quick responses to changing customer needs and trends in the market and pricing. Much of the company's vitality in the electronic component supply chain can be attributed to its industry veterans, skilled in forecasting the trends of the trade. Driven by the insight and experience of these professionals, America II has earned an industry-wide reputation as the source for allocated, obsolete, and hard-to-find components as well as the commodity product that customers use on a daily basis.

The company's successes have been noted over the years, most recently in *EBN's Second Annual Distributor Customer Preference Study (2003) in which customers voted America II the preferred independent after rating the distributor three times higher than the next competitor in line. America II consistently ranks as one of the industry's Top 10 independent distributors, has twice landed in the top 100 of Inc. Magazine's 500 Fastest-Growing Private Companies in America (1994, 1995), and made the top five of the Suncoast Technology Fast 50 (1995).

Over the years, the America II dream has been realized, renewed, and reattained in a continuous cycle, ever progressing. As always, the company remains committed to providing customers with spontaneous and reliable access to a global source of information and supply related to their semiconductor needs.