RF Design began business 20 years ago, at a time when it was difficult to source RF and microwave components.
Taking advantage of this market opportunity, the company became the exclusive representative for some of the best known RF and microwave component suppliers in the US.
RF Design spent the first 10 years of its life carving out a niche for itself in the radio frequency market in South Africa by offering great service and, above all, excellent product knowledge and support.
The company entered the era post apartheid, like everyone, with uncertainty. When the military business looked to be slowing, it added strong commercial component and module lines to its portfolio. This was the beginning of new growth for the company as its expansion continued with the opening of a new sales office in Johannesburg.
As the company’s growth continued, more dedicated staff were added to both offices, and soon a new office in Johannesburg was required. Three years later, RF Design moved into larger premises in Cape Town and a Durban office with two more staff members was added in 2007. The company now has three offices employing nearly 30 staff.
RF Design’s broad product portfolio today includes GPS modules from u-blox, machine-to-machine modules from Telit, as well as Tibbo’s BASIC-programmable device servers and communication controllers. That is not to mention Axsem’s range of RF transmitters, receivers and transceivers, and embedded WiFi modules from Connect One.
Always being innovative in the systems and technology which it employs has again been demonstrated by the newly launched website, which now contains over 450 products online. RF Design is also one of the few suppliers to offer customers the opportunity to purchase products online.
According to RF Design’s Andrew Hutton, “Our growth is due to many reasons; our biggest asset is the great people in the business. We pride ourselves on our sales, service and support being better than most in our industry. Our admin staff work extremely hard to try and keep our customers happy with up-to-date information and on-time deliveries, which is a tough and often thankless task. Of course, none of this would be possible if it was not for the customers we have built up over the years. We really appreciate the position we are in.”
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