COBRO Publishing, Inc. is a privately held corporation based in Lynnwood, Washington, USA

Founded in 1983, COBRO published the first sourcing directory in the Pacific Northwest for electronics buyers and engineers. Currently published twice each year, the Northwest Electronics Buyers Guide, or COBRO Book, is commonly called "my bible" by buyers and engineers in the Pacific Northwest.

In the early 1990's, COBRO Book users began requesting computer-based sourcing information. In early October 1995, the Windows® compatible version of electrobase.com, the electronic version of the COBRO Book, was previewed at Northcon/95, the regional electronics trade show in Portland, OR. Beta testing and product refinement took place during the fall and winter of 1995, and electroBASE was released on disk and on CD-ROM in the Northwest in April, 1996.

Also during the fall and winter of 1995, COBRO Publishing was working on electrobase.com, for users of the Internet, and introduced it to the world in April, 1996. Use of the site has grown dramatically each month since its debut, and currently averages over 10,000 unique visitors per month..

The COBRO Book and electrobase.com are both the brainchild of Brian Cole, a former materials manager with over 16 years of experience in the high tech electronics industry. Cole has brought his extensive knowledge of how buyers and engineers use sourcing materials to the design and structure of the print, CD-ROM and Internet versions of COBRO's sourcing guides. This attention to detail is why users say, "COBRO works the way real people work!"

What began as a regional sourcing guide in 1983, is now international in scope with information on over 8,400 component manufacturers, 2,000 distributors, reps and service companies (with over 4,400 branch offices), and more than 4,200 product categories.

The guiding principle behind electrobase.com and the Northwest Electronics Buyers Guide -- that complete data on distributors, reps, manufacturers, and services will attract engineers and buyers who value solid information -- continues to drive all that we do.