Altium and NXP Collaborate to Deliver Component Content Online

New collection of NXP Semiconductors microcontroller component resources now available as design-ready content in AltiumLive. CARLSBAD, Calif., May 10, 2012 /PRNewswire/ — Altium announces the release of a new range of board-level components for industry-leading ARM® Cortex™-M3, Cortex™-M4 & Cortex™-M0 based microcontrollers from NXP Semiconductors to their subscription customers through AltiumLive. Designing with components for …

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2012 DMES

911EDA at the 2012 Del Mar Electronics & Design Show May 2 and 3

You are invited by  911EDA, Inc. ~ Booth 217  to the 2012 Del Mar Electronics & Design Show   911EDA, Inc. would like to invite you to the 18th Annual Del Mar Electronics & Design Show. We will have engineering and PCB designers available to answer questions and discuss projects you need support on. If …

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New Questa Platform 10.1 Released by Mentor Graphics

Mentor Graphics Corp has announced the 10.1 release of the Questa functional verification platform, an integrated solution that transforms the functional verification of system-on-chip and FPGA designs. This release supports the universal verification methodology (UVM), accelerates coverage closure and provides better simulation and verification. “The Questa functional verification platform contains an integrated set of leading-edge …

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Altium Releases Maxim Board-Level Components as Online Resources

press release March 28, 2012, 8:00 a.m. EDT Altium Releases Maxim Board-Level Components as Online Resources New collection of Maxim component resources now available as design-ready content in AltiumLive CARLSBAD, Calif., March 28, 2012 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ — Altium, developer of next-generation electronics design software and services, has released new board-level components developed for a …

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Cadence Delivers High-Performance, Low-Power Design IP Supporting LPDDR3 Memory Standard

New Cadence Controller and PHY IP Solution Supports Latest Version of Memory Interface for Smartphone and Tablet Applications   SAN JOSE, CA–(Marketwire -03/21/12)- Cadence Design Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ: CDNS – News), a leader in global electronic design innovation, today announced the addition of design intellectual property (IP) for the LPDDR3 mobile memory standard to the …

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Altium and NXP Collaborate to Deliver Component Content Online911EDA at the 2012 Del Mar Electronics & Design Show May 2 and 3New Questa Platform 10.1 Released by Mentor GraphicsAltium Releases Maxim Board-Level Components as Online ResourcesCadence Delivers High-Performance, Low-Power Design IP Supporting LPDDR3 Memory Standard

May 16

Altium and NXP Collaborate to Deliver Component Content Online

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New collection of NXP Semiconductors microcontroller component resources now available as design-ready content in AltiumLive.

CARLSBAD, Calif., May 10, 2012 /PRNewswire/ — Altium announces the release of a new range of board-level components for industry-leading ARM® Cortex™-M3, Cortex™-M4 & Cortex™-M0 based microcontrollers from NXP Semiconductors to their subscription customers through AltiumLive.

Designing with components for NXP’s LPC1800 microcontrollers based on Cortex-M3 provides users with high performance operating speeds of up to 180 MHz, large on-chip memories, high-speed USB, SPI Flash Interface, and State Configurable Timers whilst the LPC1100 microcontrollers based on Cortex-M0 gives you instant access to low-cost, easy to use and energy-efficient processors.

Also available to Altium users, are the high-performance, low-cost, digital signal processing capabilities, which are introduced with the new Digital Signal Control (DSC) processors for the LPC4300 microcontroller series based on the Cortex-M4.

“Collaboration with NXP has enabled us to provide easy access to the Cortex-M3, Cortex-M4 & Cortex-M0 based microcontrollers for our global Subscription customers,” said Rowland Washington, Content Development Manager for Altium. “This update is delivered as part of our content-driven subscription model and further expands on our range of third-party, design-ready IP for our customers.”

Relationships with electronics suppliers such as Digi-Key, Mouser and Newark allow us to provide the Altium community with board-level components that include real-time supply-chain information, such as supplier choice, pricing and availability.

With this release, electronic designers now have access to a set of new, supply-chain enabled devices, which will complete the Cortex-M3, Cortex-M4 and Cortex-M0 board-level component support available in AltiumLive. The collection from NXP Semiconductors can be seen in the Unified Components store.

“Collaborating with Altium to deliver high-quality component models through AltiumLive will enable design engineers to harness the benefit of NXP microcontrollers with Altium’s extensive design library,” said Ken Dwyer, Applications Engineering Manager, NXP Semiconductors. “With these components now easily available, it will save hardware engineers valuable time and also speed up the design cycle.”

This component release joins the numerous content updates released through the AltiumLive platform to provide Altium Subscription customers with the latest design content available. More information on the board-level components and how they are accessed in Altium Designer is available from AltiumLive and in the related blogs.

NXP products are available directly from NXP online or from a range of NXP authorized distributors worldwide. For more information, go to http://www.nxp.com/microcontrollers.

911EDA, Inc. supports Altium Designer PCB layout and training services.  www.911eda.com

 

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Apr 30

911EDA at the 2012 Del Mar Electronics & Design Show May 2 and 3

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You are invited by

 911EDA, Inc. ~ Booth 217

 to the 2012 Del Mar Electronics & Design Show

 2012 DMES

911EDA, Inc. would like to invite you to the 18th Annual Del Mar Electronics & Design Show.

We will have engineering and PCB designers available to answer questions and discuss projects you need support on.

If you design, manufacture, or test products, this is your opportunity to network with thousands of professionals in a nearby, comfortable atmosphere.

Remember, attendance and parking are free, along with an all industry reception for you to enjoy food and drinks.

Please, come and have a fun productive day!

  •  Free Admission / Free Parking
  • Free Networking Party for Al
  • Local, Beautiful Location – Del Mar Fairgrounds and Expo Center
  • Full Technical Program Schedule
  • Hundreds of Exhibitors and Technical Personnel On-Site

 

Free Registration and Info – www.vts.com

 www.911eda.com

 

911EDA, Inc. provides high quality PCB layout and PCB design services, as well as Altium Designer Training.

 

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Apr 23

New Questa Platform 10.1 Released by Mentor Graphics

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Mentor Graphics Corp has announced the 10.1 release of the Questa functional verification platform, an integrated solution that transforms the functional verification of system-on-chip and FPGA designs. This release supports the universal verification methodology (UVM), accelerates coverage closure and provides better simulation and verification.

“The Questa functional verification platform contains an integrated set of leading-edge technologies that address the major verification challenges faced by today’s complex SoC, ASIC, and FPGA designs,” said John Lenyo, vice president and general manager of the design verification technology division of Mentor Graphics. “Design teams are looking for solutions that increase total verification throughput, improve verification quality, speed up adoption of new methodologies and effectively analyze verification results. This release of the Questa platform, combined with our comprehensive verification academy website, brings these powerful verification solutions and “know-how” to verification teams around the globe.”

Key features
1. Simulation and verification performance: The Questa 10.1 release introduces new Questa multi-core simulation technology. Questa Multi-Core is targeted for large designs that can take advantage of modern compute systems by partitioning the design to run on multiple CPUs or computers in parallel, while maintaining a single database for debug and coverage closure.
2. Support for UVM: The Questa 10.1 platform comes with a UVM-aware debug solution that gives engineers essential information about the operation of their dynamic, class-based testbenches in the familiar context of source code and waveform viewing that RTL designers have used for years. With additional UVM-specific views, Questa 10.1 shows the component hierarchy, class definition tree, and other UVM settings specific to a testbench to make it easier to understand the operation of the verification environment.
3. Coverage closure solutions: Mentor manages the verification process and achieving coverage closure.
4. The Questa verification manager is a suite of tools that helps manage verification processes, tools and data. A unified coverage database (UCDB) reduces verification file storage needs and improve analysis and query times. For process and tool management, Questa 10.1 now includes a new run manager control panel that makes it easier to control, configure, analyze and automate regression environments.
5. To accelerate coverage closure, Questa inFact’s intelligent testbench automation generates non-redundant stimulus. Users can automatically import their existing SystemVerilog constraints and covergroups.
6. Low power verification: Questa 10.1 supports for UPF 2.0, as well as multiple new static and dynamic power checks used for both register transfer level (RTL) and gate level power verification.
7. Questa verification platform: The Questa platform weaves together the verification tools with advanced methodologies.

911EDA, Inc. supports Mentor Graphics PCB layout tools.  Visit www.911eda.com to learn more.

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Mar 28

Altium Releases Maxim Board-Level Components as Online Resources

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press release

March 28, 2012, 8:00 a.m. EDT

Altium Releases Maxim Board-Level Components as Online Resources

New collection of Maxim component resources now available as design-ready content in AltiumLive

CARLSBAD, Calif., March 28, 2012 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ — Altium, developer of next-generation electronics design software and services, has released new board-level components developed for a collection of Maxim’s analog and mixed signal devices to its online content delivery system, AltiumLive.

The announcement highlights another step in Altium’s rapid and continuous expansion of the design content available through AltiumLive. Establishing strategic relationships with electronic component companies such as Maxim allows Altium to deliver high-quality design content directly to electronics designers using AltiumDesigner, via its online services.

The new components released to AltiumLive include Maxim’s smart building block products such as 1mm x 1mm 4-Pin comparators, MEMS-based real-time-clocks, point-of-load (POL) regulators and ‘beyond-the-rails’ multiplexers. Also in this release is a collection of design content for analog signal chain, interface and power devices.

The unified board-level components are developed and maintained using the latest Maxim source data. The design-ready components include schematic symbol and PCB footprints with detailed 3D models for mechanical integration during the PCB design process in Altium Designer. Through electronics suppliers such as Digi-Key, Mouser and Newark, the Altium board-level components also include real-time supply-chain information, such as supplier choice, pricing and availability.

“Relationships with key parts manufacturers such as Maxim pave the way to providing our customers with high-integrity component resources that are ready to use in Altium Designer,” said Rowland Washington, content development manager for Altium. “Hosting design content in AltiumLive allows us to update and maintain an ever increasing pool of valuable design resources for Altium Designer users.”

The release of Maxim unified components with supply-chain information adds to the collection of Maxim design content available from the AltiumLive Content Store, which includes Maxim’s memory and microcontroller devices.

“Providing Maxim content through AltiumLive really helps us to provide our mutual customers with access to up-to-date Maxim products,” said Shailendra Mahajan, executive director of strategic segment marketing at Maxim. “This further enhances our ability to provide a streamlined and efficient design experience when using Maxim products, and helps AltiumLive users meet their design and production milestones.”

The board-level components for the new and existing Maxim devices can be accessed online from the UnifiedComponents area in the AltiumLiveContentStore. Within Altium Designer 10, the ready-to-use components and supply-chain links are available though the Vault Explorer, which directly accesses Altium’s managed component vaults via the AltiumLive web portal.

More information on the board-level components and how they are accessed in Altium Designer is available from AltiumLive and in the related blogs. Maxim products are available directly from Maxim online or from a range of Maxim authorized distributors worldwide. For more information, go to www.maxim-ic.com .

About AltiumAltium Limited (asx:ALU) creates electronics design software and services based on the belief that anyone who wants to create electronic products that make a difference should be able to do so. Altium’s unified electronics design environment links all aspects of electronics product design in a single application that is priced to be as affordable as possible. This allows electronics designers break down barriers to innovation, harness the latest devices and technologies, manage their projects across broad design ecosystems, and create connected, intelligent designs.

Founded in 1985, Altium has headquarters in Shanghai, and operates worldwide. For more information, visit www.altium.com . You can also follow and engage with Altium via Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.

About Maxim Integrated ProductsMaxim MXIM -1.18% makes highly integrated analog and mixed-signal semiconductors. A leader in analog innovation and integration, Maxim is unique among semiconductor companies in the range of disparate analog functions that it can combine onto a single chip. Maxim’s highly integrated solutions help customers get to market faster with systems that are smaller and consume less power.

Maxim has headquarters in Sunnyvale, California and reported revenue of approximately $2.5 billion for fiscal 2011. For more information, go to www.maxim-ic.com .

911EDA, Inc. provides full PCB layout and engineering services utilizing the Altium Designer tool set.  Learn more at www.911eda.com

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Mar 22

Cadence Delivers High-Performance, Low-Power Design IP Supporting LPDDR3 Memory Standard

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New Cadence Controller and PHY IP Solution Supports Latest Version of Memory Interface for Smartphone and Tablet Applications

 

SAN JOSE, CA–(Marketwire -03/21/12)- Cadence Design Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ: CDNS – News), a leader in global electronic design innovation, today announced the addition of design intellectual property (IP) for the LPDDR3 mobile memory standard to the company’s design IP portfolio. Designed to provide the high bandwidth and low power consumption required by smartphones and tablets, the Cadence LPDDR3 memory IP solution includes integrated controller and PHY support, virtual prototyping, verification IP and Allegro® design-in kits to accelerate implementation and reduce design risk. Cadence’s highly configurable design IP allows the LPDDR3 standard to be combined with others in a single controller and PHY to enable SoCs that support multiple memory standards, making one design usable by multiple markets.

“To keep pace with the growing processing capabilities of today’s smartphones and tablets, SoC designers must support memory standards that are evolving just as quickly,” said Marc Greenberg, director of product marketing, SoC Realization Group, Cadence. “At Cadence, our goal is to enable early access to these standards by offering customers a broad range of high-performance, low power design IP standards, like LPDDR3, so they can quickly integrate the standard into new SoC designs.”

As part of the LPDDR3 launch, Cadence has upgraded the bandwidth management engine, Placement Queue 2.2, to optimize the way memory is accessed to improve overall system performance and power consumption.

In addition to LPDDR3, Cadence offers IP for other mobile and non-mobile memory standards in high demand by SoC designers, including Wide I/O and DDR4. More information about the Cadence verification IP catalog and the Allegro Design-in kits is available on the Cadence web site.

About LPDDR3

The LPDDR3 standard will offer an extension to the bandwidth of LPDDR2, reaching 6.4GByte/s per die (1600MT/s per pin) and allowing 12.8GByte/s for a dual channel configuration. It will support both PoP and discrete packaging types, allowing versatile usage. LPDDR3 will preserve the power-efficient features of LPDDR2, allowing for fast clock stop/start, low-power self-refresh, and smart array management. For more information about LPDDR3, please visit JEDEC, the microelectronics industry’s open standards organization.

About Cadence

Cadence enables global electronic design innovation and plays an essential role in the creation of today’s integrated circuits and electronics. Customers use Cadence software, hardware, IP, and services to design and verify advanced semiconductors, consumer electronics, networking and telecommunications equipment, and computer systems. The company is headquartered in San Jose, Calif., with sales offices, design centers, and research facilities around the world to serve the global electronics industry. More information about the company, its products, and services is available at www.cadence.com.

911EDA, Inc. supports Cadence Allegro PCB layout services and all OrCAD schematic services.  Learn more at www.911eda.com

Cadence, Allegro and the Cadence logo are registered trademarks of Cadence Design Systems, Inc. in the United States and other countries. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

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Mar 19

Altium Announces Altium Designer 12

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CARLSBAD, Calif., March 1, 2012 /PRNewswire/ – Altium, developer of next-generation electronics design software and services, announces Altium Designer 12, the evolution of the award winning unified electronics design solution Altium Designer. Altium Designer 12 was introduced during embedded world in Nuremberg, Germany, one year after the initial launch of AltiumLive and a new Altium Designer 10 platform.

With Altium Designer 12, Altium will continue its successful path which:

  • Provided the structure for a content-delivery platform that fundamentally changed the way new features and enhancements can be delivered,
  • Offered advanced board layout capabilities, powerful next-generation design data and release management systems and
  • Integrated access to Altium’s growing pool of online design content and software enhancements.

With this new approach, Altium Subscription customers have already benefited from 16 product updates within the last 12 months, all of which refined and extended the already powerful capabilities of Altium Designer.

Unique delivery model

With Altium Designer 12, Altium Subscription users will further benefit from an industry leading software delivery model. Unlike previous new versions, Altium Designer 12 will not be a large and potentially disruptive software upgrade – it will be delivered as part of, and further solidify, Altium’s continuous update model. This means that new features and functionality, as well as improvements and bug fixes, can be rolled out instantly and directly to Subscription users.

Altium’s powerful cloud-based infrastructure supports this platform for continuous updates to customers. The Plug-In Manager within Altium Designer gives users full control over which part of Altium Designer to install, and instant visibility into updates and installations.

Altium Designer 12 – reliable, refined, robust

Altium Designer 12 is comprised of the development work, continuous updates and system enhancements from the last 12 months. Some of the key features delivered to Altium Subscription customers include:

  • Custom Pad Shapes: Non-standard pad shapes, switch contacts, metal shielding and more can now be created easily out of complex structures while the masks are still managed automatically based on rules.
  • No ERC directives: This design directive is placed on a node in the circuit to suppress reported warning and/or error violation conditions (such as an unconnected pin), while still performing a comprehensive check of the rest of the circuit.
  • Greater control in High-Speed Designs: Impedance controlled routing is an integral part of managing signal integrity for critical signals on a PCB. The algorithms, which calculate the track width based on the PCB layer stack, include more physical parameters of the PCB to produce better results.

Full Access to AltiumLive Content Store

Altium Subscription customers can access the continuum of Altium Designer updates and thousands of ready to use board-level components (incl. live links into the supply chain), software plugin modules, design templates, reference designs and a growing library of example projects through the AltiumLive Content Store. Through Partnerships with key board-level component manufacturers such as STMicoelectronics, Altera, FTDI and Atmel, hundreds of new up-to-date components have already been released in 2012.

911EDA, Inc. provides full Altium Desiner PCB layout and PCB design services.  Visit www.911eda.com to learn more.

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Jan 06

Molex enhances zSFP+ SMT 20-circuit interconnect line

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Molex Inc. has enhanced its zSFP+ (Small Form-factor Pluggable Plus) SMT 20-circuit connectors aimed at high-speed telecom and data communications equipment. 

Designed for 25 Gbps serial channels in high-speed Ethernet and Fibre Channel, the zSFP+ interconnect assemblies are scalable for next-generation applications and provide optimal electromagnetic interference (EMI) and signal integrity (SI) margins in 10 and 16 Gbps channels.

Backward compatible zSFP+ connectors share the same mating interface and EMI cage dimensions as the SFP+ form factor.  The zSFP+ connectors feature a preferential coupling design using insert molding and a narrow edge-coupled blanked and formed contact geometry for high signal, mechanical and electrical performance while reducing resonance compared to current SFP+ products.  Components of the new zSFP+ interconnect system include: zSFP+ SMT 20-circuit connectors, stacked integrated connectors and passive optical cable assemblies.

The zSFP+ SMT 20-circuit connector features the same PCB footprint, mating interface and EMI cage dimensions for total backward compatibility as a drop-in replacement for current SFP+ form factor host board designs.  The high-temperature thermoplastic housing can withstand lead-free processing.  Single-port and 1x ganged cages support multiple port count applications and options for use with various board thicknesses and assembly processes to accommodate server and switch applications at a cost comparable to SFP+ cages.  Ganged cages are available with two, four or six ports for multiple design options.

The stacked integrated connector and cage is available in a press-fit application that eliminates reflow assembly and offers a compact, space saving design with ease-of-processing.  An internal vertical shield provides unparalleled EMI reduction performance.  Press-fit tails accommodate belly-to-belly applications for single and ganged cages to maximize use of printed circuit board (PCB) space.  Optional rear and side-mounted lightpipe cover assemblies allow flexibility of PCB signal routing of LEDs to provide port status and activity feedback to the user. 

Molex fiber optic LC duplex cable assemblies with OM3/OM4 fiber are used with zSFP+ optical modules, offering a high-performance interconnect solution with customization options for length and strain relief boots which include straight, 45 and 90 degrees angles.  LC duplex jumpers with OM3/OM4 fiber offer the enhanced launch bandwidth needed for this next generation of zSFP+ devices.  Molex LC duplex connectors meet the EIA-TIA and FOCIS 10 standards and are compliant with MSA devices. 

For more information: Click here.

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Dec 19

Altium Releases the 15th Update to Altium Designer v10

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Altium has just released the 15th update to Altium Designer Release 10.  911EDA supports Altium Designer through our PCB layout services and Altium Designer Training.  This is an email Altium sent out with their announcement.

Some of the notable enhancements include:

Custom Pad shapes:

The addition of rule-based solder and/or paste mask expansions on fills, regions and tracks makes attaching custom geometries to component pads easier than ever before. Check out the wiki for more information.

Loop Removal Algorithm Improvements:

Rework PCB routes more easily and intuitively with better loop removal algorithms.

Additional FPGA Vendor Constraints and Device Support:

Increased access to the latest FPGA IO standards and vendor constraints from within Altium’s Unified Design Environment.

Added support for IE Proxy Scripts: Maintain the ability to install and update Altium Designer even when accessing the Internet through Proxy Scripts defined within Internet Explorer.

These items (and more) were fixed in response to items requested by customers through BugCrunch. Once again, we thank those Subscribers who have submitted, nominated and voted in these reports. Your assistance has continued to build on the extensive list of other features we’ve been able to deliver since the release of Altium Designer Release 1.

Reset schematic designators during paste: Copying and pasting components within the schematic editor will now optionally reset the designators.

New PCB Design Rule for shelved Polygons: Protect against inadvertently leaving polygons shelved when sending a design off to be manufactured.

High-resolution control of Electrical Rule checking in schematics: Finely control the suppression of Electrical Rule errors for specific nets and objects at the schematic level.

A new CTRL+Drag mode for the schematic editor:

Position graphical objects such as component designators, comments and parameters more accurately.

Variant Support added to the STEP exporter: Export mechanically accurate variants of the PCB assembly directly to 3D Mechanical CAD tools.

So if you haven’t looked at AltiumLive for a while, hop on now to read the Developer Blogs, get involved in the Forum discussions, and check out the latest BugCrunch requests that are feeding into the development of everything else that is coming down the pipe.

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Dec 14

IPC to Introduce New E-Publication (911EDA news)

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Association Connecting Electronics Industries® will launch IPC Outlook, an electronic newsletter and Web portal for multimedia information about technology, standards, best practices and industry research. The new e-publication will focus on information that helps engineers and managers succeed in their jobs.  911EDA designs to IPC specifications and will update our practice based on this update.

Based on feedback from a major communications study conducted by IPC in 2011, the distribution of IPC Outlook will be weekly and open to all individuals working in the electronics manufacturing industry. Regular features will include sections on cleaning; new product innovations; expert Q & A; defect analysis; materials; production floor; supply chain and IPC updates.

“This is a major step for IPC,” says IPC Vice President of Marketing and Communications, Kim Sterling. “Broadening our communications within the industry will reinforce IPC’s already-strong position as ‘the most trusted’ outlet for supporting the needs of industry companies, with critical and reliable information.”

IPC Outlook is available in preview version at www.IPCOutlook.org. The Web portal and newsletter will be advertiser-supported with sponsorships available at various levels, including discounts for IPC members.

“IPC Review, our member newsletter, will transition into IPC Outlook and provide information that’s more timely and dynamic,” continues Sterling. “This is an exciting opportunity for more people in the industry to benefit from IPC’s commitment to education and information exchange.” Sterling confirms that IPC members will enjoy privileged access to more information and resources in the members-only section of the IPC website.

A subscription to IPC Outlook is free. Visit www.IPCOutlook.org to subscribe.

About IPC

IPC is a global trade association based in Bannockburn, Illinois, dedicated to the competitive excellence and financial success of its 3,000 member companies which represent all facets of the electronics industry, including design, printed board manufacturing, electronics assembly and test. As a member-driven organization and leading source for industry standards, training, market research and public policy advocacy, IPC supports programs to meet the needs of an estimated $2.02 trillion global electronics industry. IPC maintains additional offices in Taos, New Mexico; Arlington, Virginia; Stockholm, Sweden; Moscow, Russia; Bangalore, India; and Shanghai, Shenzhen and Beijing, China. For more information, visit www.ipc.org.

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Nov 28

Altium Releases the 14th Update to Altium v10

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Altium has just released the 14th update to Altium Designer Release 10.

Some of the notable enhancements include:

Variant Support added to the STEP exporter

  • Export mechanically accurate variants of the PCB assembly directly to 3D Mechanical CAD tools.

DXF/DWG Added to Outjobs

  • With the addition of DXF/DWG export support in Outjobs, now you can automate the creation of this common output format and share settings across multiple projects.

Improved handling of duplicate pad names on a PCB component (Footprint)

  • Resolve net allocations to duplicate pad names within a PCB component. This is most helpful when using PCB packages with thermal pads that have been given the same name as other pads on the component.

Smoother cycling between designated routing layers

  • Add an additional layer of rule protection by ensuring that only layers permitted by the design rules can be selected during interactive routing; even if prohibited layers are also visible.
  • These items (and more) were fixed in response to items requested by customers through BugCrunch. To those Subscribers who submitted, nominated and voted in these reports we thank you once again for your assistance and we look forward to further community contributions. Just take a look at all the other features we’ve been able to accomplish together since the launch of Altium Designer Release 10.

A new CTRL+Drag mode for the schematic editor

  • Position graphical objects such as component designators, comments and parameters more accurately.

Optimisation of the “Find Partial Matches” stage of the Design Synchronizer

  • The “Find Partial Matches” stage of the Design Synchronizer is used when performing comparisons between two designs, two stages of a single design, or two design libraries. Optimisations to this portion of Altium Designer has led to performance improvements of over 2 orders of magnitude in some cases.

Schematic Notes can be hidden during printing operations

  • Notes are a great way of keeping track of changes required in an evolving design, but can be a real distraction when creating client printouts. Now you can hide notes when creating print or PDF outputs.

Dimensioning Capabilities improved for Embedded Board Arrays

  • Dimensions referenced to an Embedded Board Array are now automatically refreshed when a design containing an Embedded Board Array is opened.

High-resolution control of Electrical Rule checking in schematics

  • Finely control the suppression of Electrical Rule errors for specific nets and objects at the schematic level.
  • So if you haven’t looked at AltiumLive for a while, hop on now to read the Developer Blogs, get involved in the Forum discussions, and check out the latest BugCrunch requests that are feeding into the development of everything else that is coming down the pipe.

911EDA provides PCB layout services using Altium Designer.  We also offer Altium Designer training courses – both comprehensive and advanced.  Visit www.911eda.com to learn more about our services.

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Nov 23

Altium Updates Component Libraries | 911EDA Altium Designer Libraries

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911EDA, Inc. maintains a large Altium Designer parts library.  All parts are built to IPC specifications.  When parts are built as part of a layout project. those parts are embedded in the Altium files, allowing our customers to add those parts to their libraries and use them as verified parts in future designs.
Altium also maintains a library and has updated existing products and added a host of new products from Microchip, STMicroelectronics and Silicon Laboratories to its Hobart Vault component libraries.
From Microchip, the PIC24E family has been added, while the PIC24F, PIC24H and PIC32 ranges have been updated and new components added. Also added are managed components for STMicroelectronics microcontrollers in the STM32F, STM32L, STM32W and STM8L families, as well as the company’s sensors and MEMS products. From Silicon Labs, several microcontrollers covering analog-intensive, automotive and industrial requirements have been added, as well as the QuickSense Si11xx family of active infrared proximity sensors.
AltiumLive subscribers can use these components by connecting to the Vault directly from Altium Designer 10 using their AltiumLive credentials, or by browsing to the AltiumLive Design Content area and selecting the Altium Hobart Vault.

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Nov 21

Mentor Graphics Posts Positive Q3 Results

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Mentor Graphics Corporation today announced financial results for the company’s fiscal third quarter ended October 31, 2011. The company reported revenues of $250.5 million, non-GAAP earnings per share of $.25, and GAAP earnings per share of $.22.  911EDA supports PCB layout and PCB designs using Mentor Graphics products, including Expedition, BoardStation, and PADs.

“Bookings were again a record, up over 20% from the previous third quarter record, and for the second consecutive year our book-to-bill through the third quarter is positive,” said Walden C. Rhines, Chairman and CEO of Mentor Graphics. “This quarter saw the beginning of the strength we predicted in our Design to Silicon category for the second half, with bookings in the third quarter up year-on-year by over 55%, and by about 15% year to date. Looking forward, we expect the technical challenges of advanced nodes to drive significant opportunity for us.”

During the quarter, the company expanded the Valor® product line with a new business intelligence product. The Mentor® Nucleus® real-time operating system was upgraded to include new power management technology, making it an even more compelling solution for mobile computing and telecommunication. The company also advanced its embedded systems software suite for automobile infotainment with a GENIVI compliant product and a partnership with Freescale Semiconductor. ARM and Mentor announced a joint manufacturing test solution for ARM processor-based designs. NuFlare Technology and Mentor announced a partnership on advanced IC mask generation. The company announced improvements to its design-for-test products that will allow it to find new classes of chip defects. GlobalFoundries and Mentor announced new support for GlobalFoundries’ third generation design sign-off for leading-edge IC manufacturing. The Mentor transportation Capital® product suite won an EDN Hot 100 products of 2011 award.

“Leading indicators for the business continued to be strong, with third quarter support declines down and consulting and training bookings doubling. Annual fees for renewing contracts in the top ten transactions were up 40% over their prior annual fees. Base business, contracts below $1 million in value that booked and billed in the quarter, grew 15% over last year,” said Gregory K. Hinckley, President of Mentor Graphics. “The company’s earnings have historically been very back-end loaded with much of our business closing in the fourth quarter. For the last several years, we have been working with our customers to create more linearity in our financial results, and are pleased with the progress we have been showing. With our newly raised guidance, we now expect 48% of annual non-GAAP earnings to occur in the fourth quarter this fiscal year, compared to 69% in Fiscal 2011.”

Outlook

For the fourth quarter, the company expects revenues of about $316 million, non-GAAP earnings per share of approximately $.50, and GAAP earnings per share of $.46. For the full fiscal year, ending January 31, 2012, the company expects revenues of $1.01 billion, non-GAAP earnings per share of $1.05, and GAAP earnings per share of $.69.

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Nov 08

Altium Wins NPI Award for Altium Designer 10 Software at PCB West

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Altium Designer Training, News and Events, PCB Layout Services

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911EDA is a premier Altium Designer PCB design firm.  We also offer Altium Designer training courses.

Press release date: October 11, 2011

CARLSBAD, Calif., — Altium won the prestigious New Product Introduction (NPI) Award for Altium Designer 10 in the printed circuit board (PCB) design category, presented by Printed Circuit Design & Fab (PCD&F) at the PCB West tradeshow. The fifth annual NPI Awards recognize leading new products released during the previous 12 months as selected by an independent panel of practicing industry engineers.

“We are thrilled at the quality and number of entrants for the 2011 PCD&F NPI Award,” said UP Media Group editorial director Mike Buetow. “The entries were very strong and competitive, and the judges had a difficult time with their selections. Based on the judges’ comments, we believe Altium Designer 10 is a significant new product for printed circuit board design due to its ability to allow FPGA/PCB co-design and real-time 3D PCB design, while linking users directly to the supply chain.”

“The goal for Altium Designer 10 was to unify PCB, FPGA and embedded design while utilizing a new web-based ecosystem for not only design content, but continuous updates and new plug-ins as well,” said Bob Potock, director of marketing for Altium Americas. “This next-generation design approach has received positive feedback from customers, and an industry endorsement like this award from PCD&F further validates that Altium Designer 10 is helping the electronics design industry take that next step forward.”

Altium Designer 10 provides lifecycle management, team-based PCB design, real-time 3D PCB design, integrated version control, configurable release processes, connectivity IP and more. It utilizes AltiumLive, a connected web ecosystem that acts as a conduit for delivering content and services directly to customers.

In addition, Altium’s innovative Vault server technology is a workgroup data management solution with lifecycle management that bridges the design process and the supply chain. It provides designers a data management system hosted in-house or in the cloud that maintains the integrity of the data from design creation to manufacturing release.

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Oct 28

911EDA Altium Designer Training Online Course November 14-17

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Altium Designer Training, News and Events

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911EDA has scheduled its next online Altium Designer training course for November 14-17.

This is a live, fully interactive online training course. In order to allow everyone to ask questions, we limit the number of attendees to 5, so be sure to register soon!

This course is an introductory/comprehensive course designed to teach you how to use the Altium Designer tool throughout an entire design. We developed this course in response to feedback received from customers who use our Altium Designer layout services. We worked with them to create a course that actually takes you through an entire design, start to finish.

We work through how to set up and manage a project, how to set up and manage libraries, schematics, layout, and generating deliverables. By following an actual design process, we have found that more information is retained once you work on your first design.

Our training manual is included, which follows the course and provides instruction which can be referenced after the course is complete. Follow up time with our instructor is also included.

You can learn more about our course at http://www.911eda.com/Altium%20Designer%20Training.htm or register for a course at http://www.911eda.com/Altium_Designer_Training_Class_Registration.htm

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Oct 24

911EDA Altium Designer Training at Learn 4 Good

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Altium Designer Training

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You can now request information regarding 911EDA’s Altium Designer Training courses on Learn 4 Good at http://www.learn4good.com/schools/california-eda-electronic-design-training.htm.

911EDA offers Altium Designer Training courses.  Our courses have been developed to teach people how to use Altium Designer in a real world environment.  Our courses follow an actual design process from start to finish.

Learn more at www.911eda.com or http://www.911eda.com/Altium%20Designer%20Training.htm

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