Upgrade to the future of design
Altium has a long history of innovation in
the development of software technology for PCB design. For
many years this has been delivered in products that carry
the well-known Protel brand name. Altium, with its Protel product, pioneered Personal
Computer-based board design technology, and Protel was the
first PCB design tool to make use of the Windows operating
system. The combination of high-quality software made
available in an easy to buy, learn and use package has
made the Protel name synonymous with innovative PCB design
technology that represents a ‘smart’ choice for
designers.
Protel has been re-named Altium Designer. This
change signifies the unification of the entire electronic
product development process and to bring the traditionally separate disciplines of board design,
programmable hardware design and software development.
|
 |
Tackle tomorrow’s design challenges by moving to Altium Designer 6 today
As an electronics professional you’ll be more than aware of the rapid and
ongoing evolution of electronics design technology and techniques. Keeping
pace with this evolution is crucial to remaining competitive in todays
industry, so your development tools need to improve as the technology and
industry change.
Since the release of Altium Designer in 2005, there have been over 800
new features and refinements made to Altium Designer 6, ranging from
comprehensive support for differential pairs, through
to the flip board command, a feature so simple and yet so effective,
you’ll smile every time you use it.
Rather than pointing you to a collection of migration documents, we
thought you would appreciate a collated view of the very best of these
developments. We’ve clustered them into 10 areas, which we think makes
for 10 very compelling reasons to consider now a good time to upgrade
to Altium Designer 6.
|
|
|
|
1) New tools for the routing challenge
Device switching speeds and new signaling
technologies mean you need to work with the routing
as part of the circuit, not as ‘ideal
interconnects’. Comprehensive signal integrity
tools, impedance controlled interactive routing,
differential pair routing, and interactive length
tuning, all work together to ensure your signals
arrive on time, and in sync.
|
4) Excelling in design documentation
Would you like to reduce the
time it takes to generate the BOM, pick and place, and all
the other design output files? Now you can mix and match
data from the components on both the schematic and the PCB,
and even include company database info into the BOM
without it tagging along in the schematic. Copy from
the PCB editor into other Windows apps, or paste
graphic or text data directly onto the schematic.
|
6) Managing increased design complexity
Like saving time by reusing sections of your
existing designs? This is a simple yet highly
effective solution that really does deliver
effective schematic and PCB design reuse. If you
assemble different variations of the same base
design, then you need to explore Altium Designer 6’s
new variant management and printing capabilities.
|
|
|
2) A more productive environment for complex board design
In Altium Designer 6
you can reduce the delay in your PCB designs by harnessing the graphics power of DirectX
with Shader Model3, your PCB editing efficiency just
cranked up a gear or two. And as for working on the
bottom side of the board, forget the mirrors, just
select Flip Board from the menus and it’s as easy as
working on the top side.
|
 |
7) A better design environment
Always wanted to wave your wand and transform those
net labels into ports, or those sheet entries into
wires + net labels + ports? It’s called Smart Paste,
and it does that and much more. In place text editing,
automatic sheet entry creation, customizable mouse wheel
behavior and a comprehensive import Wizard that
simplifies the transfer of designs from older legacy
tools.
|
9) Keep up-to-date with Altium Designer
To help your engineers get the most from
Altium Designer we have an online knowledge
and training center. Visit altium.com to see
the extensive free resources we have available.
If reading is your thing, then press F1 over any
object, command or dialog to load dynamic help
into the new Knowledge Center panel.
|
|
3) Shaping the modern board
STEP in sync with your MCAD guys, who will be
more than happy with the improved 3D support.
Import STEP format component models into Altium
Designer 6, and then pass back a STEP format 3D
file of the completed board – ECAD to MCAD
integration is possible.
|
5) Superior component management
Your component libraries are a valuable design
resource, and meshing them with your company
database is more and more a must-have requirement.
While database links (DBLink) gave you a hook from
Altium Designer back to the database, the new
database libraries (DBLib) turn everything around,
letting you place straight from the database onto
your schematic!
|
8) Enhanced circuit analysis capabilities
Creating boards that are correct by design is an essential
element in successful design. Mixed-signal circuit simulation
in Altium Designer 6 is enhanced by PSPICE model, functions
and variables support, plus flexible new configuration options. |
10) Embedding a system in an FPGA
If you are not currently working with FPGAs there is a
strong chance you will be in the future. Expanding greatly
on its FPGA design capabilities with expanded vendor and
device support, Altium Designer 6 also gives you access to
ARM, PowerPC, MicroBlaze and NIOS 32 bit processors.
Better still, system-wide support for application re-targeting
means you are no longer locked to any one processor.
|
|
For a full guide to the major
differences between Altium Designer 2004 and Altium
Designer 6.7
read the technical paper >
Make the change, without the downtime
Altium understands the challenges of upgrading and is
committed to making the change smooth and efficient,
with minimum disruption to productivity.
We have created extensive features and systems within
Altium Designer 6 that make the move from Altium Designer
2004 as smooth as possible, with minimal disruption to
productivity. From smart design data translators through
to extensive help resources, Altium makes sure
you have everything your organization needs for a seamless,
efficient transition.
What’s more, Altium Designer’s familiar design
environment means that you will be able to start using
all the new features and enhancements immediately. Your
organization will not only remain as productive as possible
during the change, but will also begin reaping the benefits of Altium Designer 6 straight away.
See Altium Designer Live in Action!
Attend the Roadshow and see Altium Designer live in action!
Premier will be showcasing the new and enhanced features of the
latest release of Altium Designer at various locations across
the UK. For more information and to reserve your place
please visit the roadshow page >
Call today on the number below to find out more about our
upgrade package. With so many new features and compelling
reasons, there is no better time to upgrade your current
design system.
|
|
|
Please contact the sales team for upgrade prices:-
Telephone: 00800 776 776
66 or email: sales@eda.co.uk
|
Home
Contact Us