Altium

Envision – what's new, changing and over the horizon     Welcome to the August 2009 issue of Envision, our regularly updated collection of insights, news and views from Altium. In this update we take a look at how blankets can help the electronics design process (it’s true), give you a heads-up on what’s new in the latest release of Altium Designer, empathise with the need for a design rescue, and ponder the pitfalls of tech updates – plus more.       Fad or fundamental? Keeping up with technology     We’re bombarded with new technology and processes in both our private and business lives, but how do you tell which is the right path to follow? In electronics design it’s crucial to respond correctly to technology shifts, but this is critically linked to the upgrade approach, pricing policy and industry awareness of your design tool supplier. Read the full story       From challenge to opportunity     In a classic ‘silver lining’ scenario, engineers at Leica Geosystems turned an outsourced board failure into an in-house design success. Since taking the step, the company has seen a significant increase in productivity, and is now back in control of its product designs. Read the full story       Check out the summer 09 release of Altium Designer     This new release continues the process of keeping you plugged into a continuous stream of new features and technology. It delivers more mechanical board layers, even more refined embedded software development, streamlined licence management, extended live links to parts suppliers, plus a whole lot more. Read the full story       Using FPGA to embed test instruments into board design   Join this free forthcoming Webinar to learn how you can embed virtual test instruments inside an FPGA device to assist with product development, system test and field diagnosis. You’ll see new technology that gives you a window into your hardware internals, with control and data visibility like never before. Join the design Webcast.     Can’t stop the Matt   Check out the latest videos delivered by Altium’s effervescent Matt Berggren. Short, sharp and to the point, they are a great way to find out about Altium's latest technology.

AUGUST TECH TIP Creating Net Classes Previously, applying a PCB design rule to a set of nets on the schematic has been a process of tagging each of the nets – effective but not efficient. The summer 09 release of Altium Designer changes that with the introduction of blankets, a directive that captures all the nets that lie underneath it.   Beating atmospheric turbulence Altium technology is helping the European Organization for Astronomical Research (ESO) develop the world’s fastest and most sensitive astronomical camera. Read ESO's release, and look out for more on this story in a future issue.   Altium’s innovation recognized, again Altium has been selected as one of the top ten winners of the IDC Enterprise Innovation Awards 2009, thanks to our innovative implementation of cloud computing systems.   What are we up to, right now? See what’s happening at Altium, in real-time. Follow us on twitter to find out about the latest news, events, videos and design tutorials.   Meet the Envision team There are real people behind the creation of Envision, and we've stopped hiding.

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