Import tools help designers to evolve

Cadence Allegro users now have an easy way to move into Altium's unified electronics design environment.

A new file importer for the award-winning Altium Designer unified design system allows the import of Cadence Allegro files.

Altium Designer automatically and transparently converts Allegro binary files to an intermediate ASCII text format that is then parsed and imported into an Altium Designer PCB design document and project.

The translator supports Allegro Version 15.2 and 16 files.

(Allegro must be installed on the designer's system for this to happen).

Altium believes that all designers must have access to the best possible design technologies if they are to remain competitive into the future.

Providing good import tools makes it easy for designers to move from older-style legacy point tools to Altium Designer, so that they can future-proof the design capabilities of the companies they work for and stay competitive in a rapidly changing market.

Altium provides the only unified design solution: one that brings together hardware, software and programmable hardware development within a single unified environment.

It allows designers to unlock the potential of large-scale programmable devices as a system development and deployment platform, creating programmed device intelligence that can be deployed in multiple hardware domains.

As Nick Martin, CEO and founder of Altium, points out: "Allegro users now have an easy way to move into Altium's unified electronics design environment".

"This gives them access to powerful new features: 3D visualisation of the board during design; dynamic linking to MCAD files; single data model between schematic, board, FPGA and embedded design; and overall project and data collaboration and management capabilities".

"Indications are growing within the electronics design industry that point tool solutions, regardless of the quality or otherwise of the specific job they do, are becoming less viable as a means to move into the future".

"Companies are looking for new ways to innovate and sustain differentiation in their field, and companies are recognising the benefits our unified design solution offers to help them achieve this".

SpaceX, the commercial space launch system developer, has found the design process much simplified since moving from Allegro to Altium Designer.

Altium Designer offers a much greater level of version control, and SpaceX can better manage its design development.

Altium Designer's features mean that the simplest modifications are automatically adjusted in all previous board and schematic work: SpaceX has a flexible and reliable development and documentation process for SpaceX's catalogue of PCB designs.

According to Matt Soule, Senior Engineer at SpaceX: "Altium's unified design environment is intuitive and has made managing projects trouble free".

"In just two weeks I was able to learn the tool, design my board, and have a fully assembled PCB ready for test".

"Altium Designer is an incredibly flexible and capable tool".

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