Jun 20, 2003 electronic design and development software, today announced the release of Service Pack 1 for P-CAD
2002 users. The service pack provides a major upgrade to P-CAD 2002 with new CAM and simulation
bonus technologies and significant enhancements. In line with Altium�s non-restrictive update policy,
Service Pack 1 is available free of charge to all P-CAD 2002 customers.
DXP bonus technologies
Altium�s proprietary Design Explorer (DXP) technology integration platform represents the next step in
technology innovation for the P-CAD product line. Since the PC was first used for design automation, PCAD
has been synonymous with PCB design expertise and high quality PCB layout tools. Service Pack 1
brings DXP technology to P-CAD 2002 Suite customers by giving them access to CAMtastic DXP, the
latest version of Altium�s complete CAM verification and editing system, and a new DXP-based mixedsignal
circuit simulator. These two new DXP technologies are fully integrated with P-CAD 2002 and
provide a major upgrade to P-CAD�s CAM and circuit simulation capabilities.
CAMtastic DXP
CAMtastic DXP is a major update to CAMtastic 2000 and will provide P-CAD 2002 designers with a more
sophisticated CAD/CAM tool solution for PCB fabrication. Time-to-market constraints dictate that the
transfer from design to manufacturing be as smooth as possible. CAMtastic DXP has been specifically
developed to facilitate this data transfer and will save designers time by ensuring designs are error free
and completely ready for efficient fabrication and assembly. CAMtastic DXP�s new features include bidirectional
ODB++ support, additional DRCs for strengthened data verification, advanced panelization,
and extensive numerically controlled drill and rout features.
New mixed-signal circuit simulator
The ease and flexibility of analyzing circuit simulation results has been greatly increased by the many
enhancements in the new mixed-signal circuit simulator. The post processing of simulation data has been
enhanced to give more flexibility in the way that waveforms and plots can be arranged displayed and
analyzed. Pole-Zero analysis has been added to the array of simulation options, and enhancements to
the copy to clipboard function now remove the need to take screen dumps. The data exporting has also
been enhanced to make it easier for designers to further analyze their simulation data in external
programs or spreadsheets. Extensive updates have been made the to SimView server to make simulation
results easier to view.
New support for cutouts
With Service Pack 1, Altium has added support for cutouts in patterns in the PCB layout editor. This new
feature will improve pattern support and save significant design time. Service Pack 1 also improves the
stability of P-CAD 2002 and provides better flexibility and enhanced performance.
Pricing and availability
Service Pack 1 is now available free of charge to all licensed P-CAD 2002 customers. P-CAD 2002
Module customers have access to the fixes and enhancements from Service Pack 1, which are available
for download from the P-CAD website. P-CAD 2002 Suite customers have access to the fixes and
enhancements and the bonus DXP technologies from Service Pack 1. Due to the large file size of the
new technologies, a CD containing the fixes, enhancements and bonus technologies will be shipped free
of charge to all P-CAD 2002 Suite customers and will arrive no later than the first week of July 2003.
Please note: to run the DXP Bonus Technologies it is necessary to have either the Windows XP or
Windows 2000 operating system installed.
A free trial version of P-CAD 2002 including Service Pack 1 will soon be available on a CD and as a file
download from the P-CAD website.
For more product information, visit http://www.pcad.com, http://www.camtastic.com or contact your local Altium Sales
and Support Center.
About Altium Limited
Altium Limited (ASX: ALU), trading as Protel International Limited (ASX: PRI) prior to August 6, 2001, is a
leading global developer and supplier of desktop Electronic Design Automation (EDA) and embedded
software design tools for the Microsoft Windows environment.
Since the company�s foundation in 1985 and its release of the world�s first Microsoft Windows �based
EDA tool in 1991, Altium has continued to apply the most advanced software design methods to provide
powerful, easy-to-use and affordable design software to engineers and electronics designers worldwide.
Altium�s current product brands include Protel, nVisage, P-CAD, TASKING, Accolade, CircuitMaker and
CAMtastic. These products offer tailored solutions covering a range of hardware and software design
processes.
Altium is headquartered in Sydney, Australia, and operates a number of sales and support offices in
Australia, the United States, Japan and Europe, as well as maintaining a large reseller network in all other
major markets. More information about the company and its products and services may be obtained from
our website at http://www.altium.com.
Altium, Protel, DXP, Design Explorer, nVisage, P-CAD, TASKING, Accolade, CircuitMaker, CAMtastic, Situs and Topological
Autorouting and their respective logos are trademarks or registered trademarks of Altium Limited or its subsidiaries. All other
registered or unregistered trademarks referenc ed herein are the property of their respective owners, and no trademark rights to the
same are claimed.
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