Altium Redefines PCB Design Sharing & Visualization with the Power of the Cloud

NUREMBERG, Germany-EMBEDDED WORLD, February 18, 2020 - Today Altium, a global leader in PCB design software, announced the launch of a new cloud-based application that redefines the way that printed circuit board designs are shared between designers, part suppliers, and manufacturers. 

The A365 Viewer, powered by the Altium 365 cloud platform, is a brand new, and innovative way to view and share electronic designs through a browser on any web-enabled desktop, phone or tablet. Schematics, PCB layout, and 3D visualization provide an interactive eCAD experience with no downloads or installations required. The A365 Viewer is part of Altium’s cloud strategy and newly launched Altium 365 cloud platform. 

Simplicity is the Ultimate Sophistication

Until now, designers have been forced to share their PCB designs through PDFs or static images. With the new A365 Viewer, an interactive experience is created that retains all of the key relevant information that's typically lost when sharing static files. For example, the A365 Viewer allows users to search for, select, cross-probe and inspect components and nets while moving seamlessly between schematic, PCB and 3D views of their board. 

Using the A365 Viewer requires no CAD tools or experience. The A365 Viewer is designed to work with multiple eCAD formats, currently supporting Autodesk^®️ Eagle^™ and Altium Designer^™.  Other popular PCB design software formats will be supported in the near future.

Easily Embedded on Your Website

Anyone can easily embed the viewer on their website, free of charge, by visiting https://www.altium.com/viewer/ . As an example, a well-known developer of electronics hardware and software kits, Arduino, is helping engineers and makers to easily and quickly visualize the PCB designs and assemblies available in their product kits, by embedding the A365 Viewer on the Arduino website. 

"Adding the Altium 365 Viewer has significantly enhanced the user experience when navigating the product documentation in our website. Now Arduino users can freely browse schematics, PCB layout and even 3D models of the Arduino boards and modules online, without the need to download or install anything additional. The capability of being CAD-agnostic will shorty allow Arduino to add the online design viewer to every product page, including the ones designed in Autodesk Eagle." - Fabio Violante, CEO, Arduino

Built-in Design IP Protection

The A365 Viewer protects the IP rights of design owners while retaining the CAD design details via a new process called Published Design Impression (PDI). The Viewer processes the design source files to create a Published Design Impression, or PDI. The PDI is a CAD-aware, perishable snapshot of the design that captures limited information such as components, net connectivity and basic geometrics, excluding design primitive data that would be required to fully comprehend and author changes to the design.

The design sources are discarded immediately after being used solely for the purpose of creating a PDI. The design is available for the duration of the user’s browser session and is automatically removed when the browser tab is closed.

Altium is demonstrating its A365 Viewer at the Embedded World 2020 trade show, Hall 4 stand 371, taking place at the Nuremberg Exhibition Center on February 25-27. To learn more visit: https://www.altium.com/viewer/

ABOUT ALTIUM

Altium LLC (ASX:ALU), a global software company headquartered in San Diego, Calif., is accelerating the pace of innovation through electronics. From individual inventors to multinational   corporations, more PCB designers and engineers choose Altium software to design and realize electronics-based products.

The growing demand for smart and connected products is driving advancements in electronics technology. Design trends are demonstrating the need for minimizing power, reducing package size and energy consumption, and prioritizing high-speed design. For over 30 years, Altium has been delivering software that maximizes the productivity of PCB designers and electrical engineers, from idea to board. Users are at the center of Altium’s R&D and business operations. With its unique Business-to-User approach, Altium is focused on developing software that is easy to use and implement, with solutions that enable innovation and deliver industry-leading user productivity.

Products include Altium Designer^®, Altium Concord Pro^™, Altium 365^®, Altium NEXUS^®, CircuitMaker^®, CircuitStudio^®, Octopart^®, and TASKING^®. To learn more about Altium, visit www.altium.com.