CIMdata PLM Industry Summary Online Archive
13 October 2004
Product News
DownStream Technologies Begins Shipping CAM350 Release 8.6
DownStream Technologies, LLC announced is has begun shipments of CAM350 Release 8.6 to their 3500 installed users under current maintenance contracts. This release raises the bar in the mainstream market by providing unprecedented integration between the PCB CAD process and PCB CAM process by including Crossprobing functionality to Mentor¹s PADS-Layout® and Cadence¹s Allegro® PCB layout tools. It also contains an update to the DXF Interface for AutoCAD 2004 and a number of other software corrections.
"This is the second major version of CAM350 we have released this year to bridge the gap between design engineering and PCB manufacturing," said Rick Almeida, Founder of DownStream Technologies. "With the ability to quickly identify PCB fabrication problems in both the manufacturing and design data through Crossprobing, our customers can mitigate risks commonly associated with new product introduction," he added.
The new Crossprobing functionality contained in Release 8.6 allows PCB designers to locate potential discrepancies between design intent (CAD data) and manufacturing outputs (Gerber data). The time saved as a result of this can be critical to a user meeting time-to-volume production milestones.
CAM350 Release 8.6 now contains specific Crossprobing functionality to Mentor's PADS Layout® and Cadence's Allegro® PCB design solutions. With this new release, design errors can be highlighted in CAM350 and its location will also be shown in the CAD software allowing the designer to quickly and easily correct the problem. CAM350 can also be used to view intelligent data in the CAD software (components, pins, nets) while at the same time, viewing the corresponding locations as Gerber data in CAM350. Key features include:
• Bi-directional zoom/view window location between CAM350 and PADS Layout and Allegro databases
• Window/View synchronization
• Automatic layer displaying and synchronization
• Bi-directional selection of components, pins and nets
• DRC/DFF error identification contained in CAM350 is identified in PCB layout system
• Crossprobing between intelligent CAD file and unintelligent Gerber data
• DXF Interface to AutoCAD
Also included in this release is an updated DXF Interface that allows files generated in AutoCAD 2004 to be translated into CAM350 as well as allowing this format to be output.
Over 40 software corrections have been made to previously existing functionality, further improving upon CAM350's quality and reliability.
Availability and Pricing
Crossprobing will be offered as an option to CAM350 and priced as follows:
• Crossprobing for PADS Layout: $995.00
• Crossprobing for Allegro: $1500.00
DownStream Technologies is providing the remainder of Release 8.6 at no additional charge to all existing customers with a valid maintenance agreement. The update will be available in early Fall 2004. For more information log onto http://www.downstreamtech.com , e-mail sales@downstreamtech.com , or contact one of DownStream¹s local Value Added Resellers (VARs).
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