Designer updated

Leading the latest features in Altium Designer are web-based software licence management and access options, to make it easier to manage design teams, workloads and projects.

Other features include custom FPGA logic development for board-level designers, with no HDL skills required; a doubling of mechanical layers; high-level software development using C++; and USB device support.

Software licence options mean that designers and managers are no longer compelled to match specific licences to individual users. Instead, they can book out a licence for use on any computer.

Once the work, project, task or shift is completed, the licence is released back to Altium’s server for use by other designers.

Designers and managers can schedule work flexibly across different regions and time zones or have designers work at home or in discrete design groups, without being compelled to buy one licence per user or per computer.

They are plugged into all the new features and enhancements. Altium has also retained the option for designers to have stand-alone licences if design or security protocols demand.

Live links with the software have been extended to component supplier databases (first introduced in December 2008 with Digi-Key), adding Premier Farnell.