Cadence enters Windows-based EDA market

Electronic News, Nov 6, 1995

San Jose, Calif.--Cadence Design Systems is moving into the world of Windows by releasing a new version of its popular Allegro printed circuit board (PCB) layout product for PC-using designers, and branching into the software distribution market by entering into a multi-year agreement with the T.E.A.M. Corp. to sell the new product.

Cadence's tailoring of Allegro for Windows had been expected for months (EN, Design Software, May 29), and T.E.A.M. had been expected to carry the package.

"The PCB arena, focusing on high speed, has requirements not met by other vendors," said James Douglas, VP of product marketing for Cadence. "We profiled designers looking to or currently using PCs to augment their design environments and found that they needed appropriate software to handle the increasing complexity of the market, with its high-intricacy, high-speed focus."

The new Allegro product provides users with a targeted set of functionality and features already production-proven in Cadence's high-end Allegro PCB design system and is now available in both Unix- and Windows-based platforms. Available immediately through T.E.A.M. at a U.S. list price of $23,995, Allegro carries promotional pricing beginning at $15,000 through the end of the calendar year.

The introduction is Cadence's first entry into the market for electronic design automation (EDA) applications based on the Microsoft Windows operating system. This new version of Allegro establishes a platform-independent model for PCB designers, with functionality and a migration path to the more advanced design and analysis tools available in the company's Unix-based Allegro CBD (correct-by-design) offering.

The distribution agreement with T.E.A.M. to sell and service Allegro in the Windows market within North America is another first for Cadence, which felt T.E.A.M. was a great fit, culturally and historically, to promote a joint selling channel. Cadence said the alliance with T.E.A.M. could be a test case for future models.

"Allegro on Windows represents a significant business opportunity for Cadence," said Joseph Costello, Cadence's president and CEO. "With the emergence of Windows as a viable operating system, we're uniquely positioned to provide the next generation in design automation to a mainstream PC-based market ready for change."

Ward Thomas of T.E.A.M. concurred. "This is an opportunity for Cadence and T.E.A.M. to meet our customers' needs," he said. "With an installed market of over 100,000 PC-based layout tools, half of which are P-CAD or PADS, both former T.E.A.M. partners, the compelling event was the switch from DOS-based tools to a technology with more features. Current product lines are not supplying this, and, as a company, we were concerned at not being able to meet our customers' requirements."

More than 60 percent of the PCB EDA installations worldwide are presently on the PC platform, a fact which led Cadence to evolve its product strategy to effectively compete in the mainstream PCB design market segment inadequately served today. The compute power and operating system robustness of Windows now offers competitive price/performance options for mixed platforms for EDA environments.

T.E.A.M. looked for a partner with a foundation in deep technology, financial resources, a reputation in the industry, and product-proven technology. After spending 24 months benchmarking the available technology, they found Cadence to be their choice.

"We're not interested in sacrificing performance or functionality in order to break into the Windows market," said Cadence's Mr. Douglas. "Our goal is to offer high-performance, production-proven design automation tools to the PC-based EDA users. Allegro is the ideal first product to launch us onto the Windows platform. With Cadence's technology and T.E.A.M.'s experience in this market, we have the perfect opportunity to capitalize on the tremendous pent-up demand from the thousands of PCB designers who just can't get the job done today with their current tools."

The standard Allegro offering on Windows features a comprehensive set of physical design rule checks, interactive and automatic placement, shape-based autorouting, dimensioning and drafting, design for testability and manufacturability and a suite of basic mechanical and manufacturing interfaces. Allegro's user interface on the Windows platform is designed to take full advantage of the standard look and feel of Windows for a shortened learning curve and a quicker path to user productivity.