Newsletters

Browse our past newsletters on PCB design and industry information

Successful ECAD/MCAD Collaboration Practices In this article Zachariah Peterson, founder of Northwest Engineering Solutions, discusses how his company successfully collaborates with mechanical engineers outside of his firm. He shares practices and tools that have been most useful along the way. Judy Warner: Zach, as an engineer and the owner of Northwest Engineering Solutions (NWES), what challenges do you see as most prevalent and problematic for design engineers when it comes to Read Article

OnTrack Newsletter: Component Shortages, Industry Trends and Online Education - March 2021 OnTrack Newsletter March 2021 VOL. 4 No 6 State of the Electronics Industry 2021 Vincent Mazur, Technical Product Marketing Engineer, Altium Ltd. With the challenges of 2020 behind us, what challenges and opportunities lie ahead for hardware designers in 2021? In this article, Vince Mazur, Technical Product Marketing Engineer at Altium looks ahead to three emerging trends and share steps to address each one successfully in the year ahead. Read Read Article

State of the Electronics Industry 2021 With the challenges of 2020 behind us, what challenges and opportunities lie ahead for hardware designers in 2021? In this article Vince Mazur, Technical Product Marketing Engineer at Altium, looks ahead to three emerging trends and share steps to address each one successfully in the year ahead. Introduction It's an understatement to say that 2020 is a year that we won't soon forget. Last year imposed many new challenges on all of us-- Read Article

An Altium Badge of Honor for Engineering Service Bureaus Engineering bureaus are essential to the electronics industry, ensuring high-quality contract work across a wide range of specialties. Altium has partnered with over 800 independent service bureaus over the years, elevating the quality of PCB design. Engineering service companies and contractors using Altium typically provide engineering design services specializing in everything from electrical and mechanical design to signal and power integrity Read Article

OnTrack Newsletter: New Altium Subscription Plans, Free Webinars, PCB Design Blogs - January 2021 OnTrack Newsletter January 2021 VOL. 4 No 5 New Altium Subscription Plans: Fit, Flow and Flexibility In this interview, Altium Chief of Staff and Head of Investor Relations, Kim Besharati discusses the new Multi-Level Subscription Plan that was rolled out earlier this month. By providing unprecedented flexibility, choice and a ground-breaking way for design engineers to collaborate with the entire supply chain, this new subscription plan is Read Article

New Altium Subscription Plans: Fit, Flow and Flexibility In this interview, Altium Chief of Staff and Head of Investor Relations, Kim Besharati discusses the new Multi-Level Subscription Plan that was rolled out earlier this month. By providing unprecedented flexibility, choice and a ground-breaking way for design engineers to collaborate with the entire supply chain, this new subscription plan is poised to fundamentally improve the way electronic products are realized around the world. Judy Warner Read Article

OnTrack Newsletter: Online Digital Experience, Trustworthy Part Data, AltiumLive Videos are Here! - November 2020 OnTrack Newsletter November 2020 VOL. 4 No 4 Altium Online Digital Experience: Going “All-In” on Customer Centricity In October, Altium unveiled an all-new Online Digital Experience that now allows anyone to digitally access technical support, account management, make purchases, and connect with us in real-time. Through all of the Altium.com webpages, you can engage with over 130 Altium staff members through our human-monitored chatbot and our Read Article

OnTrack Newsletter: AltiumLive 2020: Meet the Speakers, Getting Started Guide and Brain Food - September 2020 OnTrack Newsletter September 2020 VOL. 4 No 3 AltiumLive 2020 Virtual Summit: Meet the Speakers Since announcing that AltiumLive 2020 will be a virtual event, our team has been busy assembling a world-class line up of speakers and industry experts to offer insights into the best engineering practices to help drive your career forward. In this article, you will learn about the speakers and topics you will encounter at this year's FREE virtual Read Article

AltiumLive 2020 Virtual Summit: Meet the Speakers AltiumLive 2020: Virtual PCB Summit registration is now open...and for the first time, it's both virtual and free! While we're disappointed not to be meeting with you in person, we are very excited about offering AltiumLive in a format that enables everyone to attend without the barriers associated with time-off, cost, and travel. Read on to learn more about the speakers and topics we have in store at this year's event. The backbone of every Read Article

OnTrack Newsletter: Modern Concurrent Collaboration with Your Supply Chain and Your Team, Brain Food - August 2020 OnTrack Newsletter August 2020 VOL. 4 No 2 A New Experience of Digital Collaboration has Positive Impact on Calumet Electronics In this article, we interview Rob Cooke of Calumet Electronics, a US Based PCB Fabricator in Michigan. Cooke shares his recent experience collaborating on a multi-board design with a design engineer and EMS provider using Altium 365. He talks about his impressions and the implications this will have on design engineers Read Article

Octopart: Navigating the Complex Landscape Component Data with Confidence Judy Warner: Why do component data, pricing, and availability always seem to take up so much of an electronics engineer's time? Sean Rothwell: There are so many places that data might live, especially pricing and market availability, so if you're an engineer looking for a part to use in a design, there's a good chance you're going to be bouncing around from site to site checking different distributors and manufacturers. Then there's the hurdle of Read Article

Altium Online Digital Experience: Going “All-In” on Customer Centricity Judy Warner: Lawrence, you are working on a new groundbreaking Online Digital Experience that will further advance our focus on customer centricity; tell us about what this is and what it will mean for Altium users. Lawrence Romine: This is very exciting, Judy! As you well know, Altium’s success is built on our focus on the users of our products and services versus a classic value proposition aimed toward executive decision-makers. In our world Read Article

Coming Soon: Altium CircuitMaker Pro® In 2015, Altium released Altium CircuitStudio® to best meet the needs of casual users, hobbyists, students, and PCB design aficionados on a budget. Learn about the new version coming to the public! Read Article

Announcing the Official Altium Brand Store We've been asked by everyone from customers to AltiumLive attendees to employees for real, branded Altium merchandise for years. We’ve heard your requests and we're overjoyed to announce that the Official Altium Store is live! The new curated Official Altium Store has everything you've been asking for; we'll also be adding new merchandise regularly, including seasonal essentials like tank tops and hoodies. Simply visit brandstore.altium.com and Read Article

OnTrack Newsletter: AltiumLive Virtual Summit, OSV, Brain Food - July 2020 OnTrack Newsletter July 2020 VOL. 4 No 1 AltiumLive 2020 goes “Virtual” Like most events in 2020, Altium is transitioning our annual flagship conference, AltiumLive, to an online experience this year. We will host our North American event from October 6-8, and our European event from October 20-22, 2020. And the best part is...it’s free to attend! Read Article Watch Video Brain Food Technical Articles to Keep You Sharp How to Design Your PCB Test Read Article

AltiumLive 2020 goes “Virtual” Like most events in 2020, Altium is transitioning our annual flagship conference, AltiumLive, to an online experience this year. We will host our North American event from October 6-8, and our European event from October 20-22, 2020. And the best part is...it’s free to attend! While nothing can duplicate the experience of a live event or being physically together, we are busy planning ways to deliver our unique AltiumLive experience in the first Read Article

OnTrack Newsletter: Microvia Reliability, Ben Jordan Whiteboard, Tech Articles - June 2020 OnTrack Newsletter June 2020 VOL. 3 No 13 Microvia Reliability in Ultra-High Density Interconnect Designs. Earlier this year, while attending the IPC Apex Expo in San Diego, we met with Jim Brown of GreenSource Fabrication. He shared with us how the GreenSource team has been on the frontlines of facing down the highly problematic and pervasive issue of microvia reliability. Through their involvement with tier one companies, IPC, and building out Read Article