Zuken-Redac Launches VISULA Design Partitioning

Tewkesbury, 19 March 1996 - Zuken-Redac, the world's number one supplier of
CAD/CAM solutions for PCB/MCM electronics design* launches VISULA Design
Partitioning, a new hierarchical PCB/MCM layout tool for subcircuit reuse
and concurrent board layout.

Available as an option to VISULA Layout Editor, the Design Partitioning
toolset allows designers to apply a hierarchical approach to the layout
process. A dramatic increase in productivity can be achieved by using the
concurrent layout methodology which allows more than one designer to work
in parallel on the same large complex board. The result of each individual
designer can then be combined into the final design. Team-based design
helps to meet demanding schedules.

KEY FEATURES OF VISULA DESIGN PARTITIONING ALLOWS;

* Designers to apply a hierarchical approach to the layout process
* More than one designer to work in parallel on the same design
* Reuse of existing areas (complete designs or selected parts) of
  circuitry that have already been placed, checked and tested.
* Analysis (Thermal, EMC and High-Speed) to be performed on design
  partitions, which improves design throughput to achieve a right-
  first-time design methodology.

"For some time now, designers have been able to reuse sections of a design
at the logical level via the use of hierarchy in schematics. Traditionally
PCB layout tools have not supported hierarchy or subcircuit reuse. We
believe that reuse of proven sections of layout will increase the quality
and reduce design cycles. VISULA Design Partitioning will provide our
customers with hierarchical layout and the ability to take advantage of
subcircuit reuse and concurrent layout," said Mark Thompson, VISULA
Product Marketing Manager.

The customer requirements for such product functionality (as now available
in VISULA Design Partitioning) began in 1993 as a three year joint
European project called CONSOLE, involving Zuken-Redac, Rohde & Schwarz
GmbH & Co KG, Matra Marconi Space France, Matra Defense and ICL. This
project was partially funded under the ESPRIT initiative - project number
8369. The project aims were to deliver solutions that offered significant
gains in systems design and layout productivity, and to reduce the number
of design cycles caused by manufacturing issues constraints. The solution
had to give both the CAD layout designer and the production engineer a set
of tools that would assess the manufacturability and testability of a
given design against a known manufacturing configuration.

The CONSOLE project partners are committed to use the tools developed as
part of this project, on real production designs, and when proven to adopt
them into their design departments. The results are to be progressively
delivered to the market via the distribution channels of the EDA vendor
partner. This release is phase one of the CONSOLE project. Phase two will
be full system hierarchy, to be released in 1997.

ICL operate in the highly competitive, price sensitive computer segment of
the electronics market. A recent design for a very large and complex high
performance PCB took 4 months. Jim Heaton of ICL Limited stated "Using
VISULA Design Partitioning concepts on a design of this complexity, will
save a considerable amount of layout time, at least one iteration could be
saved."

Design Partitioning

By using the ability to partition the design, any number of designers in a
team-based environment can work in parallel on the same design. At the
same time, it ensures that any conflicts between the separate designs are
reduced to a minimum, when the partitions are combined to create the final
layout.

This method of working will ensure that the designs have compatible
technology and design rules, also that the circuit corresponds to a block
in the original design, therefore allowing the partitioned designs to be
consistently managed and verified throughout the design process.

Partitions can be examined and checked for progress in the master design
during the layout process, and any discrepancies can be taken care of in
the early stages. DRC and post-processing can be performed at any stage
before or after the final design has been put together.

"This Design Partitioning methodology in PCB layout allows a number of
designers to work in parallel on the same design. At the same time, it
ensures that any conflicts between the separate designs are reduced to a
minimum when created with compatible technology and design rules, and that
the circuit description maintains an exact match with the original logical
design. Also, design partitioning in PCB CAD tools is unique to
Zuken-Redac's VISULA system," added Thompson.

Subcircuit Reuse

Areas of circuitry that have already been placed, checked and tested,
either on the same design or on different designs can be easily added to a
library of reusable designs. Designers can then browse the library of
existing verified designs or parts of designs and when a design has been
selected for reuse, it can be loaded into the master design. The design
can be loaded and copied into the master design as many times as
required.

Areas of circuitry are often repeated on PCB layouts, either on the same
board or between boards. Many systems make use of multiple channels of
essentially identical functionality on one board. Design time can be
reduced if all these channels can be designed once and used as many times
as necessary.

VISULA Design Partitioning will be available in Calendar Q3 1996. Pricing
will be in the region of 10,000 per license.

With annual sales in excess of $140 million, Zuken-Redac is the worldwide
number one vendor in the PCB/MCM design market*. The company provides a
full range of high performance software solutions for 'right-first- time'
electronics PCB design and layout through to manufacture - under all
Windows platforms and Unix. Zuken-Redac has sales, support and development
offices in Europe, USA and the Far East, and an international network of
distributors and business partners.

* Source Dataquest: February 1996

Editorial contacts:

Cathryn Hage    Zuken-Redac, Tewkesbury, UK
                Tel: +44 (0)1684 294161  Fax: +44 (0)1684 299754

Jackie Harris   Press Officer, Wokingham Berkshire, UK
                Tel: +44 (0)1734 891978  Fax: +44 (0)1734 891972
 
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