Affordable EDA/CAD tools target professional engineers

The product licenses are sold as an annual subscription, exclusively from Digi-Key.Also, for a limited time, the software is available for a 15-day evaluation period, free of charge.

The design software is linked to Digi-Key’s inventory of over four million electronic components. The companies’ objective is to offer design engineers the broadest selection of resources supporting the concept-to-prototype-to-production process.

Designer Schematic and Designer Layout come withfree access to Mentor Graphics’ PartQuest, a fully integrated website that merges Digi-Key part numbers into symbols and footprints, reducing manual errors and saving time and cost. With these innovative tools, design engineers can easily complete an entire circuit and printed circuit board design themselves or leverage third party PCB layout houses.

“The new Designer tools are perfect for the professional engineer who needs a reliable, scalable platform to support current and future design starts,” said Randall Restle, Director, Applications Engineering for Digi-Key. “With Mentor, we have designed an industry-first, collaborative EDA solution that accelerates the design process while enabling the engineer to eliminate steps and reduce errors while establishing a proven, long-term foundation for product design.”

As part of the intensive collaboration and product development process, Digi-Key and Mentor Graphics completed thorough beta testing which included more than 300 participants around the globe. As a result, the companies validated the need and market demand for an affordable professional-level tool for the design engineer.

Mentor Graphics and Digi-Key will host a live discussion on November 20 at 9 AM CST on “Next Generation Design Tools” looking at what’s new in EDA software.