Hi Brian,

I can only comment in detail on one of the packages, PADS PowerPCB, 
We are a small telecommunications hardware design house and we chose
PADS after a lengthy comparison of the other tools on the market, we
could not afford to get it wrong.

We use VeiwLogic's ViewDraw as our Schematic entry package and PADS
PowerPCB with the SPECTRA router for our layout solution.

I would have to say that the PADS experience has been on the whole
extremely positive and trouble free. The package has a very short and
shallow learning curve and is as close to a true WYSIWYG package as I
have seen in the engineering field.

We have had no complaints on the CAM output side from our sub-contract
manufacturer and none from our PCB fabricator either. In the year that
we have been using the package I can honestly say that there has not
been any occasion that we have had a PCB error that we could blame on
the package. All support questions were dealt with speed and technical
competence by our local pads vendor, and the one occasion that he had to
refer a compatibility query to PADs themselves the response was in a
couple of hours.

However the element that has please our design management team the most
has been the ease with which the hardware engineers have taken to the
package. Now our engineers are performing initial critical layout on the
package before passing the design to our PCB designer and checking their
own designs after layout is complete. This allows for continued
ownership of the design by the engineer and has almost eliminated the
"throw it over the wall" interface that used to exist between hardware
design and layout.
  
Good luck with your choice.

Regards;

Derek

PS:

I would have to say that I cannot understand how some of the other
vendors can justify the price that they are charging for their product,
I have not met one of the high price vendors that can justify their
price without referring to some dubious metric or just one element of a
comparison chart.

Derek J. Wynne
Design Engineer.
Toucan Technology Ltd.
I.D.A. Business Park
Dangan
Galway City
Ireland.
 
Telephone: +35391519913
Fax:          +35391519901
E-mail:       [log in to unmask] <mailto:[log in to unmask]> 
 



     Hello everyone!


     Well its the new year and after seven years of the same design
     software we are finally getting a chance to check out new =
software.
     Of course just like the rest of you, who has that kind of time!  =
So
     I'm going to throw a list of packages at ya that we're looking at
and
     see if we can get a little help from the world wide Designer
network.
     OK here we go, listed below are the packages we have in mind, if
you
     use one of these could you take a minute and jot something down.
     Remember it's nice to know about the good things as well as the
bad.



     OrCAD, Inc
     Software: OrCAD Capture CIS (Release 9)
               OrCAD Layout Plus (Release 9)

     Zuken-Redac Inc.
     Software: Cadstar

     VeriBest, Inc.
     Software: Ascent L2

     Company: Cadence
     Software: Allegro Studio

     ACCEL Technologies, Inc
     Software: Accel EDA

     PADS Software, Inc.
     Software: PADS Power PCB

     Mentor Graphics Corporation
     Software: Board Station


     Hopefully this will help other designers also if their in the
middle
     of making a decision.



                                             Thanks to everyone in
advance!

                                                Brian J. Baltus
                                                Best Power, Inc
                                                608-565-5118

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