I can't resist this one... design tools and benchmarks. It amazes me how we designers react to our tools. Our CAD system is like our religion, whether we use Cadence or Intergraph is like being Catholic or Protestant in Ireland... Well here is my 2 cents, for what it is worth. Not enough attention is paid to interactive tools and output. When running a benchmark, which I have on several occasions, I look very carefully at the operations the designer will be doing day in and day out, and when the design is done, I want to see the output files, and how easily they were created. I also want to see how well the system checks itself, so the output data will be correct. CAD vendors though do not put their focus on these things. Automated tools, such as autorouting and (believe it or not) autoplacement sell systems. Why? Because these vendors know who writes the check in the end. It isn't the pcb designer, but a manager of some sort, who may only posess a dim knowledge of the design process. Ken Barrett Cisco Systems ELB ############################################################## IPC Designers Council Mail List provided as a free service by IPC using LISTSERV 1.8c ############################################################## To subscribe/unsubscribe, send a message to [log in to unmask] with following text in the body: To subscribe: SUBSCRIBE DESIGNERCOUNCIL <your full name> To unsubscribe: SIGNOFF DESIGNERCOUNCIL ############################################################## Please visit IPC web site (http://www.ipc.org/html/forum.htm) for additional information. For the technical support contact Dmitriy Sklyar at [log in to unmask] or 847-509-9700 ext.311 ##############################################################