Dan’s Biz Bookshelf: ‘Elevate: Push Beyond Your Limits'
The Marketing Minute: The First Step to More Sales—Marketing
It’s Only Common Sense: Customer Service Is Sales in Disguise
Mentor: PCB Technology Leadership Award Winners
December 9, 2014 | Mentor GraphicsEstimated reading time: 3 minutes
Continuing its tradition of promoting and recognizing PCB design excellence, Mentor Graphics Corporation has announced the winners of its 25th annual PCB Technology Leadership Awards. Started in 1988, this program is the longest running competition of its kind in the electronic design automation (EDA) industry. It recognizes engineers and designers who use innovative methods and design tools to address today's complex PCB systems design challenges and produce industry-leading products.
Prominent experts in the PCB industry judged entries from around the world in six categories that represent a wide variety of industries:
- Consumer electronics and handheld;
- Industrial control, instrumentation, security, and medical;
- Military and aerospace;
- Computers, blade and servers, memory systems;
- Telecom, network controllers, line cards; and
- Transportation and automotive.
The expert judges included Happy Holden, Gentex Corporation (retired); Gary Ferrari, FTG Circuits technical support director; Pete Waddell, president of UP Media and publisher of Printed Circuit Design & Fab/Circuits Assembly Magazine; Andy Kowalewski, Metamako LP senior interconnect designer; Rick Hartley, L-3 Communications/Avionics Division senior principal engineer; Susy Webb, Fairfield Nodal senior PCB designer; and Charles Pfeil, Mentor Graphics Systems Design Division director of engineering.
2014 Technology Leadership Award Winners
Category: Best Overall Design
- Company: Alcatel-Lucent Italia
- Design team: Fabrizio Crippa, Giovanni Villa, Sergio Pirovano, Massimo Pollastri, Stefano Cornini, Luigi Aldeghi, Fabio Villa,Paolo Scotti, Massimiliano Severi, Ivan Malaspina, Fabio Frigerio, Donato Maggi
- Using: Xpedition Enterprise
Category: Computers, Blade & Servers, Memory Systems
- 1st place: Seagate Technology LLC
- Design team: Andre' Dutko, Keith MacLean
- Using: Xpedition Enterprise
- 2nd place: Sanmina Corp.
- Design team: Damodhar Chakravarthy Mallisetty, Tom Thomas, Birla Manoharan
- Using: Xpedition Enterprise
Category: Consumer Electronics & Handhelds
- 1st place: Qualcomm Technologies Inc.
- Design team: Larry Paul, Sanat Kapoor, Stephen Baker, Danlin Xiang, Michael Tex, Scott Asbill
- Using: Xpedition Enterprise
- 2nd place: Wizlogix Pte. Ltd.
- Design team: Vivian Ong Ai Lian, Tan Shean Huey, Romeo Pineda
- Using: Xpedition Enterprise
Category: Industrial Control, Instrumentation, Security & Medical
- 1st place: Fujitsu Technology Solutions GmbH
- Design team: Andreas Schaefer, Timo Bruderek, Joachim Bub, Andreas Titz, Willi Neukam, Peter Brau, Werner Hasubick, Rudi Haeussermann, George Emanuel Valceanu
- Using: Xpedition Enterprise
- 2nd place: Valtronic SA
- Design team: Gabriel Gay, Van Ly Mai, Cristian Anton, Bert de Vries
- Using: Xpedition Enterprise
Category: Military & Aerospace
- 1st place: NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
- Design team: Dave Petrick, D.Albaijes, Banks Walker
- Using: PADS
- 2nd place: BAE Systems
- Design team: Matthew Offredi, Gary Chambers, Daniel Smith, Sammy Laver, Ross McCullie, Gary Prior
- Using: Xpedition Enterprise
Category: Telecom, Network Controllers, Line Cards
- 1st place: RAD
- Design team: Olga Goykhberg, Svetlana Zlotnik, Didier Halimi; Dorit Leizer, Sharona Manasherov
- Using: Xpedition Enterprise
- 2nd place: Ericsson TV
- Design team: Rob Dickinson, Paul White, John Curtis
- Using: Xpedition Enterprise
Category: Transportation & Automotive
- 1st place: Visteon Corp.
- Design team: Hai Pham, Padmanaban Kanagaraj, Krzysztof Russa
- Using: Xpedition Enterprise
- 2nd place: Visteon Corp.
- Designer: Nagarajan Mani
- Using: Xpedition Enterprise
The on-demand webinar highlighting industry trends and the winners of the 2014 Technology Leadership Awards competition can be found here.
About the Technology Leadership Awards Contest
The TLA contest is open to any designs created with Mentor Graphics® PCB solutions. Judging is based on design complexity and overcoming associated challenges, such as small form factor, high-speed protocols, multi-discipline team collaboration, advanced PCB fabrication technologies, and design-cycle time reduction.
About Mentor Graphics
Mentor Graphics Corporation is a world leader in electronic hardware and software design solutions, providing products, consulting services and award-winning support for the world's most successful electronic, semiconductor and systems companies. Established in 1981, the company reported revenues in the last fiscal year of about $1.15 billion. Corporate headquarters are located at 8005 S.W. Boeckman Road, Wilsonville, Oregon 97070-7777. For more information, visitwww.mentor.com/.
Share on:
Suggested Items
I-Connect007 Editor’s Choice: Five Must-Reads for the Week
07/18/2025 | Nolan Johnson, I-Connect007It may be the middle of the summer, but the news doesn’t quit, and there’s plenty to talk about this week, whether you’re talking technical or on a global scale. When I have to choose six items instead of my regular five, you know it’s good. I start by highlighting my interview with Martyn Gaudion on his latest book, share some concerning tariff news, follow that up with some promising (and not-so-promising) investments, and feature a paper from last January’s inaugural Pan-European Design Conference.
Elephantech Launches World’s Smallest-Class Copper Nanofiller
07/17/2025 | ElephantechJapanese deep-tech startup Elephantech has launched its cutting-edge 15 nm class copper nanofiller – the smallest class available globally. This breakthrough makes Elephantech one of the first companies in the world to provide such advanced material for commercial use.
Copper Price Surge Raises Alarms for Electronics
07/15/2025 | Global Electronics Association Advocacy and Government Relations TeamThe copper market is experiencing major turbulence in the wake of U.S. President Donald Trump’s announcement of a 50% tariff on imported copper effective Aug. 1. Recent news reports, including from the New York Times, sent U.S. copper futures soaring to record highs, climbing nearly 13% in a single day as manufacturers braced for supply shocks and surging costs.
I-Connect007 Editor’s Choice: Five Must-Reads for the Week
07/11/2025 | Andy Shaughnessy, Design007 MagazineThis week, we have quite a variety of news items and articles for you. News continues to stream out of Washington, D.C., with tariffs rearing their controversial head again. Because these tariffs are targeted at overseas copper manufacturers, this news has a direct effect on our industry.I-Connect007 Editor’s Choice: Five Must-Reads for the Week
Digital Twin Concept in Copper Electroplating Process Performance
07/11/2025 | Aga Franczak, Robrecht Belis, Elsyca N.V.PCB manufacturing involves transforming a design into a physical board while meeting specific requirements. Understanding these design specifications is crucial, as they directly impact the PCB's fabrication process, performance, and yield rate. One key design specification is copper thieving—the addition of “dummy” pads across the surface that are plated along with the features designed on the outer layers. The purpose of the process is to provide a uniform distribution of copper across the outer layers to make the plating current density and plating in the holes more uniform.