Altium and IHS Markit Partner to Solve Component End-of-Life Issues for PCB Design

Estimated reading time: 2 minutes

Altium, the global leader in PCB design software, is partnering with IHS Markit Electronic Parts Solutions to solve one of the major challenges in PCB design.

When electronic components become obsolete, design and production can suffer lengthy delays. With an average of 15 end-of-life notices issued every day, part obsolescence is a challenge that most engineers routinely face. To address this design challenge, Altium has partnered with IHS Markit, the world’s most accurate component intelligence source, which provides actionable lifecycle status updates as the PCB is being designed. IHS Markit’s BOM analysis provides current lifecycle status for over 660 million electronic components.

“PCB designers urgently need to understand whether the components they specify are going to be available for the full lifecycle of their end products,” says Ted Pawela, Chief Operating Officer of Altium. “IHS Markit and Altium are partnering to make reliable component lifecycle data and recommended substitutes seamlessly available to them as they design rather than after the fact.”

IHS Markit’s Electronic part and supply chain intelligence is integrated with Altium 365, the world’s only cloud platform for printed circuit board design and realization. Altium 365 works harmoniously with Altium Designer, the industry standard for PCB design, to deliver the most connected experience for PCB design and manufacturing.

The Altium 365 Pro subscription plan provides users with component management capabilities including part and supply chain intelligence powered by IHS, allowing engineers to easily find and replace components that are obsolete or facing end of life.

“By using lifecycle information and alternative part options from IHS, Altium Designer and Altium 365 users can ensure successful supply chain continuity at any point in the PCB design cycle, long before potential end-of-life issues arise,” explains IHS Markit Vice President Bob Braasch.

Altium 365 Pro subscribers can now access IHS Markit technology from within the Altium Designer’s Manufacturer Part Search panel for effortless access to the latest component life cycles, alternative part options and actionable information. With Altium Designer’s ActiveBOM editor, users can harness the latest alternative part choices from IHS Markit, ensuring part availability for the entire Bill of Materials (BOM).

To learn more about the IHS Markit integration, watch the short introductory video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nZmBD9VXhTA.

ABOUT ALTIUM

Altium LLC, a global software company headquartered in San Diego, Calif., is accelerating the pace of innovation through electronics. From individual inventors to multinational corporations, more PCB designers and engineers choose Altium software to design and realize electronics-based products.

The growing demand for smart and connected products is driving advancements in electronics technology. Design trends are demonstrating the need for minimizing power, reducing package size and energy consumption, and prioritizing high-speed design. For over 30 years, Altium has been delivering software that maximizes the productivity of PCB designers and electrical engineers, from idea to board. Users are at the center of Altium’s R&D and business operations. With its unique Business-to-User approach, Altium is focused on developing software that is easy to use and implement, with solutions that enable innovation and deliver industry-leading user productivity.

Products include Altium Designer^®, Altium Concord Pro™, Altium 365^®, Altium NEXUS^®, CircuitMaker^®, CircuitStudio^®, Octopart^®, and TASKING^®. To learn more about Altium, visit www.altium.com.