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Current IssueShowing Some Constraint
A strong design constraint strategy carefully balances a wide range of electrical and manufacturing trade-offs. This month, we explore the key requirements, common challenges, and best practices behind building an effective constraint strategy.
All About That Route
Most designers favor manual routing, but today's interactive autorouters may be changing designers' minds by allowing users more direct control. In this issue, our expert contributors discuss a variety of manual and autorouting strategies.
Creating the Ideal Data Package
Why is it so difficult to create the ideal data package? Many of these simple errors can be alleviated by paying attention to detail—and knowing what issues to look out for. So, this month, our experts weigh in on the best practices for creating the ideal design data package for your design.
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Cadence Next-Gen AI-Driven OrCAD X Delivers Up to 5X Faster PCB Design with Cadence OnCloud
September 13, 2023 | Cadence Design Systems, Inc.Estimated reading time: 2 minutes

Cadence Design Systems, Inc. announced the new Cadence OrCAD X Platform, a cloud-enabled system design solution that offers transformative improvements in ease of use, performance, automation and collaboration. The new OrCAD X Platform streamlines the system design process and empowers designers through cloud scalability and AI-powered placement automation technology, enabling up to 5X reduction in design turnaround time.
With significantly higher productivity enabled by cloud-connected capabilities—including data management, collaborative layout design and a new easy-to-use layout environment optimized for small and medium businesses—this next-generation platform includes everything in the OrCAD platform and more. Supercharged with powerful layout productivity improvements based on the Cadence Allegro® X Platform, it provides complete backward data compatibility with OrCAD and Allegro technologies.
The new OrCAD X platform provides the following benefits:
- Cloud-enabled: Improves productivity with real-time access to data management via the Cadence OnCloud Platform. Data storage and management through a cloud login enables a hybrid work environment across the desktop and the cloud, reducing infrastructure costs for the user.
- Ease of use: Optimized for small and medium businesses, the OrCAD X platform offers a new, easy-to-learn and easy-to-use PCB layout canvas while retaining the power of industry-proven engines. New cloud-based licensing options are available as well as many user-experience enhancements from installation through design. The dynamic creation of manufacturing documentation provides a real-time view of fabrication details throughout the entire design process.
- Faster turnaround time: Significantly enriched electrical constraints, performance improvements and integration with the broader Cadence system design and analysis portfolio enable faster time to market.
- Collaboration: Cloud-hosted collaboration allows multiple designers to work concurrently on the same layout design.
The OrCAD X platform can access automated placement through the Allegro X AI system, which enables transformative placement time reduction from days to minutes. Users can achieve these placement time reductions while simultaneously addressing signal integrity, power integrity and thermal design effects during placement, routing of critical signals and the generation of power planes.
“Cadence is committed to delivering optimal system design solutions that incorporate the power of generative AI and the cloud to enable the fastest turnaround times,” said Michael Jackson, corporate vice president of R&D in the Custom IC & PCB Group at Cadence. “The new OrCAD X platform will have a transformative impact, offering customers greater productivity through ease of use, cloud-enabled data management, AI-powered automation, improved engine performance and integration with Cadence’s system design and analysis product portfolio.”
The AI-based OrCAD X platform supports Cadence’s Intelligent System Design™ strategy, which enables customers to accelerate system innovation. Customers can learn more about the OrCAD X platform at the PCB West 2023 conference and exhibition, September 19-22 in Santa Clara, Calif. or by visiting Cadence's website.
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Showing Some Constraint: Design007 Magazine July 2025
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Elementary, Mr. Watson: Rein in Your Design Constraints
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