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EMA is Bullish on Data Management
May 11, 2016 | Andy Shaughnessy, PCBDesign007Estimated reading time: 1 minute
EMA Design Automation has evolved over the years, from a typical Cadence Design Systems VAR to a distributor that functions more like a part of Cadence. During DesignCon, I met with Greg Roberts, director of marketing for EMA, and asked him to discuss the company’s focus on data management tools, and why he’s giving away certain OrCAD tools.
Andy Shaughnessy: Greg, why don't you start by giving us a little bit of background about EMA.
Greg Roberts: EMA is Cadence's channel partner for North America—we predominantly sell their PCB tools and cover Canada, the United States, and Mexico. That includes the OrCAD, PSpice, Allegro, and Sigrity product lines.
Shaughnessy: And I understand you guys are giving away a tool?
Roberts: Yes, we've got a new promotion. We have ads all over that say, "Free OrCAD Capture."
Shaughnessy: So how does that work?
Roberts: In the EDA world, you typically buy the software and also pay for maintenance. They're two separate prices and you put them together for the first year. We're giving away the software. You get a perpetual license, but you have to pay for the maintenance.
So a tool that used to be $1,400 for the software and $390 for the maintenance is now just $390. At the end of one year if you don't want to keep paying for the maintenance, you don't have to and the software is still yours. However, we think you will because for the maintenance price you receive a number of benefits, like phone support. You can call our engineers and talk to them about whatever problems you're having—we get pretty good accolades about our phone support.
Additionally, you get access to our engineering resource center where you can find app notes and other information. You get access to Cadence's as well, and as Cadence releases updates to the software, you get those updates for the whole year. We think it's a pretty good value for the maintenance on top of the free software.
To read this entire article, which appeared in the March issue of The PCB Design Magazine, click here.
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