Altium to open UK prototyping lab

The lab will have two full licenses of Altium's design tools, two of its Nanoboard 3000 fpga based prototyping boards, pictured, three peripheral boards for adding custom devices and six connectors to other development boards such as fpgas and microcontrollers. According to Altium, the Nanoboard systems can then have cases and displays added to provide a fully functioning product for demonstrating. "I believe in supporting the UK electronics industry and organisations like SiliconSouthWest are trying to build activity from the ground up which is what I believe in and I want to be part of it," said Phil Mayo, managing director of Altium's UK representative, Premier EDA. "We have had a university programme for years but this opens things up to more people." Mayo said the service will be available to anyone with an idea that involves electronics. "Anyone, really anyone, that has an idea for designing electronics can use our tools in the Innovation Centre. They can then use this as a vehicle to further funding." Mayo added that Premier EDA and Altium would support any company going forward with tools and technology. "If they capture our imagination then we will help them in whatever way we can," he said.