Design007 Magazine

PCBD-Jan2017

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60 The PCB Design Magazine • January 2017 and saves time and money downstream. I come from the software industry, and we would employ a technique known as development phase containment. This concept involved se- lectively reviewing and approving the design along the way to contain the software bugs to the development phase closest to when they were created. Said another way, when a mistake is made, do what it takes to discover and fix it as quickly as you can because the cost of fixing it later can double every day that it goes undis- covered. In the world of PCB design, this can take the form of a pin assignment problem, missing pull-up resistors, incorrect assumptions about amplifier behaviors, incorrect x/y/z dimensions for component placement, and reversed polar- ity, just to name a few examples. One the best comments I can make to a prospective customer is to let him know how many of our designs involve just a single iteration before heading to production (although product marketing can change the best-laid plans). Summary A company that can embrace these opportu- nities while meeting these challenges head-on by changing the way they do business creates fantastic sales stories that enable the sales repre- sentative to walk into any prospective customer situation – outsourced, tool-centric, fast-paced, floundering, tight-budgeted, endless iteration – and lay down a scenario that meets them where they are, engenders trust and opens the door to just a small enough crack that, once opened, will open again and again. Selling PCB design services is only made easy when the company supplying those services has done all it can do to provide these stories and win prospective customers' hearts. PCBDESIGN Lance Olive is director of business operations for Better Boards Inc. Troops in remote re- gions around the world often struggle to operate with limited networks for data sharing and com- munication. The usual process for sharing such information requires an end-to-end connection to secure servers via a dedicated digital "pipe" approved for the specif- ic security level of data being transmitted. Addi- tionally, the current computers and infrastructure needed to manage multiple levels of U.S. classified and coalition information are too bulky for tactical use in the field and can take months or longer to deploy. To overcome this challenge, DARPA has an- nounced its Secure Handhelds on Assured Resilient networks at the tactical Edge (SHARE) program. SHARE aims to create a system where informa- tion at multiple levels of security classification could be processed on a single handheld device using a resilient secure network that links de- vices without needing to route traffic through secure data centers. This capability would be able to operate over existing commercial and military networks while maintaining the security of sensitive information and safety of operations. The end goal of the program is to demonstrate secure exchange of information at multiple levels of classification over unsecured military and com- mercial networks (e.g., Wi-Fi and cellular) using a heterogeneous mix of devices—from tactical radios to laptops to handheld devices. Sharing Battlefield Info at Multiple Classification Levels via Handheld Devices SELLING PCB DESIGN SERVICES IN A FIRST-WORLD COUNTRY

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