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58 The PCB Design Magazine • May 2017 have seen the introduction of new products de- signed specifically for makers and part-time de- signers. These tools, based on the different types of people who use them as well as their unique ways of working, cannot be cookie-cutter, "one size fits all" software applications. They need to recognize and enhance the uniqueness of each user type, placing differing levels of priority and emphasis on simplicity vs. feature richness, guided workflow vs. flexibility, and other trade- off scenarios. And most of all, these tools need to be accessible to everyone who has the imagi - nation and desire to create products and appli- cations that will help make the IoT real and an enabler of societal improvements. Accessibility is relative, of course, so I'm not suggesting that ev- erything needs to be free. Rather I would suggest that in the "Age of IoT" we need PCB design tools that fit the end user in terms of design paradigm, capability set, price, and hardware requirements. The makers market, for example, leans heav- ily on the open source philosophy for both hard- ware and software. The open source philosophy suggests a social component of shared designs to support reuse, broad adoption, and techni- cal advancement based on the contributions of many people. The Arduino microcontroller is a great example; while a core team developed Arduino initially, the design was shared openly enabling a broader community to make the de- sign lighter, more powerful, and less expensive. PCB design software for makers needs to be in- expensive (or free), and powerful, yet perhaps most important is that it needs to recognize the open-source philosophy by obviating the effort associated with sharing designs, and making it a part of the PCB design process. Professional design engineers can afford to pay for tools, yet protecting IP, working in ways that are most productive for them as individu- als, and having a rich feature set are most im- portant in their working environment. They are able to pay for the capabilities that they need, but require extreme productivity in return. In- dividual PCB professionals ultimately need the best set of features for their design types at a fair price—in other words, a value-based approach. And teams working on complex designs have yet another set of needs. Whereas they have typically looked to enterprise PCB design tools, in the Age of IoT they need less restric- tive design processes while still working in ways that ensure consistency in design. Team-based design scenarios involve working concurrently on individual parts of a logically and physically interconnected system; this requires role-based permissions, strict version control, and design conflict resolution to ensure that when individ- ual parts come together, they work as a system. The heavy, restrictive enterprise tools of the past are simply too cumbersome to allow engineers and designers to work at the speeds required in the present and future. In summary, IoT represents an incredible op- portunity for positive transformation in health- care, transportation, manufacturing, agricul- ture, energy, and virtually every other element of society. The realization of its vast potential can only come through a network effect, that will be highly dependent on our industry's abil- ity to enable not just professionals, but makers, students, and other would-be creators to design and develop innovative devices that will add value to the IoT infrastructure. IoT's story won't be a dystopian sci-fi thrill- er, but rather a feel-good underdog story in which unlikely heroes save the day with their imagination, creativity, and will to make things better. PCB design software will need to evolve to meet their needs if we are to be a part of the story, in ways that support the needs of unique user groups. Altium intends to be a big part of the IoT story by doing what we've always done: making advanced technology accessible to any- one, and everyone who needs it. PCBDESIGN Note: If you're interested in learning more about how we will do that, please consider attend- ing one of our upcoming roadshows for PCB 2020: Altium's Roadmap to the Future. References 1. The GigaOM Pro 2012 study. Ted Pawela is chief marketing officer of Altium. PCB DESIGN IN THE AGE OF IOT