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44 DESIGN007 MAGAZINE I JANUARY 2018 Feature Interview by Andy Shaughnessy I-CONNECT007 Pulsonix has been developing PCB design software for almost 20 years, establishing a reputation for its full-featured, low-cost design tools. Now, the UK-based company wants to break into the U.S. market, and recently show- cased its latest tools at PCB West. During the show, I-Connect007's Angela Alexander and I spoke with Business Development Manager Ty Stephens about the company's latest tools and plans to become a major player in the U.S. market in 2018 and beyond. Andy Shaughnessy: I'm here with Ty Stephens of Pulsonix. For some people who may not be aware, give us a brief background of Pulsonix. Ty Stephens: The company was founded in 1997. At that time there were no noticeably unified products in the market. By this, I mean all the tools you would expect to take an idea from concept to realization, for example sche- matic capture, Spice simulation, PCB layout and manufacturing preparation in one product environment. Most of the EDA products around were generally formed through mergers and acquisitions, so they ended up all being bolted together. We noticed there was an opportunity to have one unified product where it was sche- matic capture, simulation, PCB design, and now the 3D element, all within one system. This is where we started when the product was released in 2001, and now we've grown to the size that we are today, with household names using our software throughout the world every day to create their products. Shaughnessy: Pulsonix seems to have a niche— robust tools at a low price point. Stephens: Yes, I suppose for us it came from a point of view as a startup company, but with considerable experience gained at our previ- ous company, we understood the need for a very stable product offering, high quality sup- port, and very fast turnaround on software fixes. This was and still is our unique selling point. Functionality was equally important, so