Mentor Graphics announces 23rd annual PCB technology leadership awards program

WILSONVILLE, USA: Mentor Graphics Corp. announced the call-for-entries of its 23rd annual Technology Leadership Awards competition, continuing its tradition of recognizing excellence in printed circuit board (PCB) design.

Started in 1988, this program is the longest running competition of its kind in the electronic design automation (EDA) industry. It recognizes engineers and CAD designers who use Mentor Graphics innovative technology to address today’s complex PCB systems design challenges and produce industry-leading products.

Prominent experts in the PCB industry will judge the contest, including: Happy Holden, retired and former CTO, Foxconn Advanced Technology; Gary Ferrari, technical support director, FTG Circuits; Pete Waddell, president of UP Media, publisher of Printed Circuit Design & Fab/Circuits Assembly Magazine; Andy Kowalewski, senior interconnect designer, AdvantagePCB; and Rick Hartley, senior principal engineer, Avionics Division of L-3 Communications.

"Technology does not seem to want to stand still. What we once labeled as simple products, continue to evolve into very complex designs,” stated Gary Ferrari, technical support director at FTG Circuits. “I am amazed at the creativity today's designers have built into their designs. I salute Mentor Graphics, and their Technology Leadership Awards, for their continued efforts to recognize these true warriors of design. I'm pleased to see Mentor's continued support for this program.”

This year, entrants will be able to submit their design accomplishments in any of six categories representing a wide variety of industries:

* Consumer electronics and handheld.
* Industrial control, instrumentation, security and medical.
* Military and aerospace.
* Computers, blade and servers, memory systems.
* Telecom, network controllers, line cards.
* Transportation and automotive.

“Mentor Graphics is committed to the PCB systems design community, and our PCB Technology Leadership Awards contest provides the opportunity to showcase the most innovative and talented designers worldwide,” said Dan Boncella, director of marketing, Systems Design Division, Mentor Graphics. “The program continues to attract the most skilled users of our PCB systems design tools and Mentor expects this year’s competition to be bigger than ever, with entries from virtually all the major electronics countries in the world.”

Winners will be named for each category, as well as a Best Overall Design recipient. The timeframe for submitting entries is from August 1, 2011 through September 30, 2011. Entrants can apply online at www.mentor.com/go/tla. This web page also has a video from the judges with helpful hints on how to win.

The Mentor Technology Leadership Award contest is open to any designs created with the Mentor PCB solutions, including the Board Station, Expedition Enterprise and PADS® design flows. Judging will be based on overcoming complexity challenges, such as small form factor, high-speed content, design team collaboration, advanced PCB fabrication technologies and design-cycle time reduction. Judging will start October 1, 2011 and winners will be announced November 17, 2011 on a worldwide web broadcast.