Hardware Podcasts

PCB Design Tools for Every Team Size: Altium's New Approach

OnTrack · 22 Oct 2025 · 14m · Episode 321

What this episode covers

Justin Sears, Head of Product Marketing for SaaS at Altium, explains the company's new product strategy announced at PCB West 2025. He details the split between Altium Develop for small teams and Altium Agile for larger organizations, focusing on how this shift removes friction for cross-disciplinary collaboration. Sears highlights the removal of per-seat fees for external collaborators and the move toward an end-to-end product development suite.

Most relevant to

large enterprises

Topics

Mentioned

Companies
Altium, Horton Works
Products
Altium Develop, Altium Agile, Altium 365
Also
PCB West

Related episodes from other shows

Other shows on the same ground, closest first.

  • Moore's Lobby · 52m

    Improving Electronic Design Collaboration by Shifting Left and Right

    Ananth Avva, Senior Vice President and General Manager of Cloud Platform at Altium, discusses the challenges and strategies of bringing SaaS practices into engineering via Altium 365. He explains the concepts of 'shifting left' and 'shifting right' to improve collaboration between PCB designers and downstream teams like procurement and compliance. Avva highlights that organizations often overestimate the cost of change and underestimate the benefits of adopting cloud-based system-level thinking, which is crucial for managing complex supply chains and ensuring design integrity.

    Connected products & IoTEDA & CAD tools
    10 chapters

  • EMS@C-LEVEL · 23m

    EMS@C-LEVEL 2022 Season Episode #1 with Altium and MacroFab

    Ted Pawela, Chief Ecosystem Officer at Altium, and Misha Govshteyn, CEO of MacroFab, discuss their strategic partnership and the launch of the Altimate solution. They explain how this integration connects Altium Designer directly to MacroFab’s cloud manufacturing network, allowing designers to see real-time cost, availability, and DFM data. The conversation highlights the shift from 'designing for manufacturing' to 'designing with manufacturing' to maintain agility and data coherence during the new product introduction process.

    EDA & CAD toolsDesign for manufacturing & NPI
    10 chapters

  • The Next Byte Podcast · 1h 05m

    251. Michael Corr & Justin Sears on How Altium & Duro Are Fueling the Next Generation of Hardware Startups

    Michael Corr, co-founder and CEO of Duro, and Justin Sears, Head of Product Marketing at Altium, discuss how Duro’s cloud-based PLM platform and Altium’s Agile Teams are breaking down silos between electrical, mechanical, and procurement teams. They explain how Duro’s API-first architecture enables specialized AI agents to automate tasks like BOM analysis and part sourcing, addressing the critical need for real-time supply chain visibility. The conversation highlights the acquisition of Duro by Altium, the shift from selling 'vitamins' to 'medicine' for hardware startups, and the resurgence of small, fast-moving hardware companies leveraging modern tooling.

    Design for manufacturing & NPIAI & machine learning
    9 chapters

  • The Amp Hour · 1h 00m

    Layout Review with Zachariah Peterson

    Zachariah Peterson, founder of Northwest Engineering Solutions and Altium's technical consultant, discusses the state of PCB design, the industry's shift toward EMC expertise, and the impact of AI tooling. He details Altium's acquisition by Renesas, the critical need for engineers to understand manufacturing constraints and stack-ups, and the risks of relying on semiconductor data sheets for EMC guidance. Peterson also shares insights from his 'Layout Review' content series, highlighting common DRC errors and the value of mentorship in a lean industry.

    EDA & CAD toolsSensors & measurement in products
    9 chapters

  • The Amp Hour · 1h 13m

    Altium...Acquired!

    Dave Jones and Chris Gammell discuss Renesas acquiring Altium for $6 billion, analyzing the strategic fit for automotive electronics and the potential impact on Altium 365 and Octopart. Jones details Altium's history from Protel to its current state, including the controversial acquisition of Morphic and the ousting of founder Nick Martin. The hosts speculate on whether the acquisition will lead to price changes or product consolidation, noting that Altium's CEO Aram Murkazemi stands to make $650 million.

    Intellectual propertyPricing, margins & unit economics
    8 chapters

The summary, chapters and topics are generated from the episode’s audio by this directory, not written by OnTrack. The episode itself belongs to its publisher.