New product marks a major milestone in DownStream’s strategy to automate the PCB release process.
Marlborough, Mass – March 8, 2006 – DownStream Technologies, LLC today announced it has begun shipping BluePrint
for PCBs™ Release 1.0. BluePrint is a revolutionary new software solution that helps users quickly create the documentation that drives
PCB fabrication, assembly and inspection and is a key component in DownStream’s vision to provide comprehensive solutions for all deliverables
associated with releasing a PCB to manufacturing. The first shipment of the product included sales to a cross-section of the PCB industry
including PCB design and engineering groups, PCB prototype manufacturers and contract manufacturers both in the United States and Europe.
BluePrint will also be shipped at no additional cost to customers who participated in BluePrint Pre-Release Purchase program.
DownStream Technologies began development of BluePrint over 3 years ago and is the result of the company’s commitment
to a vision shared by its founders. “We see BluePrint as major milestone in our product development strategy to automate the PCB
release process,” said Rick Almeida, one of DownStream’s founders. “By working closely with PCB designers we had learned they face a
significant challenge in trying to post-process their designs for successful manufacturing. Not only did they need to generate CAM
outputs, but they also needed a way to collect and manage the myriad of data files that are needed to build a PCB assembly. By delivering
BluePrint Release 1.0, combined with our flagship product CAM350®, we are realizing a major milestone in our product strategy. We can now
enable our customers with the ability to create manufacturing tooling aids such as Gerber and NC files, as well as Fabrication Assembly
Drawings and Parts Lists and deliver them in a single, electronic package to manufacturing,” said Almeida.
BluePrint for PCBs – A New Paradigm in PCB Documentation
Until now, PCB Engineering groups have faced undesirable choices when it came to producing PCB documentation –
use highly-skilled, highly-compensated PCB designers and increase the PCB layout cycle dramatically (up to 50%) or increase manufacturing
risk by providing minimal fabrication and assembly instructions.
In contrast, BluePrint uses the available PCB design intelligence to automatically create and link unlimited PCB
views and details resulting in a more detailed and accurate documentation package in a much shorter timeframe. Documentation packages
created with BluePrint contain all the data necessary to build, view and archive the final product anywhere, anytime. “The creation of
accurate PCB manufacturing drawings are often overlooked as an important aspect of the PCB design process. With the introduction of
BluePrint this area of concern has been completely solved,” said Martin Davies, a PCB Designer in the United Kingdom for the Home Office
Scientific Development Branch who participated in DownStream’s beta program for BluePrint. “BluePrint gives us an efficient tool that will
enable us to provide consistent, thorough and accurate PCB manufacturing documentation,” added Davies.
DownStream expects BluePrint to save as much as 60%-80% off the PCB documentation creation process — even more when
engineering change orders (ECOs) are required. “Our patent pending technology links the PCB data to the documentation and shortens the
time it takes to create the initial documentation package. Even more dramatic time savings are realized when the original design data is
changed because the change is automatically reflected in BluePrint by simply refreshing the file — eliminating the need to recreate the
documents due to an artwork modification,” added Almeida.
Pricing and Availability
BluePrint for PCBs Release 1.0 is available now with prices starting at $12,000 per seat. For more information or
to receive a demo disk of the product, log onto
www.downstreamtech.com, e-mail
sales@downstreamtech.com or contact one of DownStream’s
local Value Added Resellers (VARs).
About DownStream Technologies
DownStream Technologies, LLC is a progressive software company focused on helping engineering organizations automate the
PCB Release Process. Our tools redefine how engineering professionals post-process PCB designs to create and distribute all the deliverables
required for a complete PCB assembly release package. CAM350™ provides verification, optimization and output generation to efficiently drive
PCB fabrication. BluePrint for Printed Circuit Boards™ works with CAM350 and PCB CAD systems to help users quickly produce comprehensive
electronic drawings to drive PCB fabrication, assembly, and inspection processes. More information about DownStream can be found at
www.downstreamtech.com.
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© 2006 DownStream Technologies, LLC. All rights reserved. CAM350® is a registered
trademark and BluePrint for Printed Circuit Boards™ is trademark of DownStream Technologies, LLC. All other registered trademarks
and trademarks contained within this document are the property of their respective owners.
