MANUFACTURING

Fluent Inc., the world leader in providing computational fluid dynamics (CFD) software and consulting services, today announced its support of the new Cadence(R) Allegro(R) system interconnect design platform. The Allegro platform delivers a revolutionary, new generation co-design methodology that promotes collaboration across the entire design chain, including designers of I/O buffers, integrated circuits (ICs), IC packages and PCBs. As a member of the Cadence Connections Program, Fluent has access to software and applications notes, ensuring open collaboration that benefits mutual customers. Fluent has integrated its analysis and design solution, Icepak, and a soon to be released product, IceBoard, with the Allegro platform. Icepak software has been addressing the specific needs of electronics designers for years. Its ability to help designers understand and favorably manipulate their designs for maximum cooling is becoming world-renowned. This integration allows designs to quickly and accurately predict any thermal performance and issues at the IC package, PCB and system level as a single integrated solution. "Fluent is a proud member of the Cadence Connections Program. Being able to seamlessly integrate our tools with the Allegro platform has helped us create low cost, high quality, high performance products. Using the EDA database from Allegro does not require our thermal designers to re-create existing geometry, component or power locations. This reduces errors in the model and lowers our cycle time. In a world where customers expect the best, we turn to the Allegro platform to help us meet those demands head on," said Paul Bemis, Fluent's Vice President of Marketing. As ICs get faster and generate and consume more power, the need for thermal design becomes very challenging, and can cause major design bottlenecks at the IC package, PCB and system integration levels. Performing thermal design at the inception of the design process could mean the difference between success and failure. Teams of electrical, mechanical and packaging engineers have to work together to achieve this goal. A smooth product design flow can be achieved by interoperability of the various design tools, specifically for thermal analysis. Board level layout and component libraries can allow engineers to create thermal models that can be used at the IC, board or system level. "Cadence Design Systems is pleased that Fluent has integrated their solutions with the Allegro platform. We feel that this is a mutually beneficial partnership between the two companies and look forward to the new solutions that Fluent has to offer," said Jamie Metcalfe, Vice President of Strategic Marketing for the Silicon-Package-Board Business Unit, Cadence.