Chatting Away

We had a great premiere of PCB Chat last week. Eric Bogatin, the signal integrity guru, hosted the nearly two hour session, answering more than 20 questions.

The transcript can be seen here (you must be signed in to Printed Circuit University to view it; registration is free).

The next chat will be Feb. 7 with SMT process consultant Phil Zarrow. Note that you don’t need to make the live session in order to ask a question: questions may be submitted in advance.

If you have recommendations for future moderators, drop me a line or post in the comments. Thanks!

Bogatin ‘Signals’ Chat Intent

UP Media Group Inc. today announced Dr. Eric Bogatin will moderate the industry’s first “chat,” an open question/answer session using pioneering new software developed by UPMG.

The premiere event will be held Jan. 26, from 2 to 4 p.m. Eastern time, at Printed Circuit University. The second chat will feature SMT consultant Phil Zarrow and takes place Feb. 2 from 2 to 4 p.m. Eastern.

“Chats” refer to moderated question/answer sessions between an expert on a particular topic and any number of parties interested in the subject. Chats are conducted online, and attendees can submit questions privately via email in advance of the chat, or while the chat is live.

Moderators review the questions and choose which will be answered. As questions are answered, they appear online in sequential fashion. After each chat session is over, the transcript is made available for on-demand viewing. Transcripts are also searchable.

PCB Chat is an environment that emulates and captures the essence of online shared group communication without all the chaos of a free-form chat room. A chat operates more like the end of a presentation, where the audience asks questions of the speaker. It is controlled and systematic, and the moderator has full control over which questions or comments to address, ensuring the chat stays on topic.”

UPMG has invested several months of development work to realize the new software platform for PCB Chat.

Dr. Bogatin is perhaps the leading expert on printed circuit board signal integrity and transmission lines. He has a bachelor’s in physics from MIT, and master’s and Ph.D. degrees in physics from the University of Arizona. He has held senior engineering and management positions at Bell Labs, Raychem, Sun Microsystems, Ansoft and Interconnect Devices. A prolific author, Dr. Bogatin has written six books on signal integrity and interconnect design and over 200 papers, including a regular column in PCD&F. He also has taught over 6,000 engineers over the past 20 years.

PRINTED CIRCUIT DESIGN & FAB and CIRCUITS ASSEMBLY magazines are media partners for the event.

The Non-Mentor Post

Taking a break from the ongoing tennis match between one major CAD company and its, shall we say, less-than-pleased biggest shareholder, there’s been some interesting developments elsewhere this week.

As noted yesterday, Altium is packing up its HQ, R&D and marketing teams and moving them lock, stock and barrel to Shanghai. After hearing some of the usual chortling and catcalls, then finally speaking with Altium (late) last night, the rationale behind the move seems sound, if a bit abrupt. I’ll have more on that later today when I post the interview.

Also on the far West side of the Pacific (it doesn’t pay to sleep in this job) Fujitsu will integrate its signal integrity tool into  Zuken’s CAD suite. (Not certain yet what this means for Zuken’s own SI tools, which at the moment actually have a larger market share than Fujitsu’s.) The move would put the combined suite closer to No. 2 Ansoft in the SI arena. Mentor is still well ahead of the pack, but it’s a start.