Tag Archives: PCB Chat

DfM Chat

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Who better than a fabricator to explain design for fabrication?

Join Sunstone Circuits CAD/EDA manager Nolan Johnson this Thursday for a one-hour chat on DfM. Trained as a software engineer, Johnson wrote applications software for Mentor Graphics before transitioning into technical marketing roles. He managed Mentor’s OEM verification development projects, including Dracula and CheckMate. Johnson then concentrated on operating technical training centers for semiconductor manufacturing and telecom analysis equipment at both Electro Scientific Industries and Tektronix.

At Sunstone Circuits, Johnson has assisted in the many successful initiatives of its core product line, including an integral role in the development of the PCB123 design software, including enhancing the software’s schematic functionality and Live BOM (Bill of Materials).

Nolan’s chat takes place May 10, 2 to 3 pm Eastern time at PCB Chat. There is no charge to participate.

The Value of ‘Chat’

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Yesterday, EMS sales management and marketing consultant Sue Mucha moderated her first chat over at PCB Chat. Today, she’s asking on her blog whether readers exploit the value of chat, and why or why not? (She makes a great point about the value of the chat being tied to the quality of the questions asked.)

For those who haven’t had a chance to see how PCB Chat works, you may check out Sue’s chat here. I tend to liken it to the last 10 minutes of a paper session, where the audience asks questions directly to the presenter.

IPC-2581 ‘Chat’ Recap

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We had nearly 1,000 visitors to today’s PCB Chat on IPC-2581. The moderators, led including Gary Carter of Fujitsu, answered more than 20 questions in a chat that lasted almost twice as long as planned. (The moderators plan to respond to some of the other questions they received that they couldn’t get to during the chat, so be sure to check back in a few days and see the updated transcript.) You may also contact them directly with questions at www.ipc2581.com/index.php/about.

The results show that data transfer is an area of high interest to the industry. The committee will be presenting a poster next week at IPC Apex Expo and will also have a booth there, where members can answer your questions about the new standard.

Speaking of Apex, on March 2 I will moderate a chat on the show. As always, we’ll open the chat to questions a few days early.

Chatting Away

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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!

PCB Chat Premieres

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We had a great premiere of PCB Chat yesterday. 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

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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.

Socially Speaking

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You might say humans are predisposed to chatting. The art has taken a few twists and turns over time: in the past 50 years the back-fence gossip session gave way to party lines (for some), then to online means so popular and ubiquitous it made AOL for a time one of the most valuable companies in the US.

To be sure, the AOL-style chat rooms were (are?) fun, but ultimately more of a time-waster than a problem solver. (Unless, of course, wasting time is the problem to be solved.) But the basic concept – interacting with peers without leaving the cozy confines of your home – is transcendent. For years, we’ve been working at developing a mechanism that emulates and captures the essence of online shared group communication without all the chaos of a free-form chat room.

At long last, we think we have it.

A year ago, we acquired BeTheSignal, the brainchild of signal integrity guru Dr. Eric Bogatin, in large part for the slick web-based platform he had developed. We rolled that in to Printed Circuit University, our founder and owner Pete Waddell’s vision for a comprehensive website dedicated to training printed circuit board designers, fabricators and assemblers.

On the heels of that acquisition, we began in earnest to develop a unique “moderated chat” environment, under which our readers could engage in question/answer sessions with experts on a particular topic. The idea is simple: Chats are conducted online at a set date and time. Attendees can privately submit questions via email in advance of the chat, or through the site itself while the chat is “live.” The moderator – typically an expert in some aspect of PCB technology – can review the questions and choose which to answer. As questions are answered, they appear online in sequential fashion.

Each chat session will have a specific time length, after which a transcript will be made available for on-demand viewing. Most sessions will last for 60 to 120 minutes. We foresee chat session topics ranging from the broad to the specific. In some cases, the topic will be the driver, such as discussions of market or packaging trends, for example. In other cases, the presenter will be the attraction, because of their “name” and reputation in the industry.

UPMG plans to enlist the leading names in electronics design from around the world to hold chats in their respective regions. The emphasis in most sessions will be on the specific over the general; for example, “layout and routing of cellphone boards” would be preferred to “layout and routing.” (For our advertisers, sponsorships will be available on a one-per-chat basis.)

PCB Chat is a one-of-a-kind opportunity for tens of thousands of industry technologists to come virtually face-to-face with their peers to ask questions and share problems and solutions in real time. Needless to say, we are thrilled at this development. Visit PrintedCircuitUniversity.com for a look, and watch our websites and digital newsletter for the first scheduled chats to be revealed.