Digi-Key and Altium announce global distribution agreement

Digi-Key will distribute Altium's Desktop NanoBoard, which will include a 12-month timed Altium Designer license (see Programmable Logic DesignLine article 206104574 for more details on the Desktop Nanoboard). The Desktop NanoBoard will be delivered with a standard set of plug-in peripheral boards and a choice of one of three FPGA daughter boards.

Digi-Key will also carry the extended range of NanoBoard plug-in peripheral and FPGA daughter boards. These options extend the design choice and freedom available to designers.

Altium products stocked by Digi-Key are featured in its print and online catalogs and are available for purchase directly from Digi-Key.

Altium markets the combination of the Desktop NanoBoard and Altium Designer, Altium's unified electronics design solution, as the ultimate Innovation Station. The folks at Altium say that the Innovation Station gives designers everything needed for rapid prototyping, concept exploration and device experimentation. Designers can create functionality in programmable hardware, and then deploy to physical hardware for testing and analysis, without having to create any custom prototype boards.

Because the NanoBoard is reconfigurable and independent of device vendor, designers are not constrained by having to choose the final device at the beginning of the design process. They can create, test and analyze functionality in different devices using the NanoBoard, and switch between devices to compare the performance in the actual design. The NanoBoard's automatic configuration protocol makes this a simple process: swap the plug-in boards, and the NanoBoard reconfigures to the FPGA device or set of peripherals without having to change the design.

Pricing and availability
Altium's Innovation Station, which includes Altium's Desktop NanoBoard, a 12-month timed Altium Designer license, a standard set of plug-in peripheral boards, and a choice of one of three FPGA daughter boards, is available for immediate shipment from Digi-Key at www.digikey.com. The price is US$4,300.

Click Here for more information about Altium's Innovation Station and to see the Innovation Station in action.