Altium

1985–1991: Early history

The history of Altium dates to 1985 with the founding of Protel Systems Pty Ltd by electronics designer Nicholas Martin. He was working at the University of Tasmania in the 1980s. He saw an opportunity to make the design of electronics product affordable, by marrying the techniques of electronics design to IBM PC compatibles. The company launched its first product in 1985, an MS-DOS-based printed circuit board (PCB) layout and design tool.[4] Protel PCB was marketed internationally by HST Technology Pty Ltd. since 1986.

In October 1986 the San Diego–based ACCEL Technologies, Inc. acquired marketing and support responsibilities of the PCB program for the US, Canada and Mexico under the name Tango PCB. In 1987, Protel launched the circuit diagram editor Protel Schematic for MS-DOS. This was followed by Autotrax and Easytrax in 1988.

In the 1990s, the company began developing a unified electronics design system, which uses a single data model to hold all of the design data required to create a product. FPGA, PCB and embedded software development processes were unified with a common project view and data model. A variety of editing tools could then be used to access and manipulate the design, covering areas such as board layout and design, schematic capture, routing (EDA), testing, analysis and FPGA design.[5]

In 1991, Protel released Advanced Schematic/PCB 1.0 for Windows, the world's first Windows-based PCB design system.[6] It also began acquisition of various companies with the technologies needed to create a unified electronics design solution,[7] including Accolade Design Automation in 1998.[8]

1999–2010: IPO and name change to Altium

In August 1999, Altium went public on the Australian Securities Exchange under symbol (ASX:PRI). The company continued to develop and release new versions of this design tool, including Protel 98 in 1998, Protel 99 in 1999 and Protel 99 SE in 2000. In 2000, Altium acquired ACCEL with whom they previously partnered with in 1986.[9]

In 2001, the company changed its name from Protel Systems to Altium and continued to expand throughout the United States, Europe, and Asia. It also made more acquisitions including embedded software developer Tasking in 2001 for A$73.4 million[10] and EDA software distributor Hoschar AG in 2002.[11]

Protel DXP was issued in 2003, Protel 2004 in 2004, Altium Designer 6.0 in 2005. In 2010, Altium acquired Morfik Technology Pty Ltd., a developer of visual design tools for engineering and deploying cloud-based software applications.

Since 2011: Expansion and acquisitions

In 2011, Altium announced it would be expanding its presence in Shanghai, China, in the second half of 2011 to take advantage of lower wages.[14]

On October 15, 2012, the Altium board removed Nick Martin as CEO and named executive vice chairman Kayvan Oboudiyat to replace him.[15] On January 16, 2014, Altium announced Kayvan Oboudiyat's retirement and succession by Aram Mirkazemi as CEO.[16] In May of the same year, Altium announced that the core R&D operations for its flagship PCB CAD tools would again relocate in a "cost neutral" move to San Diego, California.[17]

In 2015, Altium acquired Octopart, a search engine for electronic and industrial parts.[18]

Current Solutions