Interview I Altium
The next step in
Smart System
Design Automation
Following the announcement of significant changes to its leadership team Neil Tyler talks with Altium’s Chief Marketing Officer, Frank Hoschar, about the company’s plans for the future
a result third-parties will now be able to write apps for delivery into the Altium ecosystem, or extend their own ecosystem using those technologies. The newly expanded corporate management team retains Altium veterans Kayvan Oboudiyat (CEO), Aram Mirkazemi (CTO) and Frank Hoschar (CMO). The reorganisation is intended to make the company more agile in an increasingly competitive market and as such its focus will be on strengthening customer relationships. In a more customer centric strategy it said that it would be looking to co-create more solutions directly with customers. According to Altium customers are leveraging the Internet to build and extend their web based ecosystems for both products and user communities. “By opening up our DXP platform and its wide user base to third-party developers, we’re looking to establish Altium as a hub for the creation of lasting relationships in the Smart System Design Space,” explained Frank Hoschar. Altium’s DXP platform features the only consistent data model for smart System- on-Board design providing a seamless flow for 3D PCB, FPGA and Embedded Software development. Worldwide, over 80,000 users have so far moved from tool chains to the DXP platform.
Frank Hoschar, Chief Marketing Officer A
ltium, a developer of electronics design tools, is a key supplier of solutions for 3D PCB design (Altium Designer) as well as embedded software development (TASKING) and is looking to create a more unified design environment for engineers.
In January the company announced that it was making a number of significant changes to its senior management team. The aim being to enable the company to compete more effectively and to deliver more value and a better design experience for users of its products, especially its next generation DXP development platform which is to be made available to third- party EDA and Non-EDA tool providers. As
38 April 2013
When I spoke with Hoschar the new management team had just been announced so I asked how the team was different to the one that preceded it and why the changes had been made? “The change in leadership comes at a time when Altium is in a very strong position financially and many people did ask why we were making these changes at this moment in time. The reason is that Altium’s board believed that our performance had to be measured against the market opportunities that are available to us” he explains. “We felt that this new structure puts us in a better position to make the most of those opportunities and we are very excited about our future. “The new and expanded leadership team has a combined experience of 57
Components in Electronics
years at Altium and over 71 years in the industry as a whole. As a team it has been deeply involved in the innovation of design tools and the EDA industry since it began. We believe that our new approach is more scalable and we are now in the position to foster leadership across a whole range of different levels making it easier to leverage the talent and experience we have globally among our 400 employees for the benefit of our customers.”
What has been driving change in the market, which has in turn lead to the changes in the company’s management structure?
“Altium has transformed itself from a traditional software company to a provider of advanced electronics design methodology that embraces the web. This has been achieved through a content- driven subscription strategy, the acquisition of several web-related technologies and the company’s relocation to China, which have provided an opportunity to overcome scalability and resource limitations. “We need to strike a balance between visionary ideas and current commercial opportunities. We are very excited for the future and the opportunities we think it will afford us. By implementing a new executive management team, Altium is now better placed to focus on its core business, while at the same time continuing to scale up and meet the needs of customers as well as address new opportunities.”
The new management team is looking to change the company in terms of its culture and I ask how this will change its approach to the market? “Our focus has always been on delivering the highest quality products, content and services to our customers and this will not change,” explains Hoschar. “What you will see is a re-dedication to excellence in four primary areas. These are: balancing visionary ideas with addressing the current commercial opportunities and needs of the market; delivering more value and a richer design experience to Altium users by opening Altium‘s next generation DXP platform to other EDA and non-EDA
ISV‘s, third-party developers and customers; building strategic partnerships with our customers and partners; and developing and implementing world-class company processes that allow us to achieve operational excellence and to be in the best position to serve the opportunity in front of us, as well as future opportunities.” According to Altium a richer design experience for customers is crucial, so how will it look to improve customer relationships and what are the benefits of opening up the DXP development platform to third party providers? “Altium is reaffirming its strategic
direction on the company’s founding vision and core business, which is board-level design. As part of this, Altium is seeking to create an environment of innovation for its customers by leveraging its expertise in board-level design, and growing a powerful ecosystem of relationships to bolster its position within the connected smart devices market,” Hoschar explains. “We will work in the markets served by us with customers to co-create solutions by either allowing customers to access the DXP platform themselves, work with qualified channel partners or to adopt an increasing amount of third party apps written for the DXP platform.”
So what is being planned in terms of
future new technology initiatives? “Board-level design is and will continue to be Altium’s core business. With continued updates to our flagship product, Altium Designer, the addition of more high value web-based content via AltiumLive and an increasing amount of third-party applications on Altium’s next generation DXP platform, Altium customers will receive greater value and a richer design experience. “We also recognise that data management is growing in importance for many of our customers around the world. Beyond and above our announcement of the new Altium Vault at the end of February you can expect to see some exciting announcements on all these elements over the coming months.” ■
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