Altium , suppliers of unified electronics design solutions, have appointed Digital China, as a key distributor for Altium’s unified electronics design solutions. The strategic partnership with China’s IT distributor builds on Altium’s growth in China over the past 12 months. Altium’s sales in China grew 75% in the financial year ended 30 June 2008.
With Digital China, Altium will significantly expand its sales and support reach in the China electronics design sector. Digital China will become the major distributor for Altium’s unified electronics design solution Altium Designer, and Altium’s desktop NanoBoard reconfigurable development platform.
Digital China will also play a pivotal role in Altium’s Investment in Innovation (I3) License Compliance Programme. The I3 Compliance Programme is Altium’s expanded collaborative license amnesty and conversion programme. The objective of the programme is to target the estimated 285,000 unlicensed users of Altium’s solutions (Protel) in China, over the next four years.
The programme introduces special pricing that includes a license for Altium Designer, Altium’s next-generation solution, training and localised language support. With Digital China’s extensive distribution network, users will be able to easily get access to Altium’s latest solution.
According to Jay Cao, Regional Director for Altium in China, the new partnership represents a strong investment by Altium in the China market and is part of the increased investment programme to help expand Altium’s localised technical and sales support for China’s electronics designers.
The combination of Altium’s vendor-independent solution and Digital China’s significant distribution network will bring next-generation solutions to even more of China’s electronic designers. More designers will have access to Altium’s single design environment, which makes it easy for electronics professionals to use their existing skill-sets in the new ‘soft design’ programmable space, raising their effectiveness and giving them new ways to create new designs.
Jay Cao also added that this partnership supports the move by China from ‘made in China’ to ‘designed in China’; from a manufacturer to a designer and developer of leading edge electronics products. It continues Altium’s goal of supporting the growth of China’s designers.
Mr.Li Sheng-Li, General Manager, Software Division of Digital China, stated that Altium are a strong complement to the software brands including Oracle and Microsoft with which Digital China will partner. Having Altium as a partner will allow the company to expand offerings significantly to customers and to the market.
Digital China provide both software and computer hardware and peripherals. Altium bridge both areas, and provide Chinese software designers with the perfect tool to create new electronic designs in new ways.